Bargains - Part 1 Flog It: Trade Secrets

It's been well over ten years

since you first started coming to our Flog It valuation days

and during that time we've travelled the length and breadth of the British Isles,

valuing and selling your unwanted antiques and collectables.

-I don't believe that!

-That'll do me, that'll do me lovely.

Really, as much as that? Wow!

And we've all learnt a great deal about the items that have passed through our hands.

And now I want to share some of that information with you.

So, standby to hear our experts' trade secrets.

We love hearing about your bargain hunting skills on Flog It,

and judging by your stories of miraculous car boot finds

and fantastic jumble sale discoveries,

'some of you have a real knack for it!'

-My husband picked it up at a car boot.

-You're joking. £4.

On today's show, we're looking at the small-fry buys

that turn a hefty profit.

So, coming up, are there tricks of trade

to hunting out a bargain or is it simply down to luck?

I picked them up at auction because there were some frames I wanted,

I didn't want those.

I knew that they would do very, very well.

We discover bagging a bargain can literally be a lottery.

We won it at a raffle, took it home and hung it on the wall

and didn't really think a great deal more about it.

-Didn't realise how important it was?

-No.

Nick Hall reveals the secrets of spotting a bargain in

the contemporary art world.

What you really need to do is to go to the places where the young,

the fresh, the new art is emerging from.

I know just the perfect place to go

and find exactly what we're looking for.

You bring along so many great finds to our valuation days,

the team can only look on in envy when you reveal

how and when you picked them up and exactly how much you paid for them.

But you really don't have to be an expert to

pick up a great deal.

You might just spot something out of your eye.

Go with your gut feeling and just go, there's something about that,

I'm just going to buy it.

Because there's nothing worse than, after the event, going, "I wish I'd

"bought it when I saw it."

Buy what you like, buy something distinctive.

If it doesn't turn out to be a bargain, and is only worth more or

less what you paid for it, it doesn't really matter cos you still like it.

A bargain is something that you really, really want

and you can buy it for less money than you're prepared to pay for it.

A lot of people don't realise they've bought a bargain.

It's only when they turn up at our valuation days that they

learn just how valuable their items might be.

Lynn knew nothing about this painting - except that she liked it.

So she bought it - for just £2!

Well, Lynn, it's a matter of fact that

when it comes down to art at auction it's all about the artist's name.

And you've got a piece here that you've

brought in by James Humbert Craig.

Tell me, how have you come by this, and do you know the artist?

I don't know it at all, I got it at a jumble sale, about seven years

ago, and my daughter looked it up on the internet for me.

-She said he's an Irish landscape artist.

-You're right, yes.

Born in the 1870s, died in 1944.

Born in Belfast,

an Irishman who was very passionate about his sort of Irish roots,

shall we say, and really wanted to bring out the beauty

and nature of the Irish landscape.

In the history of Irish art he has quite an important role to play,

which is always going to help as far as price goes because the more

relevant someone is to the history, the more important their work is.

I don't think this is one of his finished pieces.

It's on what we call an artist's board rather than on a finished,

stretched canvas. But he's signed it there for us, and dated it, 1912.

I see it's got a little bit of damage here. Was that there when you bought it?

That was like that when I bought it, yes.

OK, cos I suspect if you've bought it for £2,

the person who sold it to you probably didn't realise what

it was and it probably wasn't looked after terribly well

and maybe that's when it got this scuff.

Sometimes, dealers who buy this sort of work,

they like to find it in original condition,

so if there is a bit of damage,

it almost tells them that it hasn't been through the trade,

it hasn't been touched up, it hasn't been over-cleaned.

What do you like about it, is it just the colours, the scene?

Just the scene, it just caught me eye, and I thought, that is really nice.

It's as though I was actually looking at that area.

Well, his work does sell for thousands of pounds.

He's a well-known artist, his finished canvases

and his big pieces sell for many thousands.

But I think I'm going to come in quite conservative.

I'm suggesting putting it in at an estimate of £100-£200.

-Really?

-Yeah, how do you feel about that?

-That's wonderful!

It is, it's all right, isn't it?

Find one of those a day and you're laughing, you can give up the day job!

I said to Lynn that I was putting it in conservatively

because she only paid £2 for it.

So she was going to make whatever happens.

James Humbert Craig has certainly got the phone lines booked

here today, that's for sure. Lynn, it's caused quite a stir.

