Edinburgh 19 Flog It!

From woollen knitwear to tartan and tweed,

Scotland's textile industries are experiencing a renaissance.

They're setting trends worldwide.

Scottish materials are exported to over 150 countries

and are used by fashion houses such as Chanel, Prada and Louis Vuitton.

So if you thought Scottish textiles were old hat, then think again.

Welcome to a very stylish episode of Flog It!

For over 300 years, the textile industry has been an important

part of Scotland's economy.

The skill and the creative passion of the people involved has

led to unique designs and materials of the highest quality.

And in our valuation day location, Hopetoun House,

just outside Edinburgh, there's a fabulous array of antiques

and collectables and the queue is very well dressed for the occasion.

-There's a chap here in a tartan cap. Very nice.

-How do you do?

-Is that Harris Tweed?

-Yes, it is.

-Very posh. But look at this.

I'm in love with this.

A bit of designer tartan from our very own beauty, Caroline Hawley.

Oh! What have you dropped?

Oh, my! Stop it!

But it's not all about fashion today.

We've got some antiques and collectables to admire too.

We just have to find them.

And the competition is red-hot between our experts

Adam Partridge and Caroline Hawley.

Right, I think I'm going to put a sticker on you -

-ooh! if I may...

-You may, yes.

-..and come and have a look at you later.

-You'd prefer a green one really, wouldn't you?

-I think she'd prefer a yellow one!

-Would you be interested in selling it?

-Yes.

-On the programme?

Can I give you a sticker?

Well, I think without further ado,

it's time to get this massive great big crowd inside in the warm

and let our experts get to work. Do you want to go inside, everyone?

Yes, of course they do. Well, keep watching.

There could be one or two gems as our experts get busy.

On today's show, can you guess which of these items makes £1,000 at auction -

a porcelain plaque of a wise old man...

-You seem disappointed, Harvey.

-It's a member of the family.

-Yes.

..a rather strange piece of pottery with a hefty bit of damage...

I took it to an antique dealer who said it was rubbish

and to throw it in the bin.

..or a rose gold chain for a watch.

I would imagine, you know, 100 years ago, in that age of elegance,

when you had your waistcoat and your pocket watch.

Well, stay watching and you'll find out.

Well, I've been doing Flog It! for over 12 years now and one thing

I can guarantee is you'll never get tired of the buzz and the excitement

of a valuation day, because you don't know what's going to turn up.

The atmosphere in this room is absolutely electric.

You can feel it, can't you, because all of these people want to

own something that's worth thousands and thousands of pounds and

it's our expert's job to find it

and that's what we're doing right now.

So it's over to Adam Partridge and a truly treasured belonging.

Well, Harvey. This is a very finely painted porcelain plaque of this

scholarly gentleman that you've brought in.

Where did you get him from?

Well, I was a country vet in Ayrshire for nearly 30 years

before retiring to Peebles and it was a gift from one of my customers.

She invited me down to her house one day and said,

"I want to show you something. Would you like this?

"I'm frightened that when I die - my husband's gone, no family -

"that it'll end up in a skip."

That's something we hear quite often, actually.

So we invited her up and the look on her face

when she saw it on our wall...

-A real treasured memory?

-Yes.

-Yes, I'm sure it was.

And how long ago was that?

-30-plus years ago.

-Wow! And have you had it on display in your home?

-All the time.

-I think he might be - he's studying a Hebrew manuscript

but it's very hard to tell because the actual writing on the page

is more squiggles than anything else. It's beautifully painted.

Look at the beard and the wrinkles on his brow.

The veins in his hands, the fingernails, the leaves of the book.

It's just extremely finely painted and it's a porcelain

plaque by the very famous German porcelain factory, KPM,

which was actually founded by, I think,

Frederick II in about 1763. And it's still producing today.

They made a wide range of items

but the plaques are the most famous things, really.

And they're hugely in demand.

Now, this sort of plaque was typically produced and painted

at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.

They were made in quite large numbers

but of course, not being printed, every single one was hand-painted.

Which is why they're considered such a quality collectable item nowadays.

If this one had scantily clad or even nude figures on it,

it would be really worth quite a few thousand pounds.

I would estimate it at sort of £500-800.

I would suggest you put a reserve of £500 on him

so that he doesn't sell for any lesson that.

And I would expect him to push on hopefully towards the £1,000 mark.

Does that seem a sensible thing to get on with?

Yes and the fact that it will go to a good home...

You seem disappointed, Harvey.

-He's a member of the family.

-Yes, that's right.

-Are you sure you should be selling it?

-Can I go and ask my wife?

-Is she here with you?

-No.

-Oh, dear. Does she know you've come with it?

-Yes.

-Oh, good.

Why are you selling it, Harvey? You're clearly very attached to it.

Well, I'm frightened that the same thing happens.

The family are in Canada and Texas.

I'm frightened it'll end up in a skip so I'd rather it went to a good home.

Well, it certainly will go to a good home

because collectors of these plaques are passionate types

and it'll be absolutely loved and treasured wherever it might end up.

Thank you.

I really hope someone will give Harvey's plaque a good home.

Now next, Caroline's found a quiet spot to value a lovely

collection of animals - of the stuffed variety, of course!

So here we are in this fabulous yellow silk

drawing-room of Hopetoun House.

Thank you so much, Andrew,

-for bringing these gorgeous little toys in.

-My pleasure.

Now you tell me what you know about them first.

I've collected toys for quite a few years.

German toys I specialise in and Schuco is a very good make.

But I've had these for about 15-20 years and I arrived this morning

-and I forgot to bring a key to wind them up.

-Oh, Andrew!

And it's just a very standard clock key. What can I say?

Oh, well, not to worry. They're all here and they're beautiful.

Now, as you said,

-they're all made by the famous German toy maker Schuco.

-Yeah.

Now Schuco is one of a group of German toy makers, mainly based in Nuremberg.

-But there was Steiff - have you heard of the Steiff company...

-Yeah. The bears.

..that made teddies, yeah, bears,

and then the Lehman Bros that specialised in tin-plate toys.

But these little felt animals, I think, are lovely.

-There are in very good condition.

-Yeah.

Apart from the little bear at the front,

-which is missing an ear, isn't he?

-Yeah.

They would all wind up at the back and do the actions.

-This one here would play the drum.

-Yeah.

-And then this one is sort of dancing bear.

-Yeah.

I think this one here at the front, missing an ear, I think

-if he was wound, he'd do sort of tipple tales, wouldn't he?

-Yeah.

Tipples over. Tipples over.

-And then this one, my favourite, holding the stein.

-Yeah.

The pottery stein.

-He would take it to his mouth and drink this.

-Yeah.

-And it's lovely that this little pottery stein is in perfect condition.

-Survived.

-Survived, yeah.

Actually coming from the '30s, you know, you would think,

you know, they should be actually worse than that but they've been looked after.

-An awful lot worse than that.

-Yes.

If we look this good nearly 100 years on,

we're going to be all right, aren't we?

-I'm 127 as it is! I'm doing well.

-You're doing very well!

-You look great on it.

-Yeah, so...

These would have belonged in a fairly wealthy family.

-They are not everyday items.

-No.

-They would have cost a fair amount.

-Hm.

-Do you recall what you paid for them?

-I probably paid maybe...

£15 each or something like that for them, you know.

But we need to look at today's value.

As a group, I would say we'd put an auction estimate

of £152-£200 on them,

with a fixed reserve of £150.

I'm sure they could fly, they could do a lot better than that.

I've every confidence.

Yeah? Well, I have. I've got every confidence.

-I think they'll make that.

-Shall we take them to auction?

-Let's do it.

-Excellent.

-What do they say, "Flog it"?

-It is!

-Let's flog it!

-Let's flog it!

That's the spirit!

We're talking textiles today and I'm meeting the experts.

The first lady of tartan, Deirdre Kinloch Anderson,

whose family has been in the Highland dress business

for 150 years,

and award-winning Scottish fashion designer Judy R Clark.

What have you got here?

Well, our company has a lot of history,

and in the early 1900s

we used to outfit the Scottish regiments in Canada

and these are some of the tartans that we sent out

to the Canadian Scottish regiments

and the Highlanders who were abroad.

And I'd just like to show you this because it's His Majesty

the King's piper at Balmoral

-and I think this piece of tartan...

-It's a bit moth-eaten, isn't it?

It is moth-eaten and so I think that we had to replace it with

a new piece of tartan.

That is a striking bit of Scottish tartan.

You've received an OBE for your work involved in researching tartans.

The recording of tartan was in private hands

with different organisations.

Tartan belongs to the people of Scotland,

and so we worked for seven years to pass an act through Parliament

and establish the Scottish Register Of Tartans

so that tartan can be safeguarded in perpetuity in the public domain.

Thank you very much.

Talking about the next generation, next to me is Judy.

You are a fashion designer.

You work with a lot of Scottish fabrics, don't you?

What do you like about them?

For me it all started with Harris Tweed.

I love the complexity of colour and depth of...

-That's Harris Tweed, isn't it?

-This is Harris Tweed.

My uncle was a weaver so that's how it all began.

-OK, so it's in the family.

-It's in the family.

And then I started investigating what other mills were in Scotland

and we're lucky enough to have some of the best

producers in the world producing the fabric.

So I went to see them

and found some lace production in Ayrshire

and some tartan made in the Borders by Calzeat.

The fabrics are very unique to Scotland and Scottish heritage

and very much in vogue right now.

-Yeah, it is a heritage thing, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Which is quite nice.

-You designed this, didn't you?

-Yeah.

-Could you model that for me?

-Can I see what that looks like?

-Sure.

Give us a twirl!

Look at that! That is absolutely fabulous, isn't it?

Now let's join our experts and see

if we can find anything with as much heritage as that.

Next, Adam has got his hands on a watch chain without a watch.

Quite literally a timeless classic.

As the chandeliers are sparkling so is your gold chain.

-How did you come to own that?

-It passed down through my father's side.

It belonged to my grandfather and my great-grandfather, I'm not very sure.

-Did you have memories of them with a pocket watch?

-No, I don't.

-It was just shut away...?

-It was just in a drawer.

And when did you discover it?

My mother gave it to me 10-12 years ago.

Not long after my father died she gave it to me. There were two.

-The other one went to my sister.

-But why are you selling it now?

Because it's in a drawer. Nobody... Nobody wants it.

Well, very few people wear pocket watches these days.

But imagine 100 years ago in that age of elegance,

when you had your waistcoat and your pocket watch

and if you were on television you'd wear a suit and a tie.

Whoops! Like I used to.

It's a very nice... Graduated links.

You see they get slightly bigger all the way along.

An Albert chain

because Prince Albert was very fond of these chains.

It's in rose gold. You can see that sort of rose colour to it.

And each link is stamped, as they should be.

Because every single link is an individual piece of gold.

And they will have a 9 on it for 9 carat and a 375,

which shows it's 375 parts out of 1,000, or 37.5% gold.

-OK.

-Pure gold.

And then you've got the fob on the end here, which is

a swivel one, a nice one. A little citrine stone.

You've decided to sell it. Any idea what it's worth?

-£100?

-More, more.

-Good, I'm pleased. I'm pleased you didn't say 500.

-No.

-No, I would say you've got to reserve it at 300.

-OK.

-So I would put 300-400 estimate.

-OK.

Hopefully it'll make 400-ish, but it'll certainly be worth £300.

I'm surprised!

-Any plans on what you'd do with the proceeds?

-It'll go to the family.

-That's very nice. I'm sure it'll come in very useful.

-It will

-Good. Well, thank you very much for coming along.

-Thank you.

Well, that's our first three items selected,

so we're off to auction, and coming with us,

Harvey wants his special painting to go to a good home.

Will there be a bidder in the room who likes it as much as he does?

The Shuko collection is in great condition

and that's really important when selling toys.

Will they make over the estimate?

And there's not much call for a watch chain nowadays,

so will anyone want this rose gold Albert?

We are travelling nearly 50 miles west to the Great Western auction house.

It's a Saturday sale and the room is packed with bidders, and holding

the fort and the gavel is Glasgow's glamorous girl, Anita Manning.

200.

And first up from the Flog It! lots it's the Albert chain.

I love this because it's rose gold.

It belongs to Norma and not for much longer.

-Rose gold is pinkier, isn't it?

-Yeah, that's right, and a lot of these Albert chains

were made from rose gold in the Victorian period.

-You seek more rose gold than you do nowadays.

-Yeah.

We are going to put it to the test right now. This is it!

A good Victorian lot, ladies and gentlemen. Bids on the books.

And I can start the bidding at 200.

210...

That chap right in front standing right in front of Anita.

You can't miss his bid.

270. 280. Fresh bidder. 290.

300.

300 on the book.

-Well, this is good.

-It's selling, anyway.

-310.

Fresh bidder again. 310.

320.

330. 340.

350.

360. 370. It's on the floor at £370.

-That's the market value today.

-Any advance on 370?

All done at 370. 370...

Yes! £370. Spot on, Adam. And you're happy with that, aren't you?

-Yes, very happy.

-Very good. Good, good. Well done.

If you've got anything like that and you want to sell it,

bring it along to one of our valuation days.

Pick up the details on our BBC website.

Just log onto bbc.co.uk/flogit

Next, that distinguished gentleman and his ceramic plaque.

It doesn't get much better than a KPM plaque.

I'm pretty sure this should meet a lot of interest.

It should do. Happy to let it go?

-I'd like to see it go to a good home.

-OK.

Let's see if we can find it a good home. It's going under the hammer now.

This quite superb 19th-century hand-painted Berlin

porcelain plaque.

Can we say 800?

-600?

-Where are those hands?

-Who will start me at £400?

400 bid. Any advance on 400?

-They've obviously not got any bids on the book.

-Any advance on £400?

420. 450.

480. 500.

520.

550.

£550.

Any advance on 550?

Any advance on 550?

All done at 550...

-Sold! 550.

-Thank you very much.

-Harvey...

-Just, just.

Thank you for your handshake. I'm a little disappointed, actually, but...

I came along to you lads and I didn't know what...

-There was no signature on it.

-No.

-And that worried me.

And when you told me about the history of it...

-It's just a bearded man isn't that commercial.

-No.

But it's a beautiful thing

and I guess the market has spoken today in Glasgow.

It's often hard parting with a treasured belonging,

but there's comfort in knowing that it will be appreciated by a new owner.

Up next, the little drummer and his friends.

This lot will definitely put a big grin on your faces,

it's the Shuko toys,

and I particularly love the pig playing a drum!

Andrew, it's fantastic! We had a valuation, £150-£200.

Anita thinks it should do 200 to 300,

so she's put a fixed reserve at 200. And I think she's right.

I think you could get the top end of that.

-Are we ready?

-Ready!

-Let's do it! Let's put them under the hammer. Here we are.

Will you start me at £100 for the Shukos?

100 bid. 110. 120. 130.

140. 150.

160. 170. 180.

-180. 190.

-Another bid.

190. 200. 210.

220. Any advance on 220?

-Yes, there's a guy...

-230.

-Any advance in 230?

-It's a nice little lot.

-Good lot.

-250. 260.

-Good nucleus for a collection to start.

-Absolutely.

290.

£290.

300.

-That's more like it.

-310.

Any advance on 310?

Any advance on 310? 310...

-Yes! £310. We are happy. You happy?

-Over the moon.

-That's a brilliant result.

-That's a good deal.

-Thank you.

-And I've got one thing to say to that -

-HE MIMICS DRUM ROLL

Toys in good condition are really sought after,

so it's no surprise his collection beat the estimate.

Well, that's our first visit to the saleroom completed.

So far, so good, and I can't wait to come back here

later on in the show for some more auction action.

But I was also rather impressed with our valuation day location,

Hopetoun House,

definitely one of the finest country houses in all of Scotland.

But I wanted to know more about the people behind it past and present,

so I went off to investigate.

This is a family home full of remarkable history.

For over 300 years the Hopetouns have lived on this land

and looked after this fine house.

The earls of Hopetoun were military men, politicians

and some of the first bankers in Scotland.

They played important roles in Scottish society

and were very well respected for their clean reputation.

And here at Hopetoun they were looked after by dozens of staff,

from chambermaids to gamekeepers and footman.

Hopetoun remains a family home, with loyal staff and volunteers.

Without all these people Hopetoun could not survive as a living,

breathing historic building.

Meet the people of Hopetoun past and present.

The 11th Earl, Andrew Hopetoun.

Hilda and Mabel, volunteers with over 60 years' service between them.

Head guide and dapper gentleman, Ian Lowe.

And education coordinator Kath Ward.

Who better to tell us about their favourite Hopetoun characters?

This is the small library

and what we have been doing this winter is taking the books down.

The cleaning staff do that for us -

we're not allowed to go up ladders any more - and gently clean them.

And I'm making a shelf index as well.

And I do that at home on the computer.

My favourite person is the sixth Earl and Countess

because of the wonderful travels they did.

With the coming of railway,

they travelled all over the Continent and they went to Russia,

they went to Oberammergau and they also took a trip up the Nile

and back again and then all over the Holy Land.

Can you imagine?

It would be very, very hard to pick a single favourite character

from Hopetoun's history, not least because

they are all members of my family so they'd get very upset

if they were to hear me choosing favourites.

But having said that, the fourth Earl of Hopetoun,

who is behind me here, is a truly magnificent man.

He was a general in the Napoleonic wars.

He was one of, ultimately, Wellington's generals.

And Wellington described him as the ablest man in his army.

He was an extraordinary character. He was very tall.

He was probably six foot five, six foot six.

So he was a good three or four inches taller than me.

He was a very brave man.

When he was on the field of battle with his troops, he did keep

getting wounded, which was a concern for all those about him.

After that, once he'd retired from the army,

he came back to live here after his brother had died.

He did a huge amount for Hopetoun.

He also did a huge amount for the community as well.

He did a lot of works on the estate. He built a lot of buildings.

He built a lot of walls, purely in order to create jobs and employment.

He really must have been a fascinating character.

LIVELY CHATTER

The children come here to learn about life

in the Georgian and Victorian times,

in particular life as a domestic servant.

CHILDREN CHATTER

We do have a particular favourite.

He was a man called Mr George Jamieson

and he was the Under Butler at Hopetoun.

I know that because I happen to have his jacket here in front of us,

and this is one of the jackets that the children

actually get to wear when they dress up as servants.

So, they really are wearing a piece of history.

It says on the nametag,

"The most honourable Marquess of Linlithgow,

"Under Butler Jamieson."

We do have a lovely photograph in the servery upstairs.

It shows a gathering at Hopetoun with the servants at the front,

and, in particular, there's a butler there,

and we like to believe that's Butler Jamieson.

Well, we open the house at 10:30.

I walk round the house room by room,

checking that everything's where it should be.

And at 10:30 we open the doors

and welcome the visitors in

to share with us the experience

of Hopetoun House.

I am drawn particularly to Hersey,

who was the wife of the seventh earl,

who went on to become the first Marquess.

So, she was the first Marchioness of Linlithgow.

She was a very Victorian lady, painfully shy.

When they went out to Australia,

that shyness was regarded as haughtiness and aloofness.

Now, nothing could be further from the truth.

The Earl was offered an opportunity to shoot in a gallery

and she asked if she could shoot as well,

And she hit five bull's-eyes in a row,

and that happened after she fell from her horse and nearly died.

And it came out that she could ride a horse and shoot a gun like a man.

The news of that got back to Australia and she was...

She became very much one of them.

One of my very favourite people involved with Hopetoun

would be third Marquess, who was the Laird when we started coming here.

He was a honey.

One of his "claims to fame,"

in inverted commas,

was that sadly he was taken prisoner

early in the war.

And because his father was who he was,

Charles ended up in Colditz.

And Charles and several others were considered the Prominente,

and I gather that the Germans retreated

with the Prominente as hostages,

which must have been very scary.

It's a house and it's a home.

It's not just a home, it's the home of the Hope family.

So, it's an ongoing story.

It's a living story.

It's not something about the past, which is dead,

it's something which is continuing on today.

It's a lovely house, it's a lovely family

and we, as guides,

just seem to be absorbed into it.

But it is a lovely house.

It's one of Scotland's well-kept secrets.

It is an extraordinary privilege to live here.

I mean it's a very, very beautiful house.

It's a wonderful house.

And one of the great joys is that it works very well now,

to live in as a family home,

in the same way that it did in, I imagine, the 1750s.

Hopetoun has filled my retirement.

I also embroidered one of the chairs in the dining room.

So, I've made my mark.

Back at our valuation day at Hopetoun House,

Caroline has saved a strange cockerel from the bin,

but how much do you think it's worth?

Lesley, thanks so much for bringing this wonderful figure.

What do you know about?

-A friend gave me it about eight years ago...

-Mm-hm.

And that's all. I really thought it was ugly.

And where's it been the last eight years?

It's been in a cupboard and in the boot of my car.

In the boot of your car?

Why has it been in the boot of your car?

Because I took it to an antique dealer who said it was rubbish

and to throw it in the bin. So, I just left it in the boot in the car.

I don't think this is a piece of rubbish at all.

And I would never put this anywhere near a rubbish bin,

and I'm so delighted that you haven't either.

The title of this figure is

The Sleeper Awakes.

It was modelled in 1931.

-And do you know the maker?

-No.

Charles Vyse.

He was a prolific maker of these kinds of figures,

brightly coloured, flower sellers, female figures like this.

This wonderful, bright...

As I'm saying wonderful, you're thinking, "no".

You really don't like it, do you?

He was born in 1882 to a family of potters,

and he was apprenticed to Royal Doulton.

At the age of 14, he got a scholarship to

the Royal College of Art.

-I can see by your face, you don't like it.

-No.

You really don't like it?

If you look closely at the colours, the vibrancy...

It's just beautiful.

I love it. She does have an awful lot of damage to her.

She's actually broken across here and been stuck together.

And the cockerel has had his neck off,

so I'll carefully turn it over,

and we can see quite clearly

the impressed mark here,

"Charles Vyse, Chelsea."

Now, this wonderful glaze to it...

Can you not appreciate that glaze?

-No.

-No!

Would you be surprised

if I was to say it could be worth as much as £100?

-Definitely surprised, yes.

-Would you?

Would you be surprised

if I told you I thought it was worth

four times £100?

-I'd be shocked.

-Would you?!

-Well, Lesley, prepare to be shocked...

-It was going in the bin!

..because I would put this into auction

with an estimate of £400-£600.

-Really?

-Really.

SHE LAUGHS

For this...

I mean, I was told to put it in the bin and I thought it would have

been maybe 10, 15, £20,

roundabout that, so...

A good piece of rubbish.

Oh, it is not a piece of rubbish! So, you're thrilled?

I'm absolutely thrilled about the value

and I'm shocked at the value.

It's all broken and...

And I wouldn't be at all surprised if it gets even more.

But shall we put a discretionary reserve on it of 400?

-You don't want it back, do you?

-I don't want it back.

Well, why don't we just put a safety net of £300 reserve?

Fantastic.

Well, it's a lovely piece and thank you very much for bringing it along.

-Thank you very much for looking at it.

-It's a pleasure,

-and I look forward to seeing what it gets at auction.

-Thank you.

Well, here we are in Scotland surrounded by fishing country.

A very famous area for salmon fishing, isn't it?

It certainly is, yes.

And are you a fisherman, Charles?

I was but I don't go out so much now.

I'm not quite so fit as I used to be.

OK, it's quite a demanding thing, isn't it, I believe?

I used to fish mainly rivers,

so I was walking about all the time, you know?

-This is a salmon reel, right?

-I think so, yes.

Yeah, and it's copper-plated on a brass body there.

There's no maker's name on it, is there?

No, that's a strange thing that. I couldn't find one either.

It's a bit of a shame. It's certainly 19th century.

-It's old, yeah?

-Yes, handmade,

obviously the major name is Hardy's or Farlow's.

-You'd want to see that name for it to be worth an awful lot.

-Yeah.

But it's really nice to see something that's an antique

with a local interest really. Now, how did you come to own it?

I swapped it 30 odd years ago for a little push-on lawn mower.

That was quite a good swap then, wasn't it?

-Well, I was quite interested in that because I liked the look of it.

-Yeah.

-I knew it was old, you know?

-Did you ever use this one, by the way?

-No, I never used it.

-No, it's more of a collectors thing, isn't it?

-Yes.

-It's in quite nice condition really, isn't it?

-The only damage there is a little...

-It's got a wee squash on it.

A wee squash, that's a nice way of putting it. A wee squash on there.

It's pretty obvious how it works.

That bit hooks into the grips on the rod and then you reel them in.

So, why have you decided to sell it?

Is it cos you're not fishing any more?

Well, I don't fish any more and it just lies in a drawer in the shed.

-What's it going to fetch?

-I haven't got a clue.

-Have a guess.

20 quid? 30 quid?

Yeah, I think a bit better. But you're in the right area.

I think local interest will be quite strong in it.

I'm going to go estimate 40 to 60.

-Oh, well.

-Bit more.

-That's near enough.

-And we'll let it go with no reserve?

-No reserve.

Absolutely right. That's the way, that's the spirit.

We'll let Anita do her magic on it.

That was one of the other reasons I wanted to come.

I wanted to go and see Anita.

Hopefully we'll get to a point where she stands up,

cos that's usually a good sign. Have you seen that?

-Yeah, when she gets up and starts pointing the finger?

-30, £40!

-And then suddenly, you and me will be going, "Go on!"

-Yeah, she is.

So, thanks for coming along and I'll see you there.

That's no problem, Adam. Thank you very much.

Well, our day here is well under way

but hundreds of people keep turning up.

The colonnade is full, as you can see. This is a holding area.

We have the main ballroom through there.

And this is where I'm a bit cheeky and I say,

"Show us what you've got!"

HE LAUGHS

Look at that, treasures worthy of our wonderful surroundings.

And, hopefully, somebody here has got something

that's worth a small fortune and we're going to find it.

So here we are, Laura, in this lovely drawing room,

where of course the ladies, and some gentleman,

would withdraw after dinner.

It's beautiful,

as is this little delight that you've brought along.

Now, are you going to tell me all about it?

My father-in-law passed away

and we were cleaning out his house,

and in the attic was the last bit to clear out.

And inside a box was this ring.

So it could've easily been just left in the attic or thrown out?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

We think it's probably late 1800s, cos it would

-go back the right time, roughly.

-I think you are right.

To me, it looks as if it comes from the late 1800s,

early 1900s, sort of 1890, 1910.

It's rather beautifully done in rubies,

and the central diamond has a rather unusual cut to it.

It weighs just about a quarter of a carat, so 0.25 carat.

If I take it off here, you can see it's got an extender,

-can you see, across here?

-Yeah.

Which... It's obviously been too large for somebody at some time.

So instead of cutting out the gold, they've put this extender in

so you can wear it on a smaller finger.

The extender here is marked 9 carat, but the ring itself isn't.

-It's a beautiful thing, and isn't it sparkly?

-It is, it's very sparkly.

Now, of course, this is in electric light.

But can you imagine the lady that wore this with candlelight, lamplight?

It would sparkle beautifully, and dance.

-So, Laura, do you wear this ring?

-No, I find it a bit too big.

Too big?! Can diamonds be too big?

CROWD: No.

I don't think so. You're in the minority, Laura!

Have you any idea as to the value?

Probably about £100, I think, is what we thought.

-I would say you're about spot-on.

-Right.

-Well done, Laura.

I would say something like between £120 and £180,

but with a reserve of possibly £110, with discretion,

that's 10% discretion, so if somebody offered 100 we'd let it go.

-Are you OK with that?

-Yes, that's fine.

-Brilliant.

Right, we'll take it to auction and see what happens.

-See if we can find a lady who loves it as much as we do.

-OK, great.

-Thanks for bringing it, Laura.

-Thank you.

# Shine bright like a diamond Shine bright like a diamond

# Shine bright like a diamond. #

Well, as you've just seen,

our experts have made their final choices of items to

take off to auction, but before we go, there's just enough time

for me to come behind the scenes and show you this exquisite clock.

It's circa 1730, and it's by Jan Henkels of Amsterdam.

Now, not only does it tell the time,

but it tells the day, the month and the phase of the moon,

which is quite important to travellers, as it would light their way home,

and to merchant shippers awaiting the high tides.

Now, in a moment, that is going to strike on the hour,

and I want to show you what happens.

MELODIOUS CHIMING

What a beautiful clock!

Just one of the many wonderful items we've seen here at Hopetoun House.

But we must say goodbye to our host location

and head back to the auction house for the last time.

And here's what's coming with us.

Lesley was going to throw it out,

but Caroline spotted it for its prestigious maker.

Could it really make the reserve with so much damage?

And Charlie is hoping his salmon reel isn't

a fish out of water in the saleroom.

This diamond ring seems a steal for the price.

Will it make the top end of the estimate?

I caught up with our auctioneer, Anita Manning, on the preview day,

to talk about the cracked cockerel.

We've got 400 to 600 on that.

I would imagine without the damage it would do the top end plus a lot more.

It's very, very difficult for an auctioneer to make

an accurate estimate when it's as badly damaged as that.

But the thing is, it is rare and I think that the estimate's just about right,

and I'm hoping that it might be a bit of "come and buy me."

I don't know. That's the excitement of the auction.

-We do not know until the hammer falls.

-Exactly!

You'll see it in just a few minutes, whether the damage holds it back.

But first, it's Anita's fan, Charlie.

-You're keen on Anita, aren't you?

-Oh, aye.

-Oh, aye, aye, aye.

Never thought I'd ever see her in life, like, you know?

-Drawing in those bids.

-Well, we're trusting the low reserve, you see?

-OK. And hopefully we get £40 or £50. Fingers crossed.

-Yeah, whatever.

Might get a bit more, you never know.

It's an auction, anything can happen. Let's put it to the test.

Late 19th, early 20th century copperised brass fishing reel.

£60.

60. 40.

Start me at £20.

20 bid. Any advance on 20?

25. 30. 35.

40. £40.

Any advance on £40?

45, fresh bidder. Any advance on 45?

-All done at 45. 45.

-GAVEL FALLS

Yes, the Hammer's gone down - £45. Spot on, he was spot on.

That's OK, yeah.

-We reeled them in.

-HE LAUGHS

50. 50, 60, 70,

80, 90, 100.

Going under the hammer right now, a late Victorian diamond ring.

Hopefully it's going to sparkle here in the saleroom.

Sadly we don't have Laura - it's half term,

she's on holiday with her little child.

We do have our gorgeous expert Caroline,

-who gravitated towards this, cos I know you could wear this.

-I could.

You were walking around going, "look, look, look!"

-I'm hopeful we get the top end.

-So am I.

-Are you?

-I think we will, yeah.

-Well, let's find out.

It's going under the hammer right now. This is it.

Now, this is an early 19th century ring.

We have over half a carat.

Can we say 500? 300?

Start me at £200.

Start me at £100, then.

It's going the wrong way.

110, 120, 130,

140, 150, 200,

210, 220, 230, 240.

That's determination. Look at this lady behind me.

270, 280, 290,

300. 300.

Any advance on 300?

310. 310.

320. On the floor at £320.

For the old cut diamond.

-320.

-320.

Any advance on 320? All done at 320?

-320.

-GAVEL FALLS

-Yes!

-£320, but hard luck, look - everyone loves an under-bidder.

APPLAUSE

-But £320, sold in the room over there.

-Brilliant. Laura will be thrilled.

We caught up with the buyer to find out why he was such a keen bidder.

I'm Alistair Storey. This is my wife Isabel.

I bought her a ruby and diamond ring

because it was my 65th birthday yesterday, and I thought

it would be a nice present for my wife to celebrate my birthday.

-I loved it, and I was pleased that he got it.

-Yeah.

We're absolutely crazy about each other,

so we each treat the other the same way.

She's spoils me, I spoil her.

How romantic!

Right, this is the moment that I have personally been waiting for.

I've just been joined by Lesley, our owner, and our expert, Caroline.

And going under the hammer we have The Sleeper Awakes.

So wake up everyone, because we've got that young girl,

sitting on a rather oversized cockerel, going under the hammer.

-It's quite a rare piece, it's stunning.

-It is stunning.

It good piece of '30s studio pottery.

Would Sophie like to inherit this, do you think?

-I don't think so. No, I don't think so.

-No, I don't think she would, either.

But I tell you what, there's a buyer for everything, anything can happen. Let's find out.

-This is a Charles Vyse pottery group.

-We could be taking it home.

No.

Will you start me at £400?

We've got phone lines, look - two phones.

300 on the books.

320. 350. 380.

400. 450.

The book is out. It's on the phone at £480.

Second phone line has come on now, look.

520. 550.

580. 600.

650. 700.

750. 800.

-This is excellent, now.

-It is.

850. 880.

-Yep.

-900.

On the phone, Claire's phone at £900.

And that was going on the skip, wasn't it?

Yes, that was going straight into the skip.

-That's why it was in the boot of the car.

-Yeah.

Charles Vyse figure, £900.

-Any advance?

-Take 920?

-I'll take 920.

930. I'll take it in tens.

930.

940.

950?

-950.

-950.

Hopefully we'll get that £1,000.

-£1,000?

-£1,000.

1,000. It's 1,000 with Philip's phone.

But bravely fought.

-Any advance on £1,000?

-LAUGHTER

Any advance on 1,000? £1,000.

GAVEL FALLS

-£1,000. Well done, well done.

-APPLAUSE

Thank you, that was great!

That was so rare - the damage didn't put anybody off, did it, really?

-And there was damage.

-How about that?

-And you were taking that to the skip.

-Definitely.

-Fantastic, I'm so happy.

-Wow.

Hey, what a way to end our show with, here in Glasgow.

A fabulous way to end it, in fact. Everybody's happy.

We've had some great results, but I think that tops the lot.

There's the surprise I was guaranteeing.

Goodbye from everyone here.

I think we've all done a fantastic job, don't you?