Cardiff Flog It!

Today we've travelled

to the cultural and entertainment capital of Wales

from St David's Hall and the Coal Exchange to this,

the Millennium Centre. Old and new, this city really does have it all.

But today there's one special addition.

We're in Cardiff, and this is "Flog It!".

Cardiff is home to some of the world's greatest entertainers

and cultural institutions.

With the likes of Tom Jones and Shirley Bassey

hailing from the city, Cardiff certainly has a lot to shout about.

So, let's hope its people are in fine voice at our valuation day.

HE LAUGHS

And our venue today is the magnificent National Museum

here in the heart of this buzzing city, and take a look at this!

This building is certainly going to be buzzing today.

Hundreds and hundreds of people are here,

laden with unwanted antiques and collectables.

They're here to see our experts, to ask lots of questions,

to find out what it's worth, and if they're happy with that valuation,

-what are you going to do?

-ALL: Flog it!

Exactly!

Bore da. I can say "bore da".

# What's new, pussycat? #

Our experts today include "Flog It!"'s favourite Welshman,

Mark Stacey, who's hoping to hit the right notes with all his finds.

That's not Welsh, is it?

And she's certainly a lady lending her expertise today,

is Catherine Southon.

# She's a lady

# Oh, oh, oh, she's a lady

# Talking about that little lady #

-I've forgotten the word for "morning" now.

-Bore da!

Bore da! Bore da! Bore da!

Bore da.

Inside the museum there's over 500 years' worth of stunning fine art,

ceramics, items of silver, collections from all over the world,

even one of Europe's finest Impressionist art collections.

Let's get this magnificent queue inside

and see what else we can find, shall we?

Two of our items today are given high estimates,

but which one rockets and which one burns in the sale room?

Is it this Japanese ivory hardwood figure group...

..or this stunning sapphire, ruby and diamond ring?

Keep watching to find out.

'The hall is filling up and I've already spied some cracking items,

'so I've got high hopes for today's show.'

Now everybody's inside, I think we should get on with it.

Let's start valuing. And I can see Mark over there.

He's already at the table, and he's spotted a real gem.

Take a closer look.

-Hello, Mervyn. Hello, Ruth.

-Hi.

-Hi.

Aren't we in a fabulous setting - the National Museum of Wales?

-Yes.

-Fantastic, isn't it?

-We're very proud of it.

I can see why, actually. It's wonderful.

I love it. And you've brought something rather nice in yourself.

-I hope so.

-Thank you.

Now, tell me, where did you get this lovely glass from?

Well, this was given to me by a patient of mine.

-I'm a retired ophthalmic optician.

-Oh, right.

During an examination I actually identified a problem

with a patient, which ultimately we found was a brain tumour.

Gosh!

The person survived, and they were obviously very grateful, you know,

that it had been spotted early, so they gave me this.

Wonderful! It's a very nice drinking glass.

It's a sort of an ale glass or something like that, isn't it?

Well, I don't really know.

It's got a sturdy... It looks like a man's glass, doesn't it?

And basically we've got this lovely sort of waisted form

with this sort of lobed section here,

and then on this sort of little spreading foot,

and a lovely, chunky S-form handle here.

The interesting thing is that, mounted in the bottom

is a little silver coin with, I think, George III on it.

-Yes.

-This is going to be 18th-century glass.

It's beautifully engraved with the wheat and the hops here,

which I think indicates again it was more for beer

rather than wine or anything like that.

-Oh! I never thought of that.

-And these lovely initials.

I mean, I like it. To me it looks right,

and I would like to put somewhere in the region

of £150 to £200 on it.

-Oh, that's fabulous.

-What do you think about that?

-That's fine.

-That's fabulous.

-We must put a reserve, of course.

I think we need to put a reserve of 150.

-OK.

-With ten percent discretion, if that's OK with you.

-Fine.

-But it all looks right to me, and I like the feel of that,

and I could imagine having a drink and looking down at the coin there.

-Gosh, that's wonderful.

-It's a nice-looking thing.

Well, I'll drink to that, Mark. Now, over on Catherine's table,

she's found a delightful curiosity. But what on Earth is it for?

Patrick, I always like to find something

a little bit out of the ordinary on "Flog It!",

and this fishie has certainly caught my eye.

Where did you get it from, Patrick?

An old gentleman lived across the road from me,

and I used to pop in to see him, if he wanted something from the shop.

-Right.

-And he gave it to me,

so that's the story. That's all I know about it.

I love the way that it's articulated,

and it's got a wonderful movement to it.