We have a lot of interest in this, one, two, three commission bids.

Two...

-Three, we've got.

-Three.

-Three phone bids.

So, I'm going to start with the highest cleared bid of £380.

-SHE GASPS

-Is there £400 in the room?

At £380, commission bid, is there 400? Is there four?

400 to the telephone. Commission bids are all out now.

At £400 on the telephone. Is there 20?

420. 450.

Someone in the room now.

450.

'And the bids just kept coming.'

470, 500, 520, 550.

520 on the net, is there a 550?

550, 570...

-That's what you said, didn't you?

-Yeah.

-600?

At £570, then, on the internet, at £570 and selling.

-Lynn, you're in the money.

-£570 for the very last time...

-Yes!

-Thank you very much!

Do you know, it was worth selling, actually, wasn't it, for £570?

-Not bad for a £2 investment.

-No.

'She was chuffed,'

and especially as I think the rest of her family had taken the mick

out of her, "What have you bought that old bit of rubbish for?"

Well, the last laugh was with you, Lynn.

If you pick up something you like,

don't be disheartened if it's not valuable right now.

Times, tastes and markets all change,

so it could be well worth holding on to, as John and Sam discovered.

We don't need any introduction here, do we?

-No, no.

-This is good old Clarice Cliff.

It wouldn't be a Flog It without Clarice Cliff. But, tell me...

..family pieces?

Well, we picked these up in a bazaar, a jumble sale, in a church hall.

-No?

-Yes, many years ago.

-And what did you pay for them?

-Nothing.

-Nothing?

-Nothing at all.

-Do you remember this, Sam?

-Yeah, I remember it really well.

I was seven at the time.

I was with my mum on the day, I was sat on the stage,

waiting for my mum,

and then my mum finished, and she spotted it.

I picked it up and showed her the big plate, I remember,

and then my mum liked it, she spoke to the woman

and the woman said, "Take it."

I packed it up in a bag, she gave me it, and that was it, job done.

I wasn't surprised at all that they got these from a jumble sale

for nothing, because, at the time, they simply weren't in vogue

and nobody wanted them.

These are very typical of her range in the 1930s.

We've got a very common pattern here, the crocus pattern,

but on quite a nice shaped dish.

We've then got the wind chime pattern, I think, isn't it?

Something like that.

And then we've got these two really bizarre patterned ones,

which I love, these bright oranges and bright geometric designs.

The market for Clarice Cliff is always unpredictable.

It's still very buoyant for rare and unusual items, shapes, patterns.

I don't think any of them are particularly rare patterns.

-No.

-If we estimated them, say, at £150-£250

to give the auctioneer that oomph, as it were...

-Yeah.

-That's marvellous.

-Would you be happy with that?

-That's wonderful.

-Fantastic.

-I'm very happy with that.

Numerous commission bids here, I'm going to start straight in at £260.

270, takes me out at 270. £270, 280, 290.

300, 310.

320, 330.

340, 350.

360. At 360 on the one telephone, at 360.

-Telephone bid has just come in.

-370, 380 back in.

-Wow.

-380 back in on the phones. 390, Julian?

390. 400?

-At £390 on the telephone, at £390. Are you sure, this time?

-£390!

Wow.

-I love that wallop!

-I don't know what they see in it!

-Unbelievable.

£390!

-And you got it all for nothing!

-I never thought I'd get that far.

If you want to make a tidy profit like Sam,

then Mark has a few pointers about the Clarice Cliff patterns

and designs to look out for.

The tennis pattern, the carpet pattern,

the Gibraltar pattern, these are unusual patterns

and you often find them on unusual shapes,

the very Art Deco shapes, and the sort of conical shaped pieces.

That's the thing to look out for. Shapes are really key.

The best of bargains can come from the most unlikely places.

And chance can play a part,

as the item that belonged to Carol and Ian goes to prove.

It's a very rare item. Tell me a bit about it.

Well, we won it almost 15 years ago now at a raffle,

took it home and hung it on the wall

and didn't really think a great deal more about it until probably...

four years ago or so, and we did a bit of research on it.

Right, OK, so you didn't know who it was by at the time you won it?

We knew it was Eduardo Paolozzi...

-Right.

-..but didn't really realise the significance of it.

-Didn't realise how important it was?

-No.

