Nature - Part 1 Flog It: Trade Secrets


Nature - Part 1

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One of the things I love about "Flog It!"

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is seeing and hearing about the thousands of interesting,

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beautiful and sometimes valuable items

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you bring along to our valuation days.

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Tell me the history. Where did you find it?

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In a junk shop in Chingford.

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-Where has it been for the last few years?

-In a drawer upstairs.

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Over the years, we've made hundreds of trips

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to auction rooms all over the British Isles,

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putting our experts' valuations to the test.

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7,000.

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7,001.

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This is what auctions are all about. When it goes like this...

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-£7,600.

-Yes!

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£7,600.

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APPLAUSE

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Now, in this series I want to share some of the knowledge

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we have picked up with you to let you in on some of our trade secrets.

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'Throughout the centuries the natural world has provided

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'the impetus for all kinds of creative endeavour.

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'And as a result, our valuation days almost always include several

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'objects decorated with animal or plant motifs.'

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So in today's programme, we're going to be looking at antiques

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and collectables that have found their inspiration from the wonders of Mother Nature.

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'Coming up on the show,

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'we're bowled over by your collectables

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'that have been inspired by nature.'

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You've put a smile on my face today.

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It's time to start clearing some junk out.

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Junk?! Throw it my way!

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'Thomas shares his tricks of the trade.'

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It sinks.

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The other floats.

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'And I learn more about a gem with a fascinating past...'

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People like them because they are a contact with pre-history.

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'..and a promising future.'

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It is literally worth its weight in gold.

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As a predominantly urban society,

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we have always tended to bring nature into our homes.

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Not just real plants and flowers, but objects, and designs too,

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that reflect the organic forms of Mother Nature.

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There is a lot to choose from, so what deserves a closer look?

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Nature inspires the human mind.

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It inspires the artists and craftsmen

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and we see it everywhere in their work.

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You are in luck, really, because there is so much out there,

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isn't there? You think of William Morris.

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I think of William Kent-style side tables with lion's masks

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and ball and claw feet. You can practically hear them roar.

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Probably the greatest period that used it was the Art Nouveau period,

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where you have this wonderful,

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sinuous plant design and that's very collectable.

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If you're not inspired by nature,

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I think there's something severely wrong with you.

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It is a constant delight on "Flog It!" valuation days to see

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so many objects that are inspired by nature.

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Artists the world over have celebrated

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the beauty of the natural world for centuries.

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And in Japan, it's been going on since ancient times.

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And you won't just find nature in fine art.

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It can turn up in everyday objects too, as James Lewis discovered.

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When I first saw these, I thought

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they were just a standard string of beads,

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but they are actually a lot more interesting than that, aren't they?

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Well, so I believe. I've been told that they may be Japanese.

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Ojime are tiny little beads,

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normally either cylindrical or spherical,

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but they come in squares and rectangles and different forms.

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The ones that we saw, I have never seen anything like it.

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A whole string of beads like a necklace.

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Each one of these would never have been anywhere near the others.

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They are normally made from bronze and they are part of a Japanese dress

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because, of course, in a kimono, you don't have pockets.

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That's a very plain ojime bead, there. And this is known as an inro.

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And this bead could go down to hold the pieces in place,

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to stop them falling apart, like that, and at the top

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would be a toggle called the netsuke

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that we have seen a lot of times on "Flog It!".

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That's basically the use of it.

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These are all individually cast out of bronze.

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Some have got little silver flowers on them.

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So they are all wonderful little individual works of art.

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There we go - there is a little frog on that one.

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-Super, aren't they?

-They're lovely.

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I love looking at them,

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but it's time to start clearing some junk out.

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Junk! Throw it my way.

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Because I think these are great.

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We have four commission bids and a telephone bid.

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I shall start the bidding at...

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-£450.

-Ooh!

-Is there 470 in the room?

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470. Commission bid is out. 470 in the room. 500.

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500. 520.

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550. 570.

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-600.

-It's incredible.

-And 20. 650. 670.

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700.

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-And 20.

-720 quid!

-At £720.

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GAVEL BANGS

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-Bang! That is a big sold sound. £720, Janet.

-Wonderful!

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With such a strong Oriental market, I wouldn't be surprised

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if some of those phone bids weren't international.