But what was it actually used for?

Well, my first initial thought was that you open up the mouth here

and perhaps you put matches in.

Maybe it was a Vesta case or something like that.

But then I noticed that this opens up,

so I think you probably would have put snuff in here,

and opening it up, you can see the markings on there

that tell us that it's a continental piece of silver.

Yeah.

I date it to early 20th century,

and I would have thought a gentleman would have had something like this

-probably for snuff.

-Mm-hm.

But would he have wanted to put this, which is quite fragile,

in his pocket? I'm not so sure.

Would it just be something that a gentleman would have had

-just to put, I don't know, in his lounge or something?

-Yeah.

I just think it's such a fine piece.

I love the movement of it, and that's really...

That's what makes it. It's something that I would love to own.

It's just got a wonderful feel to it,

and it's got lovely little semi-precious stones for the eyes.

-Quite charming, really, isn't it?

-I've seen one in Torquay,

but it didn't have the stones. It was just all silver.

-No stones for the eyes.

-I've never seen these before,

so I'd really be putting a guess on them for the estimate,

but I'm going to put £100, £150 on, with a set reserve of £100.

You don't want to sell it below that, because it's really smashing.

-It's a fab thing, isn't it?

-Yes, well, I'm happy.

I could do that all day long, move it around,

-cos it's wonderful.

-It is.

-It sings to me,

and I think a lot of people will be attracted to it.

Thank you for bringing it along. You've really made my day.

Well, there's no doubt Catherine was taken by that fish.

Now here's another object that, believe it or not, you'll find in a river too.

Today I've been looking for a piece of Welsh folk art to show you,

that sums up the social history of the area,

and I think I've come across it thanks to David,

who's joined me here on the steps of the museum.

Now, I've seen pictures of these in books, and I've read about them.

-Early hot-water bottles, you could say, couldn't you?

-Oh, yeah.

And I know why there's a hole in there, because you'd hang that up

in the hearth, over the fireplace, to keep that warm.

You know the bars in front of the fire? A spike would stick out...

And you'd put it on, and while you're keeping warm,

-that stone warms up, and then you can put it in the bed.

-Yes.

And if you were in love and you had to leave your sweetheart at home

to go off and work, that would keep the bed warm for her, as well.

I found this when I was a 13-year-old schoolboy,

-thrown away in a river.

-13 years old?

-Yes.

And it's been in the family ever since.

So you were mudlarking, picking things up.

-Nothing else to do in those days.

-That's a proper river stone.

-You can see how smooth it is.

-It's been weathered over the years.

It looked like that both sides at one time.

Just by the water running past it.

I should imagine the guy who made this couldn't afford a knife

to make a love spoon, but you could make one of these.

Get a stone, get some scrap iron from the cowshed, and knock it out.

Yeah. What are the others you found? What symbols are on it?

-Um, a heart and a guardian angel.

-Wow!

That's really nice. A hard thing to put a value on!

-I imagine so.

-Quite a hard thing to put a value on.

I would say that's sort of circa 1850, 1880.

And if you had to buy something like that,

-you'd pay around...up to £200.

-Gosh!

I mean, that's quite rare.

And this kind of thing is exactly what we like to see on the show,

just a flavour of social history. Thank you so much. Thank you.

David's decided to hang on to that piece of folk art,

and I don't blame him. It's got such a lovely story attached to it,

and you can't put a price on that.

'Now, back to our experts,

'and as you'd expect in this entertainment capital,

'Catherine's spied a rather quirky instrument.'

I've come up here to get a real feel for this building,

but also I've come to see you, Mike. What have you got here?

-This wonderful banjo!

-Well, yes. It's a banjo

which is roughly about a hundred years old.

Er, I renovated it, er, three or four years ago,

-basically because I'm an engineer -

-When you say you renovated it...

Well, it was stuck in an attic for many, many years,

and it was just completely black. You couldn't see any detail at all.

All the brass is all black. The vellum was all ripped,

so I replaced the vellum, made a new bridge,

and then polished it all back up

and cleaned the wood up with antique wood restorer.

It's a fantastic piece of art, really.

Let's just look at it. Can I have a hold?

We'll try not to drop it down there. If I do, I'll be in serious trouble.

Oh, it's got a great feel to it, hasn't it?

Can't say I'm a banjo player. This is all ebony, isn't it,

-so you've got an ebony neck to it.

-Yes.

There's a maker's name on the back there.

Yes. It's hard to see, but it's called Rick Spencer.

Richard Spencer. Well, I've done a bit of research on Richard Spencer,

and we know that he was making banjos from the 1880s,

and he stopped making them from 1915,

so we know that this is probably late 19th century,

early 20th century. I think it's fantastic.

I'm going to let you hold it, and you can show me how to hold this.

It's held in that position, with the neck up to the shoulder level.

-Right.

-And that's how it was held.

Right. So you're positioned perfectly.

Let's hear it in a minute, but I just want to talk about value.

I must admit I have never actually sold one of these at auction,

but I have seen them come up very occasionally,

and I'm actually surprised at the sort of money they do make.

I think we should put this in with an estimate of £100 to £150,

-and a reserve of £80. Now, are you happy to sell at that?

-Yes.

-I will, yeah.

-Happy to sell.

Well, I think the only thing that's left to do

-is to give it a little whirl.

-Well, we'll try, yes.

-Let us hear.

-HE PLAYS LIVELY TUNE

Very good!

Well, I'm looking forward to see how that banjo does in the sale room.

It's time we got off to the auction room!

Our experts have now found their first items to put under the hammer,

so here's a quick reminder of what we're taking.

Will Ruth and Mervyn be toasting a great result for that glass tankard?

Here's hoping there's nothing fishy about Catherine's valuation

of this silver curiosity.

And will our bidders be in tune with Catherine's valuation of the banjo?

We're leaving the hubbub of central Cardiff

and heading ten minutes up the road to Anthemion Auctions,

the only international fine-art sale room in Cardiff.

It's the sale-preview day, and I took the opportunity

to have a quick word with auctioneer Ryan Beach,

to find out what he thought of that charming little silver fish.

Patrick's articulated fish. Now, look at this little fishie.

-Watch this. It's still alive!

-THEY LAUGH

-Little tiddler!

-HE LAUGHS

We've got £100 to £150 on that. It's continental silver.

-Yes.

-It's not got an English assay mark on it at all.

I'd imagine that will do the top end.

Hopefully. I mean, it should do. It's German.

You've got a German mark in there.

It's a maker's mark for Simon Rosenau, I think.

Excuse my pronunciation. It's 800 standard,

so you got the marks inside here,

so you can see the SR there for the maker's mark.

There's the 800 there, which is the standard mark.

-For continental silver.

-Yes. It's 80 percent silver.

British silver's 92.5 percent. This is 80 percent.

Catherine was under the impression it might be for snuff.

It's difficult to say. It's got quite a tight fit,

so it could be snuff. As a vinaigrette, you'd expect a grille.

But with the mouth opening as well, so you've got two openings here.

I think it's purely a novelty thing, and a lot of these were made.

Typical Victorian kind of thing, really.

This will end up in a vitrine, a display cabinet,

-with other bits of silverware.

-It's not going to be used nowadays.

I can't see you walking down the street

waving it as a vinaigrette beneath your nose.

-THEY LAUGH

-Good luck with that.

Hopefully it'll get the top end. Thank you.

Well, we'll see how that little fish gets on a bit later.

And today, well, it's the time of the auction,

and it is absolutely packed full of exciting bidders.

The question on everybody's lips is,

will our items be hitting the high notes,

exceeding any of our experts' valuations?

You've heard what they've had to say,

but right now it's down to that lot.

Don't forget, there's commission to pay at any auction room.

Here it's 17.5 percent on the hammer price, plus VAT.

Ryan's on the rostrum, so what are we waiting for?

I think it's time we made some music, don't you, Mike?

-I think so.

-We got that Richard Spencer banjo,

the Clapham banjo, going under the hammer now.

And this is a lovely example of a good banjo,

and I know it's the first banjo

that Catherine has ever, ever probably handled and sold, isn't it?

-It is, actually.

-It's a "Flog It!" first!

It is a first for me. We put 100, 150 on.

I just didn't know, to be honest. But it is really beautifully made.

It is unusually made.

Good inlays, wonderful rosewood neck.

It's not warped at all. It's not bent.

The harmonics are very good on it. It's exceptional, actually.

Let's see if we can find a buyer here today.

Any banjo enthusiasts? We're just about to find out.

Lot 552 is the rosewood banjo.

55 I have to start. At £55. At £55, and 60. Is there 60?

-Five. 70. Five.

-Good. Man in the room.

80. Now at £80.

At £80 in the room. At £80 now.

In the room at £80. At £80. In the room at 80.

85 on the net. 90 in the room. At £90.

In the room at 90 now.

At £90. In the room at 90 now.

At £90...

Just got it away. You happy with that?

Yes. I would've liked to have obviously got more,

because it's a lovely banjo, but, er, yeah.

But you've got two more left, so keep playing, won't you?

Yeah, in a different room to where the wife is,

-cos she doesn't like me playing.

-She doesn't like it.

At least you're not in the garden shed. At least you're in the house.

Well, I keep my bike in the shed.

Well, Mike's wife might not be a fan,

but someone in the sale room was.

Next up it's Patrick and that lovely silver fish.

Why are you selling this, anyway?

Well, it's just been lying in a drawer.

It was given to me by an old gentleman,

and he said, "You do what you want with it."

And you've just stuck it in a drawer.

It's a really hard thing to display, unless you've got other items,

silver items, like little Vestas and things like that,

cardholders that you can display in a cabinet,

and they look fabulous then, don't they?

But that's a different kind of a fish, isn't it?

Yeah. A different kind of a fish altogether.

But nevertheless, one which is going to get caught today, I'm sure,

because it's a good dealer's lot, you know?

Well, it's unusual. That's one of the things they go for.

You don't see them that often. We're putting it under the hammer now.

Let's find out what this packed auction house thinks, shall we?

Big continental white-metal model of a fish here,

-with the articulated body.

-I love this so much.

75 I have to start. At 75. 80. Five. 90. Five.

100 takes me out. At £100. £100, the gentleman standing here now.

-£100 with the gentleman. 110.

-Yes.

120. 130. 140. 150. At 150. Back of the room, at 150 now.

At £150, the back of the room. At 150. Are we all done?

At £150.

-Yes! Spot on. Spot on.

-Well done. Very nice thing.

It's nice when you get it right, isn't it?

THEY LAUGH

Well, someone fell for that fish hook, line and sinker.

But will the bidders take the bait with our next lot?

Here's that Georgian tankard.

Ruth and Mervyn, it's good to see you again.

This is the moment of truth, when we put your valuation,

or, should I say, Mark's valuation, to the test.

OK. We're looking for £150 to £200 for the glass tankard.

-Well, it's going to charity.

-And all the money's going to charity.

-Which is the charity?

-Sightsavers.

I'm sure this is going to go,

and all of these bidders here are going to stick their hands up.

Hopefully we'll get the top end of the estimate. Let's find out.

Here it is.

The glass tankard here, with the coin in the base.

£80 I have to start.

At £80. And five is there now? At £80.

No, it's not finished.

At £90. With me at 90. 95.

-100 with me.

-No, it's not going to go.

110. 120 with me. At 120 with me. At 130 on the net.

140 with me. At 140 with me.

-150 takes me out.

-We've got the reserve.

At £150 on the internet. 160 on the net.

160. 170 on the net. At 170 on the net. £170.

On the internet now at £170.

At 170 on the internet. At 170. Are we all done?

At £170...

-180 on the net. 180 on the net.

-THEY LAUGH

-180!

-190.

At 190 on the internet now. At 190.

At £190...

-Yes!

-Yes!

-That hammer definitely went down.

-Thank you! Fabulous.

-Well done. Well done.

Thank you for coming in. Lovely story, as well.

-That's exactly what we want to hear on the show.

-Fabulous.

So, that's our first set of items under the hammer,

and we'll be back later with more, so stay tuned.

We often see on the programme

objects that we put into the sale room

which reflect their regional identity.

Take, for example, Troika from Cornwall,

influenced by the rugged texture of the landscape,

and in its own way it's become identifiably regional.

But is it possible for a building to successfully succeed

in profiling a country's identity?

Take a look at this.

Wales' Millennium Centre - it's hosted everything from opera,

rock to pop performers.

But it's the centre's design that I'm most interested in.

Over 20 architects and designers took on the massive challenge

of creating this iconic Welsh building.

Now, before we can fully understand the building,

we need to understand the land that it was built on.

Now, a hundred years ago, and this is a fact,

this whole area that I'm walking in now

was the world's busiest dockyard.

It was a hive of activity - steam trains going backwards and forwards,

cargo ships going in and out of the dock,

delivering coal all over the world.

But then in 1964, the docks went into rapid decline.

Of course there was no trade, no business,

so the whole of this bay area eventually fell into disrepair,

and finally became derelict.

The government recognised something had to be done,

and set up a programme of regeneration.

At the same time, the Welsh National Opera was looking for a new home.

So the building's concept started out life as an opera house.

The architects' brief was to create a landmark

that was unmistakeably Welsh, but internationally outstanding,

a building that would do for Wales what the Sydney Opera House had done for Australia,

and in doing so, become synonymous with the country.

The architects' inspiration came from Welsh culture and landscape,

and the design was modelled

on the country's great stratified landforms.

Welsh quarries have roofed the world since the 19th century,

so, fittingly, the exterior is dominated

by walls of waste slate, set in different-coloured layers,

much like you'd find in the Welsh sea cliffs.

But perhaps the most dominating feature

is the steel roof of the auditorium,

a poignant reminder of the country's old steel industry.

This impressive foyer runs throughout five storeys

of the building, and the materials used

continue to connect with the Welsh landscape and its culture.

Now, I must say the architects have been very clever,

because in all of the public areas,

they've selected several different species of timber,

and they've left it in its natural, unstained state,

a nod to the heavily forested woodlands of the country.

Take a look at this, because that is absolutely striking.

And over the years, all of these elders...

there's beech, there's sycamores and there's cherrywoods -

will just glow with warmth, and, like the building,

become more harmonious.

Even the lights have been planned

to echo the country's geological history.

Have you noticed the buds at the top of these lighting columns

all around here look like unfurling leaves?

And they've been decorated with a graphic interpretation

of prehistoric fern fossil. Look at that.

That's something you find in the great lumps of coal here.

But I have to say, the attention to detail in design,

right through to the craftsmanship and installation,

is simply the best.

And where possible, surfaces are left textured,

which allows you to touch them as you walk by.

It's a building you want to caress.

It's a building you fall in love with.

WELSH MALE-VOICE CHOIR SINGING

'There's six performance spaces here,

'but for me the most spectacular is the Donald Gordon auditorium.

'Here to tell me more is project director and executive architect, Rob Firman.'

So, what techniques have you used here to echo the Welsh heritage?

The starting point, really, was horizontal strata, natural geology,

and making a building that echoed that.

The idea was, we're going to use lots of different types of wood

in its natural condition. How many can we get?

If we could only have got one when we went to the forests of mid-Wales,

we'd have made do with that, because we wouldn't have felled any trees

specially for the project. We used wood that had already been felled,

that was available to us at the time.

And then we set about organising them in the sizes that we could get,

not try and make everything ordered and regular.

There's a natural harmony within the grains, then.

Do you know, I love looking at this,

because it looks like you've dug a quarry out,

seeing these sedimentary levels.

Part of the skill we brought to this room as designers was,

we made a room that's beautiful. I can say that out loud,

cos I do believe it. We made a beautiful room.

But it also works perfectly for acoustics.

For natural acoustics for the opera or for orchestral music, it's extremely good.

That's obviously the biggest challenge for an architect

working in a performing auditorium like this.

That's the number-one challenge, the acoustics.

To make it sound good, and not get completely buried in that science,

so that the room looks like a scientific laboratory

that's only designed to make you hear something well.

What we wanted for this room was for it to be harmonious materials

and rich, warm colours.

WELSH MALE-VOICE CHOIR SINGING OPERA

-This opened in 2004, didn't it?

-Mm, November 2004, yes.

-How long did it take to build?

-33 months.

It was the best experience, the best people involved in it.

Welsh craftsmen?

Yeah. We had some staggeringly great people.

I mean, the guys that put the slate on the outside

were from a family in North Wales.

That was their family business, laying slate.

I'd be incredibly proud to have worked on this if I was a Welsh guy.

Well, I'm not. I'm a Yorkshireman. I've lived here for a very long time,

-and I now think of myself as Welsh.

-Yeah.

I bet you do. You've got to be an adoptive Welshman now,

to have achieved this. This is a legacy you've left.

-Yeah.

-And that's a nice thing to do in life.

-Feels good.

-Yeah, I bet it does. Yeah. I envy you.

WELSH MALE-VOICE CHOIR SINGING OPERA

So, have the architects successfully designed a building

that's unmistakeably Welsh? Well, I can only speak for myself,

but I think the carefully considered choice of materials

strikes a deep nationalistic chord,

and it's a remarkably effective representation of the motherland.

And it's been a real privilege filming here for a few hours today,

just getting a sense of Welsh culture at its very best.

Welcome back to the National Museum here in the heart of Cardiff.

It's time to find some more antiques to take off to auction,

so let's join up with our experts and see what Catherine's up to.

Chris, I'm looking rather admiringly at your ring.

-Can I have a little look at it?

-Yes, certainly.

-It is absolutely stunning.

-If I can get it off.

-If you can get it off your finger.

-It was jammed with the other one.

-Thank you. May I try it on?

-Certainly.

Where did you get it from?

Well, I happened to see it in an antique shop with my husband,

and I said, "Oh, look at that ring. It reminds you of Great Britain -

-red, white and blue."

-It is!

-I said, "That's gorgeous.

Well, unbeknown to me, he went into the jewellers and put it away for...

-So he was a real romantic?

-Oh, yeah. A rose every month.

-A red rose, a silk one.

-So you saw this in the shop,

and commented that you liked it,

and then he went back and bought it for you.

That's quite correct, yes.

Well, it looks to me to be 1930s in date.

Could be '40s, but it is absolutely stunning.

I think it's so unusual. We've got the ruby here,

and then the sapphire and then the diamonds.

The diamonds, they're not claw set. They're pave set.

-Pave, yes.

-Pave set,

and then we've got white gold actually set onto white gold.

-I just think they look so stunning.

-Well, it's different, isn't it?

It's a really unusual setting,

and it just jumps out at you, doesn't it?

And the colours are just... oh, beautiful.

The reason, if I do sell it,

is because I want to help my grandchildren

-with a deposit for a house.

-Oh, that's very kind of you.

Well, they'll get on the first rung at least.

That's a lovely thought, isn't it?

I would put a value on, of this, of £1,500 to £2,000.

Oh, lovely.

-How does that sound to you?

-Very well.

-Does that sound good?

-Let's put a reserve on of £1,200, just to protect it.

-Yes.

-Oh, definitely.

-Say 1,500 to 2,000, with a 1,200 reserve.

-Yes.

-Do you think you'd be happy about that?

Oh, yes, cos I know it's going for my grandchildren,

-our grandchildren.

-Right. So it's going to a good cause.

It's going for a very good cause, yes.

Well, it's a beautiful ring, and thank you so much for bringing it along to "Flog It!".

-Thank you.

-That's fine, my darling.

Well, that's some serious bling.

Let's hope it catches the eye of a couple of bidders.

As we're in such a remarkable location,

I just had to steal myself away from the experts

and the valuation tables to take a look at some of the other treasures

that are on show here at the National Museum, Cardiff.

And there's one particular one that I really want to show you, and it's over here.

And it's this, this magnificent oil on canvas

painted by Claude Monet in 1905.

It's titled Water Lilies, and it's part of a larger series of works -

in fact 250 other works on water lilies that Monet painted.

It was the main focus of his life, really,

in the last 30 years before he died in 1926.

This particular painting, along with many others here,

was left by Gwendoline and Margaret Davies,

two sisters whose collection has really put this museum on the international map.

I think they're very lucky to have them, as well.

Back in the hall, Mark's with sisters Olwen and Lynn,

who have wowed him with a very quirky carving.

Where on Earth did you get it from?

Well, my husband inherited it in the year 2000,

and it was from an uncle of his,

and his wife, when she was alive, was in the antique business.

-Was she?

-Yes.

Now, would it surprise you to know that this is not a Welsh item?

-THEY LAUGH

-No. Not really, no. No.

But it is wonderful, isn't it?

I mean, it's loosely a sort of humorous-figure group.

-It is, yes.

-And you've got carved ivory.

-Yes.

-Now, ivory is a little bit of an odd subject these days,

because some people don't like ivory,

but this is an antique. This was made during the Meiji period,

so probably around... between 1868 and 1912.

The thing I don't quite understand about it is,

what is the story being told?

To me it looks like this tradesman is being attacked

-by these little gargoyles.

-Yes.

-And I don't know whether...

I think he's throwing salt or something at them.

-I see.

-Because he's got his hand clenched there,

and he's carrying a little pan there, maybe with salt in it.

And down here we've got somebody rubbing their eye,

so maybe some of the salt has gone into their eye.

This one is protecting himself with a bowl of eels or something.

And they're all resting on this barrel,

which again might symbolise the tradesman element.

But you've got nice quality carving,

and there's a little square seal signature underneath the barrel.

-What's in the barrel, would you say?

-Nothing.

Not now, I know. But what was it meant to be?

It's just decorative. It might have carried, um...

-In Japanese history.

-Grain or something like that.

-Oh.

-It's wonderful, isn't it? And where does it live at home?

-Have you had it out on display to the world?

-No.

It's been wrapped in tissue paper and then bubblewrap

in a box in the bottom of the wardrobe.

-That's not very nice.

-I know,

but I just... I'm not very fond of it at all, to be honest with you.

The thing with something like this, the auction house will love it,

because it's fresh to the market. It's quality,

and there's a big collectors' market for it, I'm sure.

-So if we put it in at 500 to 700, with a 500 fixed reserve...

-Yes.

I think they'll come out of the woodwork, if you'll excuse the pun,

and people will want to buy it, because it's a humorous group,

and it'll be quite commercial.

-We might have a surprise or two on the day.

-Oh, lovely.

-Would you be happy with that.

-Yes, I would be happy.

-Yes, that's fine.

-And it can come out of your wardrobe

-and be seen to the world.

-Yes, that's it. Yes.

'Olwen's able to sell this ivory object

'because it's classified as a worked item which pre-dates 1947.'

Now, I've been looking for that special something

amongst the bags and boxes myself, and I've found a real corker.

In the firing line right now, we have Mary for a valuation.

-Did you like that?

-Yeah.

-Mr Bond!

-HE LAUGHS

-This, I absolutely love.

-I know smoking isn't particularly PC. I don't smoke. Do you?

-No.

But having a collection of lighters can still be fun,

and there are plenty of people out there that collect Dunhill lighters.

Because that's what this one is. So, how did you come by it?

-Car boot.

-You're joking! A car-boot sale?

-Yeah.

-What, here in Cardiff?

-Yeah.

Coo, there's some money to be made here, isn't there?

-How much did you pay for that, then?

-About £10.

£10?!

-I think you've done rather well. Do you know that?

-Yeah.

-Did you know it was made by Dunhill?

-Yeah.

It doesn't get much better for a lighter than that, does it?

-Let's face it.

-No.

-Great name.

-It is, yes.

-The company was founded by Alfred Dunhill...

-Oh, yes?

-..in 1907.

-Still going today.

-Yeah.

And we've seen quite a few Dunhill lighters on the show before,

particularly the Aquarium ones with the fish in them.

-I've seen them, yeah.

-We've had quite a few of those,

but this is based on a 17th- century Flintlock tinder pistol,

a tinder lighter. I'm quite attracted to it.

This was first put into production in 1936.

Nevertheless, for me it sums up

that sort of hunting, shooting, fishing type country gent,

walking around in his tweeds.

-You can see it's petrol-filled, can't you?

-Yeah.

So there's its chamber. You undo that little screw,

and put your petrol in there.

-There was a more expensive model...

-Yeah.

-..which was filled with butane, filled with a gas.

-Ah, right.

-This is just a petrol lighter.

-Yeah.

And I bet, if you filled this up with petrol today, that would work.

Yeah.

-Why do you want to sell this now?

-It's a bit manly, isn't it,

-and we don't smoke. We don't smoke, so...

-No.

-It's a nice object to look at, though.

-It is, yes.

Right! Value. A Dunhill lighter made in 1936

as a novelty Flintlock lighter...

I think is worth in the region of £100.

-Yeah.

-Possibly a little bit more.

-I think we put the classic £80 to £120 on it.

-Right.

-A reserve of £70.

-Yeah.

-And hopefully turn your £10 into 100.

-Yeah.

-Happy?

-Yes.

-Shall we do it?

-Yeah.

-Let's hope we hit the target.

That's it. Our experts have now made their final choices of items

to take off to auction,

so it's time to say goodbye to our magnificent host venue for today,

the National Museum, Cardiff,

surrounded by some of the world's finest art.

What a marvellous day out! But right now,

it's time to put our own art to the test.

Let's find out what it's worth. Let's get over to the sale room.

And here's a quick recap of what's going under the hammer.

Catherine was dazzled by this ring, but was she right to put such a high estimate on it?

Let's hope the bidders are more impressed with these Japanese figures than Olwen is!

'And I've fallen for this Dunhill novelty lighter

'that cost Mary just a tenner.'

With all those fantastic antiques under our belt,

we're heading back up the road to the auction house to see how they fare under the hammer.

We've had some solid results so far,

but I hope that Dunhill lighter isn't going to buck the trend.

-Mary, it's good to see you again.

-And you. Yeah.

I've got high hopes for this. I think the name Dunhill will help,

but you just don't know what's going to happen in an auction room.

This is the exciting bit about an auction, putting it to the test,

-but we don't mind, do we? We're brave.

-That's right, yeah.

-Let's give it a go, yeah?

-OK. Yeah.

-OK. This is it.

The Dunhill tinder pistol here, the novelty table-top lighter here.

35 I've got to start. £35.

35. 38, is there anyone at? 35 I have. 38.

40. 42. 45.

48. 50. Five. 60. Five. 70. Five.

-Oh...

-Takes me out at 75.

At 75, the gentleman standing. At 75 now.

At £75 now, standing. At 75.

At £75. Are we all done, then?

-At £75...

-GUNSHOT SOUND EFFECT

Well, it's gone. We had a fixed reserve of 70.

We just did it. £75. I told you it's touch-and-go sometimes.

-You did, yes. Yeah.

-But we got it about right.

Yeah. Yeah. Brilliant.

-Thank you for coming in.

-Thank you.

-It's my pleasure.

Well, we got a bit more than the reserve, so I'm happy with that.

Lastly, we've got two really intriguing items.

Remember that ivory figure group that Mark loved?

And that gorgeous diamond, sapphire and ruby sparkler

that Christine brought in?

Well, they've both been given high values,

but can you antique hunters out there work out

which one gets the bidders most excited?

Well, first under the hammer, it's the ivory carving.

So, why have you decided to sell now?

Because it's in the wardrobe with bubblewrap round it.

-What's it doing in the wardrobe?

-I don't really like it.

You don't like it? OK. Well, there's a big market for this, isn't there?

At 500 to 700, there should be a lot of internet interest in it.

-Should be.

-I hope so.

-Shall we put it to the test, girls?

Shall we? This is what we've waited for, isn't it?

-Indeed.

-Some excitement, and you always get that in an auction room.

-Yes.

-One way or the other, isn't it?

Exactly. One way or the other. OK. Let's do it, shall we? Here we go.

Lot 608 is the Japanese carved-ivory and hardwood figure group here.

Lot 608.

500 I have, and 20 I'll take. At 500.

At 20. 550. 580. 600.

620. 650. 680. 700.

720. 750. 780. 800.

-Great.

-820. 850.

-Yes.

-You see, it was very good, wasn't it?

-Here we go.

-980. 1,000. And 50. 1,100.

And 50. 1,200. And 50. 1,300. And 50. 1,400.

-Is this exciting enough?

-Yes, it is! Very much so.

At £1,500. With me at £1,500. At £1,500.

At 50, is there anywhere? At £1,500. £1,550 on the net.

Are we all out on the telephones and in the room?

At £1,550... Thank you.

-Hammer's gone down.

-Wonderful!

-Isn't that good news?

-Yes, lovely.

-Absolutely!

-Wasn't that worth the wait?

-Yes, it was.

-We were hoping it would be.

-You came up and had a chat to me.

"Oh, Paul, we're ever so frightened. We don't think it's going to sell."

Yeah. Well, you got us excited when you came to value it, you know.

-Well, I try my best.

-You were very good.

No, it's a lovely piece. We loved the quality.

I think it was a bit of a "come and get me",

-but the world found it.

-Treat yourselves!

Yeah. We'll have a meal on the way home now.

Well, Olwen and Lynn were overjoyed with that great result,

and here's another real quality item. Can it do just as well?

Now, listen. We got this wonderful crossover ring,

five sapphires, five rubies, and - what? - 34 diamonds.

-It is a showpiece.

-It's a lot of ring, isn't it?

My two granddaughters have been on to me. They both like it.

-So if it doesn't sell, it'll go home.

-OK.

It's just about to go under the hammer now. Let's watch this.

If it doesn't go, we're not bothered. It's going back home.

I know this means a lot to you. Let's see if we can get £1,500.

This is it. Let's find out what the bidders think.

The sapphire, ruby and diamond crossover ring here.

-It's all gone quiet.

-What do I have to start?

£1,050. At £1,050.

At 1,100 is there now? At 1,050. At 1,050.

-At 1,050. Do I see 1,100 anywhere?

-Struggling a bit.

Are we all done?

At £1,050...

-No. Unsold.

-Didn't sell that.

-That was a struggle.

That's quite all right. It'll go home for the grandchildren.

-Are you quite pleased with that?

-I think Christine is.

-Aren't you? Yeah. I don't blame you.

-It is a beautiful piece.

Well, that was a shock!

'I was expecting something of that quality to fly.'

But at least Christine's happy.

She can take the ring home for her grandchildren.

Well, that's it. It's all over for our owners,

and don't you just love auctions?

You can never predict what's going to happen.

That's why they're so exciting. All credit to our experts,

because it's not an exact science, as you have just seen.

It's quite hard to put a value on something.

Do join us again for many more surprises to come in the future.

But until then, it's goodbye from all of us here in Cardiff.

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