'Paolozzi, I think, is a very important modern artist

'and sculptor, so I was astonished to hear they'd won it in a raffle.'

You don't normally win things like that in raffles.

TV sets, boxes of chocolates, bunches of flowers,

but a Paolozzi bronze?! Wow, lucky people!

So I was amazed to hear that, and I was thrilled for them, too.

This is a representation of the famous piece of sculpture

that stands in the forecourt of the British Library.

You knew at the time it was by Paolozzi, but how did you know that?

It came with this letter of authenticity with it.

OK, I'll just quickly read this.

This, obviously, is on his own notepaper with a printed heading.

"This is to authorise that the bronze plaque Newton After Blake

"can be raffled for the Brenchley & Matfield Tennis Club."

-Where's that?

-In Kent.

-Kent.

"This was executed by me,

"and a copy cast by Livingstone Art Founders in 1995."

He then goes on to say that the original version of the sculpture

is being installed in front of the new British Library.

And it's signed by Paolozzi himself, which is fantastic.

'Provenance on an item like this is vitally important.

'These things are very rare,'

and, it must be said, they're relatively easily faked.

So this was a copper-bottom provenance,

and that was very exciting, too.

My view is that this is worth somewhere between £2,000 and £3,000.

Can I ask how much the raffle ticket cost?

£1. £1? Gosh!

£1 each. But you were very generous, you bought more than one ticket!

-We bought five!

-Five!

So it actually cost you a fiver, not just a pound!

I've got bids, got interest, and I've got to start at £1,500.

At £1,500, the bid's on the books.

At £1,500, £1,500, the bid's with me.

1,600, 1,700, 1,800, 1,900, 2,000.

2,1... At £2,100, the bid's with me.

At £2,100.

At £2,100... 2,2 or not?

At £2,100, done?

At £2,100.

Number 814.

Yes! He's sold it for £2,100!

Got to be happy with that?

It fell within estimate, so, in all honesty,

I was quite chuffed, really.

That's one raffle I'd wished I'd bought a ticket for!

But even when you're buying at auction,

a bargain can still land in your lap.

Flog It regular Claire Rawle proved that point

when she inadvertently bought a real treasure.

This little Japanese carved wooden tiger,

I never actually set out to buy.

Many, many years ago, when I first started in this business,

I bought a box of mixed items.

I bought the box, it probably had a toy in it or something that I wanted,

and when I got home and I rummaged about, there it was,

lurking in the bottom of the box. Cost me a fiver.

And, I was very early days of my career then,

so I didn't know an awful lot about it,

except it's incredibly tactile, it's the most gorgeous thing.

It looks quite fierce, cos it's snarling,

but it's got rather a round-y nose, which is very typical Japanese.

He dates from the late 19th-century.

Always thought he might have been intended as a netsuke,

but there are no holes in him,

so I'm guessing he's just a little carved wooden ornament.

And if you turn him upside down, like so many Oriental works of art,

he's got the most beautiful detail.

All his little pads, his little claws, and he is actually signed,

he's got character marks, which I really ought to get looked at.

Probably says something like "Made in Hong Kong,"

but with any luck it might say that it's carved by one of the exceptionally gifted

Japanese carvers. That would be nice.

And one day I'll get it checked out.

But, in a way, I just like him as he is.

I don't know that I want to know too much more about him. I think he's gorgeous,

and I think today we're probably looking at an auction price

of 100 to 150, so it wasn't bad for a fiver, really.

A nice little bonus for Claire!

But nothing compared to the windfall that awaited Stephen,

who picked up two paintings as part of a job lot.

They're vibrant, they're impressionistic,

and they're very much of the moment, I think.

-So, how did you come by them?

-I picked them up at auction.

-How long ago was that then?

-About eight years.

Cos there were some frames - some Art Deco frames - I wanted.

-I didn't want those.

-You didn't like them.

-No. They went in the garage.

Have they been in the garage for the last eight years?

One's been on the wall in the house cos the wife likes it.

The other's been on top of the wardrobe.

I do like them. I particularly like this one.

The more I look at that, the more it does grow on me.

Here's the artist's name. Look, Danila Vassilief.

This one's dated 1934.

-And that one's dated...

-'33.

-..1933.

He was a Russian artist.

He moved to Australia after the Russian revolution,

became an Australian citizen, but he toured around the world.

