In Living Memory - Part 1 Flog It: Trade Secrets

Welcome to the show that helps you to get in the know

when it comes to buying and selling antiques and collectables.

-Price-wise, any idea?

-Not really, no.

-Good gracious, I never knew that.

-Wow!

We have got well over ten years of "Flog It!" behind us,

that is literally hundreds of shows

with thousands of your items sold in auction.

So if there is something you need to know,

you will more than likely find it right here, on Trade Secrets.

The 20th century has seen great changes both socially and

culturally that have occurred within our lifetime or that

of our parents. Or grandparents.

So join us on a stroll down memory lane

as we reflect on the part nostalgia

plays in our great love of antiques.

On today's show, we meet a couple

who have uncovered a saucy past.

We looked in the attic and we found these.

-Hidden away. A sordid past.

-A sordid past.

Thomas reveals his own hidden passion.

Thomas is a Barbie doll specialist.

You are though, come on. Let's face it.

I thought it was fabulous. It really was a really good thing.

And we divulge the secrets of the modern collectables market.

Well done.

-3,000.

-Well done.

-Thank you. Gosh!

It's funny how an item can evoke memories - the place where

you got it, the person who gave it to you, the moment in time.

And all of those things can make an item made in living memory

highly collectable.

Collectors' items are bought

on memory, they are bought on feeling.

If you remember having the Corgi James Bond as a boy, then

that brings back memories, which is why you want to have it now.

-Yes!

-80 quid.

-Very good.

-That's good.

I think that does encourage people to bid a little bit more,

pay something for an item which is reminiscent of their own

childhood, definitely.

Yes! What a result!

I remember as a child,

queuing up with great excitement for the first Star Wars film.

And some of those early figures, particularly the rarer ones,

in mint condition with their original boxes,

are starting to make serious money.

A good 20th century collectable will reflect the age

that it was made in,

whether that's the '20s, '30s, the '50s, the '60s or the '80s.

So go for things within their own period,

which you personally have fallen in love with.

And at our valuation days, we see many seemingly ordinary

objects that evoke nostalgia for these eras.

I think it is either a picnic box or a gramophone.

I'm going to open it up and have a look.

It's a gramophone. Tell me all about it.

Well, it was my gran's, she used to play it when I was a young lad.

The favourite one of hers was Davy Crockett by Max Bygraves.

# Davy, Davy Crockett

# King of the wild frontier. #

-Yeah.

-I remember it.

People are quite fascinated by old record players, even those ones

from the 1950s, like this one, are fascinating bits

of kit, really.

But people then have to be that old to remember playing

music on one of these things as a child.

Even me, I say, can remember winding up a gramophone

and playing records.

It's quite good quality.

I haven't been able to see here

a maker's name. Have you any idea?

No idea whatsoever.

I don't think it's an HMV

because I think HMV had their names on the playing head as well.

Look for rarity. Most are made by HMV or Columbia or whatever.

Try and find a name that you haven't heard of. Look it up.

Think, "Well, there were many of these made,"

therefore, by definition, providing it is of a reasonable quality,

it will make more money than a standard object.

There is a needle case on the corner there.

-The winder has lost its handle, I think.

-Yes.

-But it is in good condition.

-Yeah.

There is a little bit of rusting around the catch,

but the chrome here is in super order.

Condition is very important because it needs to look nice.

If you're going to have it sitting on a table in your drawing

room, you don't want to have bits hanging off it.

If this record player hadn't been working,

to restore it would cost more than it was worth in the first place.

# One, two, three o'clock... #

I would rather think we'd let it take its course, really,

in the sale room.

Don't put a reserve on it and let's say goodbye to it,

and we'll be excited once it gets above a tenner.

-If it makes a tenner.

-Oh, it will make more than that.

This is the portable gramophone.

And I have got competing bids here to £50.

50, straight in, top-end, yes!

-They are going up, aren't they?

-Yeah. You see, it is a big hit.

£55. I'm going to sell in the room then at 55.

60, new bidder. 65.

It seemed the bidders knew something Charlie didn't.

85.

90. 90 in the centre, then.

Any advance on £90?

The hammer has gone down. £90.

I'd say that's twice what it would've done a year ago.

Twice your valuation.

Wrong again.

I was very surprised at the time.

But looking back, I think it came with six records.

And I have a cunning suspicion that there might have been

a bit of rare vinyl in there that added to the price.

That great result proves music can really stir emotions.

But for Philip Serrell, one item in particular takes him

on a memory merry-go-round.

Now, I'm not exactly going to tell you how old I am, but I am

of a certain age.

And I am of that certain age when in the 1960s and you went on holiday,

you went to seasides. And seasides would have fairgrounds.

And fairgrounds had rides.

And rides had these lovely painted boards in front of them.

Now, I think this is probably earlier than '60s.

I think this might be '30s or '40s,

but it is just a cool thing. I love this.

I bought this this year from an antique shop,

and I think it cost me 60 quid or something.

And I bought it for two reasons.

One, it sort of does remind me of those childhood holidays.

And two, I just think it is a bit of fun.

And it is something that...

Well, it just appeals to my sense of humour, really.

# Barbara Ann Ba-Ba-Ba, Ba-Ba-Barbara Ann. #

But perhaps the things that most take us back are toys,

and there is a huge collector's market for these.

What a toy name to conjure with.

And Barbie, well, you know, the most iconic doll

of, I'd say, the post-war era, isn't it?

Fascinating.

If you are a collector of dolls

or of toys,

I think you want the best of the best.

This Barbie was the best

of the best. It was tremendous.

Tell me, how did you come by this almost mint Barbie?

It was a present to me in 1963 from my auntie,

whose next-door neighbour brought it back from Canada.

Nobody else had one that I knew of so that is why it is still in the box.

I've never seen the like of this Barbie, with its three wigs.

I thought it was fabulous. It really was a really good thing.

Very rare.

Of course, early Barbie, early Cindy,

those are the best to collect.

-It would have had a cellophane cover to it.

-Yes.

-Which is gone, unfortunately.

-Yeah.

-But I would suggest we put it in at £80 to £120.

-Yes.

We fixed the reserve at 80.

And I wouldn't be surprised if it made £150.

-I really wouldn't.

-Really?

It's the stuff of childhood, and apparently of Thomas's dreams, too.

Thomas is a Barbie doll. You are, though. Come on, let's face it.

You specialise in lots of things like this, don't you?

Collectors' things.

We have a sale room which sells toys,

so I see lots of things coming up in the Barbie doll world, etc.

So I am a little bit excited.

But I don't want to come over like I'm excited about selling dolls.

At £30. At five.

40. Five.

50. Five.

60. Five. 70. Five.

80. Five if you like. At 80 here.

At £80, you all sure, now then?

Lady's bid at £80. You all done?

-On estimate, well done.

-Good.

At least somebody will appreciate it.

-Oh, yeah.

-Yeah, I'm pleased.

I was disappointed at the £80.

And maybe this Barbie should have been in a proper doll sale.

And I think maybe it could have made more money.

Of course, today, with online bidding,

wherever dolls are sold, they will be found by the serious collectors.

Dolls are ever popular. There is something for everyone.

-£580, who could have predicted that?

-Beautifully made.

The doll world is massive.

If you want to collect baby dolls, big dolls, Barbies...

It's up to you, really.

You need to find your niche, and then from that niche,

you pick the best of the best.

You've brought three very pretty young ladies along with you.

If you want to start collecting antique dolls,

the ones that you are most likely to come across

are the porcelain-headed variety, produced in the 19th century.

You brought a little friend here.

She has got a bisque porcelain head, which is

typical of dolls made from the late 19th and early 20th century.

So she is 100 years old.

What are our experts' tips for budding collectors of dolls?

Look at the quality of the head.

The rarity of the mould that the head is made from.

If it is a rarer number, the better.

If you look at the back of the necks of the doll,

it will usually tell you all you want to know.

So we have got Heubach Koppelsdorf and then a number

and "made in Germany" underneath.

The best tip for collecting dolls -

go for the one with the weirdest expression.

This is a most disturbing object you have put in front of me.

I think she is quite scary.

-I think she is scary as well.

-With a trembly tongue.

I couldn't sleep at night if they were in my house.

The other thing to look at is the eyes.

These eyes are weighted so when you lay them down, they go to sleep.

When you bring them up, their eyes come up.

This really will scare you. The eyes open and she comes alive.

The colours of the eyes as well.

It is always good to have blue-eyed dolls.

People always love blue-eyed girls.

-She has lovely blue eyes, just like yourself.

-Thank you very much.

Condition is all-important.

If the head has a crack on it, a chip or any damage,

to be honest, I'd leave it alone.

I'm afraid eyelashes have gone.

Also, costumes as well. It's the clothes.

Are they in the original clothes? Has the hair been cut?

Cos the hair does get cut by beastly children snipping away.

It is museum quality. The condition is very, very good.

And I would say they are the original clothes as well.

So if this is the area of collecting for you,

which makers' names should you look out for?

You could be buying German dolls made by Simon & Halbig,

Armand Marseille.

Then you could collect French dolls by Jumeau

and earlier dolls in France, which are just super, super quality,

made in the late 19th century, early part of the 20th century.

You can pick up a good quality doll for around £150,

but values vary.

The highest price so far recorded was for almost four million pounds.

But if you are thinking of entering this field,

Thomas has a few words of warning.

The doll market is the worst market in the world.

Cos after a view, their limbs, head, hair, everywhere,

and the doll collectors will come in,

they'll pick up a porcelain-headed doll and, if it's really good,

they might get a little pencil out and draw a line down the doll

so it looks like a hairline crack so the next person viewing it...

thinks it's broken!

It's not just nostalgia for our childhood that makes us

spend our money, we are all touched by the momentous,

historical events we have lived through.

So items connected to these memories can have just as much appeal.

If items are associated with a particular event,

it may mean that they will have more significance.

But on the other hand,

it may mean that they are produced in greater quantities.

And because of that, will be less rare and less valuable.

For example, a royal wedding.

Every newspaper - "Special, souvenir issue"

for the wedding of Charles and Diana,

William and Kate or whoever.

As soon as it becomes an object to be collected, you might as well burn

it, it will never be worth anything, because everybody thinks,

"Oh! I'll keep that."

And there's no point.

But it is not all about the value,

some people like commemorative items.

I like this one particularly because it is for Halley's Comet,

which last appeared in 1986.

So certainly within my living memory.

And I know how exciting it was then, waiting for it to appear.

Wedgwood, of course, capturing the market,

got a designer called Richard Guyatt to produce a commemorative mug.

This is exactly the same shape as you would have found a royal

wedding mug, but what the designer has done is produced it

in this almost sort of '30s graphics,

with this sort of writing.

And it says, "Return to Earth every 76 years - 1986."

And then he has put the next time it is due to appear -

so 2062, 2138, 2214.

And underneath, they have got,

"To mark the return of Halley's Comet," and you have got the trajectory

of the comet as it goes through the solar system.

I'm also quite a fan of Star Trek, so this sort of thing appeals to me.

They only made 2,000 of these, so it is a limited edition. This is 610.

And actually, it comes with the original label that says

that as well.

But I just like it for its design element.

I think this could be quite a collectable item in the future.

BIG BAND MUSIC

It is almost impossible to predict what will become a collectable,

but items that an older generation hung onto,

which once seemed insignificant, can now be highly sought after.

An amazing collection of the risque sort of theatre land

from the 1920s right through to the 1950s.

Obviously, they are not yours. Whose were they?

-Well, they were Val's uncle's, actually.

-OK.

He died some 20 years ago and Val was the next living relative.

And when we cleared the house out, we looked in the attic

and we found these.

-Hidden away.

-Hidden away.

-A sordid past.

-A sordid past.

Magazines, generally, are

an auctioneer's nightmare.

They tend to come in vast numbers and,

generally, worth almost nothing.

The earliest one that we have is 1927 - the Folies Bergere.

Now, if we have a look at this one here,

this one is particularly interesting because of one person.

There she is. Josephine Baker.

She was one of the first ever black strip dancers or naked

dancers at the Folies Bergere.

She was very well known

and has gone down in history as one of the best ever.

And whenever we get something at auction that is

revolutionary in its time, a little bit risque,

they are really sought after today, because they are a collectors' item.

-Yes.

-When it was done, nobody thought it would have any relevance,

nobody thought it would be a collectors' item in the future.

In the same way, actually, as

the front page of the Times newspaper,

when the Titanic sunk.

At the time when that was printed,

nobody thought it would be of any value.

Today, it is worth thousands of pounds.

Valuing this sort of thing is very, very difficult.

-I mean, we have got hundreds, haven't we?

-Yes.

Some of them are worth less than a pound.

That has got to be worth something like £30, £40 on its own.

So if we put an estimate of £100 to £150 on them...

Now, I do hope that somebody with a real passion for theatre

history will go for these.

There is some interest here.

And we start the bidding at...

100. 120.

-130. 140.

-Top-end.

Commission bid at £140.

50, will you? Commission bid at 140.

It's with me on the book. Are you all done?

Do you want to take a second look? No?

It's on the book then and we are selling at £140.

-Yes, hammer's gone down! That was great, good valuation.

-Brilliant.

Brave man.

-£140, happy?

-Yes, lovely, that's great.

Whenever anything reminds people of when times, in their own mind,

are better, it is bound to create these lovely,

warm feelings of nostalgia, and that is where the collectors'

market comes from for this sort of thing.

Now, our parents and our grandparents have marvellous

tales to tell about their youth, and some of the things they have owned

speak volumes, as David Fletcher knows.

Now, my grandmother, like so many people of her generation

and background, had quite conservative taste, really.

My grandmother was born in 1900, so she was a Victorian.

So what made her buy this? It's glamorous,

it's a bit glitzy, it's quite sexy, I suppose, and it

speaks of its period.

I would've said this would have been bought in about 1934, 1935.

Well, my theory is that my grandmother, who was a great

filmgoer, had been to see one of Busby Berkeley's films,

42nd Street perhaps,

and had been so impressed by the glamour of that,

by the way it took us all away from that really rather depressing

period of time, the 1930s, with all the economic problems that

people were struggling with at that time.

And she thought, "Well, I'll pop into my local china shop

"tomorrow and see if I can find something that reminds me

"of that film."

'Luxurious settings, spectacular dance routines, set to the rhythm

'of inspiring music in scenes never before attempted on stage or screen.'

This is one of a pair.

It is by a very minor German factory,

but it speaks of its period.

And I remember this when I was a young boy,

sitting on the mantelpiece in my grandmother's house,

with the other one at the other end of the mantelpiece.

And in that sense, I grew up with this, really.

I'm not really sure that I actually like this, although I am

interested in the Art Deco period, the 1930s and cinema of the 1930s.

So in that sense, it has a value to me.

It doesn't have a great financial value.

But it and its pair are two items I would never sell.

But if you do want to sell, auctioning an item

at a relevant moment in history can make all the difference.

And James couldn't believe what turned up at a valuation day

in 2012.

There are certain things in history that everybody wants to

get their hands on. I think the World Cup is one.

But I think very close behind that is an Olympic torch.

The Olympic year, what a time to sell it.

And to get a London Olympic torch, you could not find a better time.

Fantastic.

This was, obviously, for the London Olympics of 1948.

There were 20 of them made and each person would have

kept their individual torch as a souvenir of their leg.

The 1948 London Olympics were known as The Austerity Games.

The event was crucial

in lifting spirits during the post-war gloom.

What is it doing here, in the centre of Coventry?

My father used to run, but I'm sure he'd have told me

-if he'd been a stage bearer in the Olympics.

-Gosh, yes.

We kept a pub and it probably came into his possession

from someone coming into the pub and perhaps selling it some time ago.

So do you think somebody paid off their bar bill with this,

swapped it for a pint of beer or paid off their slate?

-It could have been something like that.

-Gosh!

And with the Olympics still in everybody's mind, I thought

it was an appropriate time to perhaps sell it.

The Olympic torch was fairly easy to value

because if you look online and you look at the records, and there were

Olympic torches from 1948 selling at £1,500 to £2,000, complete.

Um,

but this one had the burner missing.

I think that should have contained an inner section.

-It must've had a burner or something.

-Must have done.

Generally, a piece lacking, an integral,

an important part of it will make a huge difference to the value.

But I think it is a great time to sell it.

We should put an auction estimate of 600 to £1,000.

-Gosh.

-All right?

-Yeah.

That's not bad for something that looks like a toilet plunger, is it?

Not at all. It certainly isn't.

It may have looked like a plunger to James,

but the auctioneer had high hopes for it.

We have already got some phone lines booked.

We have got quite a bit of interest in it.

And I am confident that we are going to well exceed the estimate.

Let's hope we can break a record with this one.

Have you purposely saved it for this year?

Did you think about selling it last year?

-No, last year I thought about making a table lamp out of it.

-Did you?

-I'm glad I didn't.

-No, exactly.

The Games of the 14th Olympiad, commission bids on the book,

and I am going to start it at 1,050.

-1,050.

-Fabulous!

-1,050.

-That's our top end, isn't it?

-It is.

1,100 there. 1,150 I've got. 1,200?

1,200. That clears my commission bids at 1,200. Do I hear 1,250?

There's a couple people on the phone now. It is out of the room.

-It is backwards and forwards to the phone.

-14.

Let's go in hundreds. 15 now.

-I don't believe it.

-16. 17.

18.

19.

-Gosh.

-2,000.

Go 22.

24.

26.

28.

3,000.

32.

34.

-32 on this phone.

-I just love these moments.

At 3,200. Is there any further advance?

It's going to be sold, £3,200.

-Yes! Hammer has gone down.

-Well done.

-3,000.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

I thought it might make the 1,500, but it did brilliantly.

That certainly was an iconic and symbolic item.

And the sale was certainly something to behold.

And there is a lesson for us all there -

selling something at exactly the right time can pay dividends.

Now you may not have an Olympic torch hidden away at home,

but it is worth considering looking for items that are related to a big

event or an anniversary that is coming up soon.

If you are interested in modern collectables, keep

this check list in mind.

Everyday objects can have hidden value

if they strike a chord with the bidders.

The most collectable toys are those with their packaging

and accessories intact.

And keep in mind that commemorative pieces aren't always collectable.

Look for the rarer items that mark historic events.

There's nothing quite like childhood

to evoke all sorts of wonderful memories, especially a toy as iconic

as the one Caroline showed Catherine Southon

at a valuation day in Chippenham back in 2005.

Caroline, this is what I like to see. Toys in their original boxes.

Now, you and I are probably

a little too young to remember Muffin the Mule on TV.

But certainly he was an important character for children

of the 1950s and early '60s on BBC One.

How did Muffin the Mule come into your family?

He's either my mum's or my dad's. They both had one,

-so we've got another one up in the attic somewhere.

-Something like this,

they're probably not as popular as they once were

about ten years ago when the toy market was a bit stronger.

But, nevertheless,

I think you should still ask about £60-80 at auction.

I don't think my parents were very fond of Muffin the Mule,

but we had to downsize and clear out the attic,

so I think they were just keen to make some space

and see it go to a good home.

Caroline had outgrown childhood playthings,

and her parents wanted to help her raise some money

to invest in grown-up toys.

I started rowing in 1997, I went to college here in Oxford

and my friend who rowed persuaded me to go along

and do a couple of training sessions.

I think we had three outings and then we raced, and we won the race

and I just fell in love with the sport from that moment on.

But rowing is an expensive hobby

so off to the market Muffin trotted.

We've had one on the show before and we sold it for £90.

So, fingers crossed we can get a little bit more today.

It should do. What worries me slightly,

I don't know if there's that many toy buyers here.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of them.

There's not many toys, I think it's about the only toy here.

It might be a little bit lost, that's the only thing that worries me,

but it would've been nice if it had been displayed with all the strings showing.

Hanging up somewhere near the rostrum!

Anyway, let's hope someone's picked it out of the catalogue. Here we go.

This is it.

And 531, Moko Muffin the Mule

in his original box, articulating joints.

-And apparently, it's just coming back onto the television.

-It is.

I didn't know that.

Absolutely fantastic and I have got commission bids,

so it makes life ever so easy. I'll start the bidding at £90.

-Oh, that's excellent.

-At £90, at 90, I'll take five.

At £90, at 90.

Five anywhere else?

At £90, then. It's going to a good home. At 90, all done.

Yes! 90 quid! What are you going to do with the 90 quid?

-I'm saving towards a sculling boat.

-It's a start.

-It's all contributing.

I did want to use the money from the show to buy a sculling boat,

but they're very expensive. Probably a couple of thousand pounds

and so, the £90 that we got from Muffin the Mule didn't go that far.

So with the money I made, I bought these blades. They were £395.

The £90 from "Flog It!" probably bought me this much.

It's always a pleasure to hear

that "Flog It!" was able to help out - albeit in a small way.

If you've got any unloved toys you want to sell

or any other antiques or collectables for that matter, you know where to come.

Well, that's it for today's show, so go on, go out there, have fun,

buy some antiques and join us again soon for more Trade Secrets.