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I would like to think that Janet's nature-inspired ojime beads

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made it back to Japan.

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Artistic interpretations of nature can be found in the earliest

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of cultures and the most recent.

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The dawn of the 20th century saw the flowering of Art Nouveau,

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with its desire to bring natural forms into art.

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This was famously interpreted in ceramics by William Moorcroft,

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whose organic designs flowed over the curves of his pots.

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It also inspired Morris Ware,

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which was developed in 1918 by George Cartlidge,

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and Catherine Southon was quick to spot one of his collectable pieces.

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Now, when I first saw you,

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you said, "This is a piece of Moorcroft that I have got."

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But it is actually Morris Ware.

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They do look very similar.

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But Morris Ware was actually produced over a much shorter

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period of time.

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It is actually stamped here "Morris Ware",

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which is a type of style that was done by Hancock & Sons.

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This particular piece will date to probably early 20th century,

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sort of 1910, something like that.

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I don't know if you can see, but that is actually the signature

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there of the designer, which was George Cartlidge.

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It is a really beautiful piece. I just love the colours.

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Wonderful stylised tulip design.

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It is very much in keeping with sort of Arts and Crafts and William Morris.

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One of the most popular motifs of Morris Ware was the tulip pattern

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and I think because it was so simple,

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it was so stylised,

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and I think the way that it's actually used, these red, vibrant

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colours, that is probably one of the reasons that makes it so popular.

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Why do you want to sell such a lovely item?

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I don't want to take it with me because of a breakage or...

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-Because I'm going away.

-Right. Where are you going?

-I'm going to Sri Lanka.

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-Not something that you want to take with you.

-No.

-It can break very easily.

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I would probably put an estimate on of about £300-£400,

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but I really hope that there are a lot of people like me in the

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crowd at the auction that just go mad for it and it makes a lot more.

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500 I'm bid, then. 500 bid.

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520. 550 bid. 580, is it? 580.

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600 we're bid now.

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It's like a game of Ping-Pong, isn't it? Backwards and forwards.

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-Come on.

-This is getting exciting.

-At 620...

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650. Give them time.

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No? At 650. 650. 680, I've got it.

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-680 is left.

-He's missing a bid over here.

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At 720 I am bid. 750...

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780... At 780, on the right. £780, then. I'm selling in the room.

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-780, it's going. 790.

-That's fantastic.

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-That is a lot more than what you were expecting.

-Yes.

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So look out for the name George Cartlidge.

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His richly coloured designs,

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which formed the core of the Morris Ware range, are highly sought-after.

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At the end of the 19th century,

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another movement was emerging in Cornwall.

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The Newlyn School was a colony of artists who

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settled near Penzance, taking advantage of the fantastic

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light and rugged beauty of their surroundings.

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As Antonia discovered, it's a subject close to my heart.

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I absolutely love this.

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You have brought this to the right guy as well

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because I am from Cornwall and I just love the Newlyn School.

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I really do. I think it's one of the best art movements.

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Right, let's start with Lamorna Birch.

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Really, his name is Samuel John Birch, OK?

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He is born in Cheshire and he is really known as a northern artist,

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but he did move to Cornwall.

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Which is where he did some of his best work.

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Something auctioneer Claire Rawle was quick to spot.

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The light in it, the quality, the impressionistic style,

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was beautiful because I have sold a few of his in the past and they

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tended to be rather sombre woodland views, but this was just delightful.

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-Really, he adopted the name Lamorna after Lamorna Cove.

-Oh, right.

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It's a beautiful little spot in Cornwall.

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-And it is signed in the corner.

-Yes, it is.

-SJ Lamorna Birch.

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There you are. Samuel John Lamorna Birch. It's absolutely beautiful.

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I personally like this a lot.

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I'd like to put it into auction with a value of £300-£500

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-with a fixed reserve at £300.

-Well, that sounds wonderful.

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-So you won't get a penny less.

-Yes, well, thank you so much.

-OK?

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You've put a smile on my face today.

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As we ran up to the sale,

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I had a feeling it was going to do quite well.

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I was really hoping it would.

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Unfortunately, Antonia was unable to join us for the auction day.

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She didn't see the packed house

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-and the expectant bidders waiting on the phones.

-420 on the telephone.

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-450.

-Good. We have got a phone bid.

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-We've got interest in the room.

-480. 500.

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520. 550.

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580. 600.

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-This is great.

-620. 650.

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-At 650, the bid still in the room at 650.

-Top money for his work.

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At £650, then. You all sure? Selling, then, at £650.

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I'm very pleased with that.

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£650, the hammer has gone down. Antonia, enjoy this moment.

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That was good money and it was a lovely painting.

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It was the sort of thing I would love to have had on my wall. Absolutely lovely.

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And you are not the only one, Claire.

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Paintings from the Newlyn School do fetch large sums of money at auction.

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But many are still proudly kept on the walls of local Cornish families.

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Some of these were originally used by the artists as payment

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for board and lodging.

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Not a bad exchange, as it turns out!

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Now, from the southwest to the far north.

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Wemyss Ware, famous for its free-flowing hand-painting,

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was born in Scotland in 1882

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and this unusual set, featuring an earthy profusion of nature's harvest,

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caught the eye of Thomas Plant.

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Wemyss is so collectable.

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I mean, because it has got this Scottish pull, and anything Scottish

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goes back home, and this dressing table set was really special.

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-Where has it come from?

-Originally it was from my grandmother's house.

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-It was on display there for many years.

-It is great.

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I mean, it's a lovely, lovely set.

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You are missing one item.

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-Yes.

-Which is the cover to the buckets, the water bucket here.

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This dressing table set was so unusual.

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I've not seen the like before or since this filming.

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The black ground and the grape and the vine design.

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They are very bacchanalian, really.

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On here we've got the Wemyss stamp, and this T Goode & Co, London.

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Now, that is the retailer.

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-I would like to put this in at about £400-£600 for the set.

-Right.

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-How does that grab you?

-Yes, that's lovely.

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They'd really looked after it, so it was in brilliant condition,

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so that's why it made so much money.

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Wemyss, rare, perfect.

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320 I'm bid for it. 350 bid.

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380 bid, £100 bid.

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420 I'm bid. 450.

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480, 500.

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A rapid climb.

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700...and 50. 800 and 50.

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-900.

-I love these moments.

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1,050, no?

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1,050 I'm bid for it.

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1,050.

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-£1,100.

-Come on.

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-At £1,100.

-It's quite comical, isn't it?

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At £1,100.

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For £1,100.

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-Thank you.

-Debbie, it's gone. 1,100. Hammer's gone down.

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-Fantastic.

-That's great, isn't it?

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-Twice what you were expecting.

-Yes.

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Wemyss Ware has to be the most highly collectable

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and sought-after Scottish pottery.

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I was confident that set would smash Thomas' conservative estimate.

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A great result for Debbie.

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The most collectable pieces of Wemyss are pigs, cats, thistles...

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Anything really Scottish, really, makes it very collectable.

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Of course, this dressing table set or toilet set...

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it was its rarity value, the background

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and having something unusual to it.

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If a piece of Art Nouveau pottery appeals,

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bear in mind that for both Moorcroft and Morris Ware,

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simple but stylistically interesting flower patterns are more

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collectable. Look out for designs that feature tulips or lilies.

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Some Newlyn School artists are more desirable than others.

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One of the greatest is Walter Langley,

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the first of the painters to settle in the town.

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But do your research and see which artist's style appeals.

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Before you know it, you might own a work that really captures

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something special about the great Cornish outdoors.

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There are many ways in which nature has inspired

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the makers of beautiful things.

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Take these two 17th-century Italian collector's cabinets on stands,

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for instance. They were the height of fashion

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for the connoisseur back in the 1680s,

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but it's not the construction we're interested in. It's the artwork.

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The cabinets themselves are constructed of mahogany,

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which has been ebonised so it looks like it's a dark black,

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which contrasts beautifully with the gilding that picks out

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all the mouldings and the architectural detail.

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But it's the exotic birds that we're interested in.

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This technique is known as pietra dura,

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which literally translates from Italian meaning "hard stone".

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What you have here is a craftsman at the very top of his genre.

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It looks like these birds have been painted on, but they're not.

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This has been inset into the wood...

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with little pieces of stone.

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You've got agate, quartzes, jaspers, marbles, granites.

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You've even got fossilised petrified wood.

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In fact, all of these stones have such varying degrees of hew,

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you have an almost limitless supply of colour.

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Now, that is the beautiful thing about it.

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This technique was around in Rome in the early 16th century,

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but it flourished in Florence towards the end of the 1600s,

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where these cabinets were made.

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Circa 1680.

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This is one of the nicest cabinets I've ever come across in my life.

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Not only has it got architectural proportion and detail

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but it is so decorative and it's all down to nature.

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Look at that lovely bluebell wood.

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'When you come to our valuation days across the country,

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'sometimes the items you bring aren't just inspired by nature...

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'they are formed by nature itself.'

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Ooh, look at that. Wonderful amber necklace.

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This is timeless. This is amber and it's millions of years old.

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Let's see what it looks like. Shall we put it on?

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Yes, there we go. Look at that.

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Amber is one of these magical mystery stones.

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It's from nature, carved by man.

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Amber is actually fossilised tree resin

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which oozed out of the cracks in the bark millions of years ago.

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It was used for decoration in the Stone Age...

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and has been transformed into jewellery for thousands of years.

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Although most of the world's amber comes from the Baltic

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regions of northern Europe...

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it can also be washed up on the British coast,

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including the beaches of Suffolk.

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And it was there, in Southwold, that I visited the Amber Museum

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back in 2004 to chat to the owner, Robin Fournal.

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Look at this crown.

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Well, it's probably the most popular piece in the museum.

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Everybody mentions it.

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It's beautiful. It was made in about 1920.

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This is actually insured for £20,000,

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but it is... It's a wonderful piece.

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There are many factors affecting the value of amber...

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including the presence of animal life inside.

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As a sticky resin, it often trapped insects and other organic matter,

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and these pieces are especially sought-after.

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This is a stunning piece

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because the insect is quite large.

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The smaller insects were the ones that usually got trapped

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because the bigger ones could usually fight their way free.

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-Yeah, or lose a leg.

-BOTH LAUGH

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That's about 50 million years old.

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That has been identified by the Natural History Museum in London.

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And people like them because they are a contact with pre-history.

0:19:310:19:34

Before man walked the Earth,

0:19:340:19:36

some of these tiny insects were trapped in the amber.

0:19:360:19:39

Amber is a wonderful substance.

0:19:390:19:42

It's got a warmth and a quality about it.

0:19:420:19:45

But be careful.

0:19:450:19:47

There's an awful lot of stuff about on the market today that's

0:19:470:19:50

modern and they push interesting insects and things into it,

0:19:500:19:53

so be careful if you're buying it as an investment.

0:19:530:19:56

There are many forms of imitation,

0:19:560:19:58

with fakes being made out of anything from glass to plastic.

0:19:580:20:02

It can be very hard to distinguish the real deal,

0:20:020:20:05

but Thomas Plant has a handy trick to share.

0:20:050:20:07

What I have here are two amber coloured beads.

0:20:090:20:14

It could be plastic. It could be amber.

0:20:140:20:17

How does one tell the difference?

0:20:170:20:19

The easiest way is to use this cola

0:20:190:20:22

and drop one in.

0:20:220:20:24

It sinks.

0:20:240:20:25

The other floats.

0:20:270:20:29

The one which floats is amber.

0:20:290:20:32

The cola is the same consistency to sea water

0:20:320:20:35

and amber floats on sea water,

0:20:350:20:38

and therefore all amber floats in cola.

0:20:380:20:41

And if you're fortunate enough to own a piece of genuine amber,

0:20:420:20:46

there's some good news.

0:20:460:20:49

We have seen the price of amber rise dramatically within the salerooms...

0:20:490:20:54

and it is literally worth its weight in gold.

0:20:540:20:58

So with the market clearly on the up,

0:21:000:21:02

what should you bear in mind?

0:21:020:21:04

Large, completely clear pieces are very collectable.

0:21:050:21:08

But amber containing ancient bugs is very sought-after too.

0:21:100:21:14

This rare necklace with a collection of mosquitoes, ants and spiders

0:21:150:21:19

encased inside each bead recently sold at auction for £11,500.

0:21:190:21:25

But watch out for imitations.

0:21:280:21:30

Buy from reputable sources

0:21:300:21:33

and check with your local auction house for advice.

0:21:330:21:36

If you follow these tips,

0:21:360:21:38

you could soon have in your hand nature's very own time capsule.

0:21:380:21:42

An item that we frequently see on the show is treen, small

0:21:480:21:51

household objects that have been turned out of wood.

0:21:510:21:55

Now, normally these wonderful little items

0:21:550:21:57

are made from fruit woods grown

0:21:570:21:59

here in this country, but every now and then

0:21:590:22:01

they turn up with exotic hardwoods from overseas, and I love them all.

0:22:010:22:06

You've made my day. You really have made my day.

0:22:060:22:10

This is absolutely stunning.

0:22:100:22:12

-Collectors really go for these.

-Oh, good.

0:22:120:22:16

So, how do these exotic hardwoods find their way to our shores?

0:22:160:22:19

And how do you identify them all?

0:22:190:22:22

Well, expert David Fletcher shares my passion for all things wooden

0:22:220:22:25

and he went to investigate.

0:22:250:22:27

David's meeting Adam Bowett, a friend and wood historian,

0:22:280:22:31

at Tennant's Auction Rooms in Leyburn...

0:22:310:22:33

..where they're at a preview day for a furniture sale.

0:22:350:22:38

It can be extremely difficult to identify wood.

0:22:430:22:45

I hope we're going to crack some of the conundrums today

0:22:450:22:48

and make it easier for people,

0:22:480:22:49

but it is difficult. But it's important that we know.

0:22:490:22:51

Any piece of furniture is more than itself.

0:22:520:22:56

It's more than somewhere where you hang your clothes.

0:22:560:22:59

It's more than somewhere where you write your letters.

0:22:590:23:01

It tells us about the people who made it.

0:23:010:23:03

It tells us about the time it was made.

0:23:030:23:05

What's going on in the world at that time and how interesting is that?

0:23:050:23:09

We start here with a piece of oak furniture.

0:23:150:23:19

Now, oak, for many people, is typically English, isn't it?

0:23:190:23:23

What can you tell me about this?

0:23:230:23:25

Well, oak is really the default wood for any British furniture maker

0:23:250:23:29

because it's a great all-rounder.

0:23:290:23:31

It's commonly available. It's relatively cheap.

0:23:310:23:34

We can tell where this chest comes from

0:23:340:23:37

because it's of a style associated with the Lancashire Pennines

0:23:370:23:41

and, actually, this one is dated.

0:23:410:23:43

So, we've got the owner's initials here, IB,

0:23:430:23:45

and then the date, 1706.

0:23:450:23:48

If we look inside, the first thing you notice is that it's very

0:23:480:23:51

dark, and that's because it's high in tannin.

0:23:510:23:53

The second thing is that the grain is very wild.

0:23:530:23:56

And you can bet that the joiner only used this

0:23:560:23:58

-because he didn't have any choice.

-So, what you're saying, really,

0:23:580:24:01

is although this is quintessentially English,

0:24:010:24:04

the maker is making the best of a bad job, really.

0:24:040:24:07

In a sense, yes, because he wouldn't use this wood

0:24:070:24:10

if he could get anything better.

0:24:100:24:12

At the same time as these more primitive pieces were being made,

0:24:120:24:16

for those with deeper pockets,

0:24:160:24:17

oak was being used in quite a different fashion -

0:24:170:24:21

as a carcass for a more expensive veneer.

0:24:210:24:24

You use a good, stable wood like oak

0:24:250:24:27

and you lay the veneers onto it, which is what they've done here.

0:24:270:24:30

-And this is walnut?

-Yeah, absolutely.

0:24:300:24:32

This is figured walnut. What you've got is a...

0:24:320:24:35

a sort of a pale brown ground with the smoky dark grey streaks

0:24:350:24:39

running through it.

0:24:390:24:41

Almost certainly at this stage, we're thinking about 1700.

0:24:410:24:44

This is going to be imported from France.

0:24:440:24:47

And this is a gentlemen's piece of furniture.

0:24:470:24:49

Yes, absolutely. I mean, this is quite an expensive object,

0:24:490:24:52

probably between £10 and £12 in 1700, something like that.

0:24:520:24:57

100 years later, it was a gentlemen

0:25:000:25:02

of an entirely different sort who was

0:25:020:25:04

responsible for a new species of wood

0:25:040:25:06

arriving at these shores - Napoleon.

0:25:060:25:09

It's rosewood.

0:25:100:25:12

Nothing to do with roses, of course, but nevertheless called rosewood.

0:25:120:25:15

That's right. This is a Brazilian hardwood.

0:25:150:25:19

It has a deep purple-ish brown heartwood

0:25:190:25:21

and then you get this very strong, very black, marking in it...

0:25:210:25:26

and it's really almost unmistakable.

0:25:260:25:29

And it suddenly arrives in Britain at the beginning of the 19th century

0:25:290:25:33

and becomes the quintessential Regency and early Victorian wood.

0:25:330:25:38

And, really, if there's one person we have to

0:25:380:25:41

thank for the advent of this wood, it's Napoleon Bonaparte.

0:25:410:25:44

Until the early 19th century, Brazil was a Portuguese colony

0:25:440:25:48

and nobody could trade with Brazil except the Portuguese.

0:25:480:25:51

But when Napoleon invaded Spain and Portugal,

0:25:510:25:53

the British, in return for military help,

0:25:530:25:55

extracted a concession from the Portuguese,

0:25:550:25:58

which was that they would allow British ships to Brazil,

0:25:580:26:00

so we brought back wood.

0:26:000:26:02

World events were also responsible for introducing the defining

0:26:030:26:07

wood of English furniture making in the 18th and 19th centuries.

0:26:070:26:13

Mahogany was a product of colonisation

0:26:130:26:16

and of the infamous triangular trade.

0:26:160:26:18

Under terrible conditions, enslaved Africans in Jamaica harvested

0:26:180:26:23

the wood to satisfy the high demand in Europe.

0:26:230:26:27

When do we first find mahogany in English cabinet making?

0:26:300:26:33

It begins to come in in the 1720s,

0:26:330:26:36

and from that period on to the 20th century,

0:26:360:26:40

it was not only Britain, but probably the world's cabinet wood.

0:26:400:26:44

What would this have cost?

0:26:440:26:46

When this was made, probably around £25, £30.

0:26:460:26:49

Certainly, you know,

0:26:490:26:50

perfectly affordable for a middle-class professional.

0:26:500:26:54

But if you are looking to invest in a piece of antique furniture today,

0:26:540:26:58

here's a tip from David.

0:26:580:27:00

It's all down to quality,

0:27:000:27:02

so you might find a fine quality piece of mahogany furniture

0:27:020:27:05

and you might find an indifferent piece of rosewood furniture,

0:27:050:27:08

so look for quality. But if you can identify your timbers,

0:27:080:27:11

this can make it easier for you to make that quality judgment.

0:27:110:27:13

Why not take David's advice and be brave? Visit the salerooms.

0:27:150:27:20

Antique wood furniture is generally better quality than new

0:27:200:27:23

pieces on the high street.

0:27:230:27:25

It can be picked up for a reasonable sum

0:27:250:27:27

and you could be buying yourself a slice of British history.

0:27:270:27:32

Bang!

0:27:390:27:40

I love it!

0:27:410:27:42

Thank you!

0:27:420:27:44

'The natural world will always be a catalyst for creativity,

0:27:440:27:47

'and thank goodness for that,

0:27:470:27:48

'because the results have been brightening up

0:27:480:27:51

'our valuation days for years now.

0:27:510:27:53

'If it's an area of collecting that holds a particular

0:27:550:27:58

'appeal for you, you'll soon discover

0:27:580:28:00

'there are plenty to choose from.

0:28:000:28:03

'Pieces displaying the simplest yet stylish patterns of the

0:28:030:28:06

Art Nouveau period tend to be a good investment.'

0:28:060:28:09

-At 780, it's going for...

-That's fantastic.

-..£780, then.

0:28:110:28:15

'But of course nature is a source of inspiration in all cultures,

0:28:170:28:20

'so do look out for collectables from beyond our own shores.'

0:28:200:28:24

That's it for today's show.

0:28:270:28:28

Join me again soon for more Trade Secrets.

0:28:280:28:31

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