He went to the Caribbean, he came to England for a little

while during the 1930s and he painted here.

I've looked at recent sales...

of oils like this,

and they have sold for anything from £200-£300 right up to £11,236.

That's a fair price.

Yeah. The question is, how much did you pay for these in auction?

Er..£4, plus the...so £4.60.

Is that all?

My advice is let the auctioneer decide - Philip Serrell -

-it's his sale. He knows his market.

-Yes, I'm quite happy with that.

So what did Philip think?

Well, he valued the larger of the two at £200-£300

and the smaller at £100-£150.

He knew they were something special.

There are areas of collectability that are strong,

and the strong areas at the moment are New Zealand, Australia.

And this man had a big Australian following

because his work came from there.

But they were set to exceed everyone's expectations.

A little birdie told me your wife is quite happy to get rid of these.

She'd like me to clear out a little bit, yes.

I have got a rather excessive amount of pictures...probably 300.

-If they didn't sell... 300? You're a bit of a magpie.

-Yes.

My rainy day money, my retirement fund.

Here we go. This is it. Good luck, Stephen.

This painting that I am offering you, it is

the larger one of the two.

It is the landscape with the figures. With me at 320.

-That's a big profit.

-350, 360, 370...

But it hasn't stopped yet.

'For a £4.60 investment, Stephen was going to get a serious return.'

-Internet bidding. Can you see that?

-Yeah.

550, 580, 600...

Bid's with me. 520, 650, 680, 700...

720. £720.

£720 for the first, for the larger one.

£720.

'And Stephen's wife Anne can't believe it.'

At 800, 820...

850... 850.

850, 880...

At £880, here's the bid.

At £880.

The bid's with me on the machine.

Australian art is big business.

Twice... 900.

LAUGHTER

You are a little rascal, aren't you? At £900. 950...

980, 1,000...

And 1,100.

James, don't stop now.

£1,050, £1,100...

At £1,050...

-This is very, very good.

-At £1,050 on the machine.

Is there any more?

Just that one more.

Everybody's starting to fidget. They can feel the tension.

-At £1,050...

-£1,050...

that hammer is going down.

Done. Thank you.

£1,050, that is a very good start for the large one.

Right, here's the second.

I've got a 500 bid on the book.

520. 550, 580, is it?

At £550, 580, 600...

At £600.

Bid is with me at £600.

At £600 only.

20 on the net, is it?

650 in the room.

At 650.

680, 700...

720, 780...

One more.

Is there £800 anywhere?

At £780.

There is the bid.

Once...

twice... Done at 780.

Yes! The hammer's gone down. £780 for the smaller one.

That is, for you, a grand total of £1,830. What a wonderful moment.

And we've just been joined by the wife, so what do you think?

I... I'm stumped. I just can't believe it.

I knew that they would do very, very well

because of that Australia connection. Because of the internet,

you just know that they're going to make the money that they should.

But from a personal point of view, would they hang in my house? No...

Well, I absolutely love it

when we can help you turn a healthy profit, and what a profit it was.

It just goes to show, there are bargains to be had out there,

even in the auction rooms where Stephen picked those paintings up

for just a few pounds.

If you think lady luck is on your side

and you'd like to bag yourself a bargain,

what should you bear in mind?

Don't always look in the obvious places

to find that special something.

Expect the unexpected and keep an open mind.

Hang on to things.

Some things may not seem like a bargain now,

but things can quickly change when it comes to the antiques market.

And buy what appeals.

If you like it, the chances are someone else will too.

Regular Flog It auctioneer Nick Hall likes all kinds of antiques and

collectables, but he's especially passionate about paintings.

His sale room is a veritable gallery of pictures for sale,

and he wants no more than to share his passion with us,

and some tips on how to spot a good investment.

Now I've been involved in antiques for over 20 years now,

but art, paintings, has always been my first love.

Some of the contemporary stuff really does switch me on.

Now this is by an artist called Theodor Major.

Theodor Major is a very important part of 20th century northern art.

This, when it comes up for auction,

I've put an estimate of around about £25,000 on it.

The artist on this one is Harold Riley.

Now Harold Riley is still a very active artist.

In fact, he is well-known internationally.

Now we've been quite cautious on this.

We've put a pre-sale estimate of £4,000-£6,000 on it,

but it's going to blow that away.

If you're lucky, you might find something

that's slipped through a general auction

for a fraction of its value - highly unlikely.

