European Flog It: Trade Secrets

For many years now, you've been coming along to our valuation days

laden with antiques and collectables,

putting our experts through their paces.

You can sell this in your pyjamas on a Sunday afternoon

and it will make its money.

And during that time,

we've all learned a great deal about the items we've valued and sold.

Now we want to share some of that information with you,

so if you want to know more, you've definitely come to the right place.

This...is Trade Secrets.

We British are a proud island race,

out on a limb on the edge of the great continent of Europe.

But for centuries we've looked to the continent for trade

and travel, and inevitably,

little pieces of Europe have found their way to our shores.

So today's programme takes us on a grand tour of all things European.

Coming up, continental pieces to take your breath away.

Unbelievable, £7,500.

We crack an Italian whodunnit.

Signed Carelli, but Carelli is a very popular Italian name.

We discover the secret of the German elephant in the room.

That adds so much more significance to the object, doesn't it?

And reveal how not to get caught out when buying bronzes.

This line here, the crispness of the base,

you lose a bit of that definition.

As soon as that starts going a bit wavy, or it's not quite

parallel or true, you've got to be a bit suspicious.

There are certain objects we quite often see on the show that

you bring in that we associate with certain countries or areas,

like Black Forest woodcarving, French bronzes, Danish glass.

It is quality because they specialise in that

particular genre, and quality, as we know, always sells.

So, what constitutes a European classic,

and what should you be looking out for?

We're an island race, and so we tend to look in at what we've

produced in the past, but if you go abroad, go and have a look.

If you go to Germany, look for KPM plaques, WMF, Meissen -

look for their history, not ours.

A good European collectable is one which is indicative

of the quality of the works which each country is renowned for.

So, for example, Russian enamelwork, French clocks

and watch movements, and I think buy the

best example you can from each particular country of source.

The Europeans produced wonderful items across the board,

just like the British.

If you want to go, for example, ceramics,

then Meissen is a good favourite, even the later 19th century Meissen

figures are still sought-after, the quality is always very high.

We're never short of items that hail from across the water,

and it's a joy to see European classics cross our tables.

If Denmark and France are known for glass, Italy for painting

and Switzerland for watches,

you can't look at a porcelain doll without thinking Germany.

I've seen plenty of them, in all shapes and sizes,

though none quite as large as the one Anita Manning came across.

-Catherine, this certainly isn't a baby doll.

-No, she's quite big.

One of the biggest dolls that I've seen for a wee while.

'The doll collectors like aspects of dolls which are a wee bit unusual.'

This doll was well-fancied

and I think one of the reasons for that was the sheer size!

She was a big girl!

Tell me, where did you get her?

I know that she was bought in 1930 for an aunt of mine,

and I inherited her.

-You became her adoptive mother!

-Yes.

So, if we turn her round to the back...we can see

the markings of Armand Marseille, we have "AM",

and we also have the number 390, which is the head mould.

'Armand Marseille was one of the leading doll manufacturers'

in Europe from the middle of the 1800s to the 1900s,

they were German manufacturers.

They lasted such a long time because of the quality of the product.

Not only did they make these wonderful doll faces

and bodies, they made faces that were full of character.

She has this wonderful colour blue in her eyes, which is good,

and we have an open mouth with these dainty white teeth.

I think it's the original hair, it's a bit sort of fly-away there,

she looks like she's been dragged through a hedge backwards.

I've got to take into consideration that a doll has been played with,

it's been carried about by a child, dragged across the floor.

All the articulated limbs were there, the fingers

and toes were there, for its age it wasn't in bad condition at all.

Price, I would say between £200-300, would you be happy to sell her at that price?

-Yes, I would.

-Yeah.

-Tell me, does she have a name?

-No, she never had a name.

Maybe her next owner will give her a name after all these years.

I hope so.

Well, I've always liked the name Anita myself,

but what about the bidders?

Did they like the look of this slightly dishevelled piece

and the name of its classic German maker?

The Armand Marseille German doll, I'm bid 100 to start it.

120, 140, 160, 180...

We're there.

..200, 220, 240, 260, 280, 300...

-Yeah, very good.

-At £300, anybody else left?

At £300, and we're away at 300.

-Bang on top estimate!

-Oh, that is...

-Big is beautiful.

-Big is good.

The doll collectors, I'm sure,

think of their dolls as little people,

and like people they have different faces, expressions

and characters, so character in the face is a very important thing.

An unnamed doll, but one with a big hitting name on the label.

Proof that collectors will pay a more for something a little

out of the ordinary, especially when it's from a quality maker.

Appearances can be deceptive.

Adam Partridge found an item that looked like it came from

exotic shores, but it turned out to have origins much closer to home.

It came from the Isle of Wight,

where my mother used to look after an old army captain.

-OK.

-Who died when he was about 92 or 93.

And what do you know about the army captain

and where he might have got it from?

Well, he was over in India, there was this rogue elephant

and they were going to shoot it, and he said,

"Well, no, I'll have a look at it first."

So they chained it between two trees so it didn't stampede, and they

lifted its hoof and found out there was a piece of wood in its foot.

A splinter.

So he dug it out and bandaged it all up and the elephant...

-A remarkable story, isn't it?

-..recognised him from then on.

That adds so much more significance to the object, doesn't it?

We could have just launched straight into telling you what it was,

what it's worth and off to the auction with it.

A fantastic yarn,

but what's an Indian elephant got to do with Europe?

A German firm mainly made them, one called Junghans.

This is almost certainly made in Germany circa 1900,

you see great big ones four times the size in gilt bronze.

This one is the one that was made for the domestic market,

for people to have in their homes.

It's not bronze, it's made from spelter,

but they were made en masse, mass produced.

'The difference between spelter and bronze

'is quite easy to distinguish,'

spelter has a sort of tinny quality -

I do that because I sort of ting my ring on things,

and you can tell from the sound, a more tinny sound to spelter.

It's also more lightweight

and it's a white metal rather than a yellow metal.

So bronze, if you give it a little scratch in an unseen place,

it'll come up yellow.

If you scratch spelter, it'll come up white.

Shall we put 100 on it, discretion, 10%, or not?

-No.

-100 fixed?

-I know the auctioneer will do his best.

-So we'll put 100-150?

-Right, OK.

-Can I move the pendulum round?

I'm dying to see it swing. There we are.

'Every firm do their run-of-the-mill things'

and then they have their feature, their pride of place things,

and these Mystery Clocks,

these Elephant Swingers as they're known as, were one of those.

They're quite a distinctive thing that Junghans made,

which I think contributed to the strong result of this one.

Quite sought-after things, these. £100 for it, straight in.

100, 100, 100

- 110, 120, 130, 140, 150,

160, 170, 180.

In the room at 180.

With the clock ticking, the buyers once again recognise

German quality, and the price went up and up.

370, 380...

..390...400, is it?

400, 410. £410, and I sell then at £410.

£410 online, and the hammer's gone down.

That's an awful lot of money for a spelter clock.

Clocks are made all around Europe,

and there are major centres for these - the Black Forest, Bavaria

and the wonderful carved cuckoo clocks,

there were loads of German clock manufacturers.

Also Austria, we see the Vienna clocks, also French clocks,

which often came as garnitures, as a set of three with the clock

and a pair of vases or candelabra that

stood either side on the mantelpiece.

So there's plenty to look out in terms of

European clocks and clockmakers.

The French have given us myriad other first-class designers,

like Louis-Francois Cartier and Rene Lalique,

whose works are well worth looking out for.

And when it comes to sculpture,

there's another name that stands out from the rest,

as Will Axon explained at our valuation day on HMS Victory.

-PJ Mene.

-Pierre-Jules Mene.

-Exactly right.

'Pierre-Jules Mene could be considered

'the pioneer in a group of artists that were producing'

animal bronzes in France, 19th century, specifically Paris,

they were known as the Animaliere group of sculptors,

because that's what they specialised in, animals - dogs, horses,

domestic animals, anything where they could really

show off their grasp of the animal's anatomy and form.

This has been made from a mould.

You make the bronze and the mould still exists, doesn't it?

So when Mene died in 1877,

the moulds of the bronzes were passed on to his son,

and of course that meant that he could keep producing

the bronzes, but you wouldn't say it was by Mene necessarily,

because it wasn't in his lifetime.

So you've got to be a bit careful, even though it is signed "Mene",

that's signed in the actual mould itself.

'One way to try and ascertain as to'

whether a bronze is produced in the lifetime of an artist or not

is really to look at the quality of the casting.

Mene was well-known,

he was involved in the process of making a bronze,

so he would be checking it along every stage just to

make sure that the quality was kept high.

On the later examples, this line here,

the crispness of the base, you lose a bit of the definition.

As soon as that starts going a bit wavy or it's not quite

parallel or true,

you've got to be a bit suspicious.

Again, handy hint for people at home buying bronzes,

because they are easy to reproduce, that's the danger.

'Say the facial features of the animal aren't quite right,'

you would suspect that it's been rushed through the process,

which wouldn't have happened within his lifetime.

So I think, in this case,

the signature within the bronze itself was a little bit soft around

the edges, shall we say, wasn't quite as crisp as you would like.

If we were definite that this was within his lifetime and he'd handled

it and so on, I would have said the value would have been

high hundreds, but I think, because I'm erring on the side of caution,

that it might be a later model. I'm happy to try it at 200-300.

Yes, because I wouldn't sell it for less than 150.

Listen, I don't think you're going to have any trouble...

-I shouldn't think so.

-Good subject, good name, nice quality.

You've ticked all my boxes, Sandy, see you at the saleroom.

-Thank you very much.

-Not at all.

-Lot 500, the bronze group, the greyhound and puppy.

-Quality piece.

-It is.

-Yeah.

-I've got to start you at 140.

-Ooh...

It's not over yet.

140 here, 150, 160...

Good, we've got some interest in the room.

170 anywhere?

The chap over there against the wall's bidding quite heavily.

-At 180...

-He's going to try...

-Oh, good.

-He's going to get it for 190.

I think that's it, at £190, are you done?

Yes! It's gone.

We were in the right ballpark figure certainly for price achieved.

If you were talking one made within Mene's lifetime,

a big group of, say, two horses, one sold recently for 17,500 upwards.

It's that sort of money, that's the difference.

Make sure to check the definition of those edges to tell

if it was made by the master himself.

But even if it wasn't, all may not be lost

if you can identify great craftsmanship.

Chances are it'll still be a fine piece that won't leave you

out of pocket.

As usual, Michael Baggott has some wise words on buying European classics.

When one considers Europe as a whole for a source of antiques,

it's marvellous,

because you have all the excesses of baroque within Spain and Italy,

and it cools off towards France,

then you get the simplicity

and beauty of Swedish and Finnish antiques.

So whatever your tastes veer towards, you will find some thing

or some style or some maker that you can cleave onto and collect.

Ever since the days of the 18th century's Grand Tour,

when intrepid Britons fell under the spell of Europe and its vast

array of artefacts and antiques, we've been going back for more.

The challenge for today's travellers is how to separate

the wheat from the chaff.

In 2012, James Lewis was sure he'd found a pearl of the Mediterranean.

Giuseppe Carelli - a well known artist,

well known for painting subjects exactly as these.

Vesuvius erupting is probably the most common scene

of any Italian picture in existence.

-They are everywhere.

-That figures.

So they're not rare scenes, but they are well painted.

Now, they're not framed,

which would indicate that they're not on the wall. And there's a hole.

-That hasn't been put in today, has it?

-No, some time ago.

'Damage is always going to be something

that you have to take into consideration.

With an oil painting, it's often easier to put right,

especially if it's a simple, small hole in a canvas.

When we looked at that pair, there was a small, little tear.

'Very easy to patch it on the back, fill it in with a bit of oil.'

-So, £500-800, I should think.

-Oh.

They might even make £1,000 or above.

Fingers crossed the right people are on the phones and on the internet.

That would be rather nice.

James was confident about the attribution of the painting.

The trouble is, in Italy, the name Carelli is pretty common.

There were several Carellis painting in the 19th century,

and that was a cause for concern to auctioneer Anita Manning.

I was a wee bit worried, Paul, when they came in at the beginning,

because they looked like the typical 19th century tourist pictures

that were sold on the harbour.

Signed Carelli, but Carelli is a very popular Italian name.

So, I looked at them...

We had Giuseppe Carelli, Gino Carelli...

-So, you're not sure?

-I'm not sure.

What I've done is I've sat on the fence a little bit on this

-and catalogued it as G Carelli.

-OK.

Would this turn out to be a European classic by Giuseppe Carelli

or just a tourist piece?

Let the bidders decide.

Look, James. Look how many phone lines...

They're all lined up down the front.

Starting at £400. I have two bids.

600, 650.

700.

750.

I think that says it's Giuseppe, don't you?

950.

-1,000.

-There's 1,000.

-Oh, dear.

1,050.

Go on, think about it. Come back to us.

1,200.

There's the 12.

1,250.

That's what I thought it was going to be.

-1,300.

-Oh, it's made more.

1,300.

It's with Clare. Clare's the last phone left. At £1,300.

1,300. All done at 1,300?

Yes. Put it there, fabulous. Good call.

Good call, both of you.

The bidders were convinced this was a sought after Giuseppe Carelli.

As these paintings show,

the "Flog It!" regulars don't always agree

when it comes to the tricky business of attribution.

If in doubt, consult the auction catalogue or get specialist advice.

"Attributed to..." means there's some uncertainty

about who painted it.

"After..." means it's a copy of a known work or painter.

And if they state the name of the artist,

you should be on safe ground.

Here are a few things to think about if Classic European is your thing.

If porcelain dolls appeal,

keep in mind that damage to the head can reduce their value.

Shine a strong light inside to check for cracks.

Junghans mystery clocks are also desirable,

and there are lots of fakes around.

If you're not sure, consult a horologist - a clock expert,

who will know exactly what to look out for.

And if you follow these tips,

you should be getting the Classic European antique you've paid for.

Throughout history, Britain's political relationship with Europe

has always been a bit ambivalent,

but we've always appreciated the very best of European culture.

"Flog It!" expert Caroline Hawley is something of a Francophile,

as she explains.

When I was a child, I used to go to France with my parents on holiday,

and I loved everything about France and all things French

and that has stayed with me.

Especially the Art Nouveau period, 1895-1905...

Everything really.

I don't know what I don't love about France.

This lovely piece I've brought today is, not surprisingly, French.

There were three main centres of paperweight making

in France at this time.

Baccarat and Saint Louis, both in the Alsace-Lorraine region,

and Clichy in Paris.

This one is a wonderful piece of Baccarat.

It's what's called a millefiori paperweight,

which, in Italian, is literally "a thousand flowers."

I don't know if there's a 1,000, I haven't actually counted.

There might be.

It has certain characteristics which are specific to Baccarat.

These lovely silhouette canes here.

There's a cockerel, a deer,

something that looks a bit like a dog, I'm not sure.

And these canes are made up of many different glass rods

fused together to form canes

and then cut at a cross section to expose these beautiful patterns,

covered over with a beautiful clear glass dome

to cause the magnification

which makes what is altogether the most beautiful paperweight.

What is interesting about this one is that it's dated and signed.

Things to look for with the Baccarat signatures and dates are rare dates.

This one is a fairly common date - 1848.

I have to look very carefully to find it and so will you, I'm sure.

It's down here. There's a little B above 1848.

This is a wonderful piece of quality Baccarat glass.

Consequently, it has a value of towards £2,000.

One field in which European makers have excelled for centuries

is silverwork, but when it comes to the 20th century,

there's one man who stands out from the crowd,

a master of his craft who many have tried to emulate.

The one name that everybody screams about is the name

that's on the back of that broach.

And there it is. Jensen. Georg Jensen.

Georg Jensen was from Copenhagen

and he originally graduated in 1892 as a sculptor.

You can see from almost all of his designs over the period

that he used his techniques and influences in sculpture

to do his broaches.

Georg Jensen was a proponent of the Art Nouveau style,

but no-one had seen anything like his silverwork before.

By the 1920s, he was the talk, not just of his hometown of Copenhagen,

but of the world, with workshops producing everything

from jewellery to cutlery, and even tea sets.

During his long career, he was prolific,

and there's a lot out there to choose from.

But be warned, it comes at a price.

The rarer early pieces are hugely sought-after and may be recognised

by their typical Art Nouveau decoration of pods and flowers.

If you keep your eyes peeled, you could chance upon something

like this early wine cooler, sold in 2008 for nearly £30,000.

Jensen encouraged free rein amongst his designers, and the work

of Johan Rohde and Harold Nielsen is collectible in its own right.

You can tell who made a piece by examining the back.

The Georg Jensen stamp will date a piece

and the number identifies the designer.

Don't limit yourself to pieces made within his lifetime.

Jensen died in 1935, but his company is still going strong

and remains true to his philosophy of artistry in design

and excellence in craftsmanship.

Jensen's work may be at a premium, but his legacy is strong,

and his influence lasting.

Look out for the work of silversmiths

Hans Hansen and Bent Knudsen

for that minimalist Scandinavian style at a more affordable price.

There are other ways to enjoy classic European works of art

without spending a penny.

Over the years, I've had the privilege

of visiting numerous British museums and galleries

to enjoy their wonderful exhibits.

And one of my favourites, and most surprising,

was at Kelvingrove.

This striking painting of the crucifixion

called Christ Of Saint John Of The Cross

is by the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali.

Such is its beauty and power

that in the last 50 years

literally millions of people from all over the world

have made a pilgrimage here to Kelvingrove to see it.

Standing in front of it, you can really see why, can't you?

For me, this is one of the most amazing images

of Christ on the cross

that's ever been painted.

Most people think it's a gimmick, but it wasn't.

Dali was a devout Catholic and a very religious man

and to attempt something like this I think is incredibly brave.

It's just wonderful,

these darkening skies over this sort of floating water below,

which is his fishing village in Spain -

it's almost like two pictures going on at once,

but that's done in the Renaissance style.

It's incredible.

It's devoid of a crown of thorns, nails and blood,

and, for me, I think this is my favourite picture

of the crucifixion. I'd rather look at this than any other.

The idea came to Dali in a cosmic dream in the 1950s

and it's called the Christ Of Saint John

because Dali had a lot of images from the 16th-century friar St John,

which helped him put this composition together

and, in order to get that angle of Christ on the cross,

he hired a Hollywood stunt man

to hang form gantries in his studio

and he spent hours getting those angles right.

I mean, that's not just a one-off,

this is a well-trained artist doing what he does best -

executing genius.

And it is, the brushstrokes are remarkable.

It's very, very moving, very evocative and incredibly powerful.

It's almost as if that's Christ's viewpoint

of what's going on in the world below him.

As a member of the surrealist movement in the 1930s,

Dali's early paintings depicted strange landscapes

with fantastical animals,

and littered with dismembered and distorted body parts,

painted in exquisite technique.

These unforgettable images, combined with his flamboyant behaviour,

gained Dali the reputation

of an eccentric, perhaps even mad personality.

So the arrival of one of Dali's artworks to Glasgow

in the relatively conservative early 1950s

was bound to cause a stir

and it was all down to the vision of one man,

Tom Honeyman, Glasgow's Director of Museums at the time.

Honeyman visited Dali at his home in Spain.

Dali had just finished Christ Of Saint John Of The Cross

and, bowled over by what he saw,

Honeyman thought this would make the most amazing centrepiece

for the art collection here at Kelvingrove.

Now, was it a moment of madness or inspiration?

To find out, I'm meeting Neil Ballantyne,

Kelvingrove's current director.

Well, in 1952 a lot of people would have said it was madness, but...

And a lot of criticism at the time, but I believe the last 60 years

has more than proved the correctness of Honeyman's decision

-to bring the painting to Glasgow.

-Yeah.

What was the reaction

when it first arrived in the early part of the 1950s?

Well, there were a number of protests outside Kelvingrove.

Some of the art students from the Glasgow School Of Art

were quite shocked at the amount of expenditure.

I think Dali has always aroused quite a lot of criticism.

He saw the painting in London just before he decided to make the purchase

and he saw the reaction of the public there

and he was convinced that the people in Glasgow

would feel the same way. And he was absolutely right,

something like 50,000 people came to see the painting

in the first three months of display in Glasgow.

When you leave here, it really is that iconic image you take with you.

-Absolutely.

-Look, thank you very much.

-A pleasure.

Europe has so much to offer there are classic pieces for every taste

and pocket, so if you want to explore the world of antiques,

the continent could be a fantastic place to start your journey.

Well, that's it for today.

Join us again soon for more Trade Secrets!