What you really need to do is go to the places where the young,

the fresh, the new art is emerging from.

Being from glorious Cheshire,

we're just a stone's throw away from the vibrant city of Manchester,

and I know just the place to go and find exactly what we're looking for.

Manchester School of Art is one of the oldest, highly regarded,

pioneering art schools in the country.

During its 175 year history, the school has had many exceptional and

inspirational graduates, including the world renowned LS Lowry.

So what better place to find out more about contemporary art,

how to spot a bargain, and discover the next big thing in the art world?

-Hi there.

-Great to meet you.

-Likewise.

What a wonderful space you've got here.

I'm here to meet head of painting Ian Hartshorne.

So someone looking to start collecting up and coming art,

where should they look and what should they be looking for?

One of the best opportunities to find what you're looking for,

what collectors might be looking for, is in our annual degree show,

which takes place at the beginning of June each year.

The graduates culminate their studies after three years,

have an exhibition, which is open to the public.

Last year, we had over 3,000 people visit the studios...

and students did really well in terms of selling their work.

And also, buying work at a degree exhibition is really interesting

because it's actually the cheapest the work is ever going to be.

An exhibition in the sense that a gallery would put on a sale

with items for produced especially for sale in the gallery.

That's just a sideline to showing the students' work, I guess.

Yeah. If the students sell anything, it's an unexpected bonus, I suppose.

But you do teach them

a little bit about the commercial aspect of being out there

in the cold, hard world post course.

Yeah. It's... It's a reality that we have to face.

It's a difficult...life.

It's difficult for students to develop that

kind of life for themselves, but it is possible.

A number of students do do it and do it successfully.

JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS

So, Ian, with the auction buyer of art, they're established art

and they've got a confidence

because they know the track record of the artist's work.

They know the prices are consistent and are high.

What confidence would a buyer have coming to, say, an exhibition here

with the artist whose work we're looking at?

What could give buyers, or collectors,

confidence is if those students have taken part in any extra exhibitions,

if they have been included in prizes or awards or competitions, residences.

Those kinds of thing.

So it's showing a track record of their success and intent,

if you like?

It's an indication of how committed they are to their professional

development.

There's some fascinating work going on behind us here.

-Can we meet some of the students?

-Sure.

Naomi is making some really great work.

Exotic in flavour. Fairly large scale.

She's painting these images of palm houses and glass houses.

-Can we interrupt you for a second?

-Of course.

-Hi, Naomi.

Loving the work you're working on currently now.

I'd really like to get your slant on what it is you're trying to

portray and produce.

They are images taken from exotic landscapes and hot houses

and palm houses. It's not a still life.

It's meant to evoke an atmosphere of heat and the sounds of the tropics.

So much to see, isn't there? Gosh, this is interesting.

-I really like this.

-This is Camilla. Can we say hi to Nick for a second?

Hi, Camilla. Nice to meet you.

Sorry to disturb you but just interested to know what it is that

drives you, what's your inspiration for these wonderful works?

Inspiration-wise, I started off looking at a lot

of the old masters so I started from there.

I was also looking at old photos from Victorian times

and sort of recreating them.

Ian, what in your opinion makes a good painting good?

A good painting is good throughout different points in history.

Some of the paintings that were initially thought to be

good are not referred to any more.

-Or talked about very much.

-So tastes change.

Tastes change. Fashion changes.

And the market changes which also partly determines what a good

-painting is.

-What would you look for in a painting?

If I can keep returning to look at it,

it's like an itch that I want to scratch.

If it does that to me I know it is a good piece of work.

What are your thoughts on people buying just

because, commercially, it will bring a return?

I suppose if you're a buyer you want to buy the cheapest

and sell at the highest. That's a commercial decision.

I would like to think if anybody bought something from me

or one of my students they were buying it because they loved it

but I think there are two different things at work here.

One is the art world which is about art

and one is the art market which is about money.

And the students that I work with

and art schools like this are really about the art world.

There is a fine line between the two worlds

and the two ideals of buying, heart or purse strings, isn't it?

I would always go with the heart.

As an auctioneer, I've got to say purse strings.

I hope today's show has inspired you to

try your hand at a spot of bargain hunting.

You never know, you might just turn up a real gem.

Go out there and have some fun, start buying antiques, and we'll

be back with more Trade Secrets.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd