Muncaster Castle 31 Flog It!

Today, we're in Cambria and I'm in the Great Hall of Muncaster Castle.

Just outside of Ravenglass, this place is a real architectural gem.

Through here, if you follow me, that's the magnificent dining room.

Normally place-set with the finest family silver

but a special event is just about to take place.

And here's another clue, if you come in this room here,

the Drawing Room.

Well, you see generations of family portraits

adorning all the walls. Look at this!

And, crew setting up, making their final preparations,

because this is our magnificent

valuation day venue.

Welcome to Flog It!

Do you know, I got a cracking feeling we're going to be in for a really special day.

Just look at the size of the queue, everyone's happy,

the weather is fantastic and the view is so spectacular.

Over there is Scafell Pike, England's highest mountain,

measuring a whopping 978 metres!

And talking about big and great things,

just look at the size of this fantastic queue!

Hundreds of people have turned up today,

laden with antiques and collectables.

And they're here to challenge our experts to find out...

-ALL:

-What's it worth?

Stay tuned and you'll find out.

Would everyone like to take one thing out for me?

Their star lot.

Only the very best will do for James Lewis.

You got some nice things today, folks.

And he's teamed up with Caroline Hawley...

-You've a bit of carnival glass?

-Ah, yeah.

..who always knows what to do to bring out the best.

Hold it up to this lovely sunshine.

See, it's shining?

-It's from my grandma, you know?

-Yeah? It's lovely.

Although, it doesn't stop them monkeying around

when they get together.

Hold that,

here we go.

Oh, wow!

I'm just going...

-See you!

-Oh, right.

Now, let's get inside and get these valuations under way.

Now, there's a touch of class on today's show

with a dress fit for a ball.

That would move wonderfully as you danced.

And a decanter to dazzle a dinner party.

Well, I do know Disraeli was there.

Really?

-Yes!

-Disraeli could have been served from this claret jug?

He could...

Quite possibly, yes.

And I take a trip on a Victorian steamboat

to find out what life was like on the lakes,

here in Cumbria!

BOAT HORN HONKS

The only thing left now is to take a bow.

I enjoyed that.

Enjoying yourselves?

-ALL:

-Yes!

-That's what it's all about.

We have taken over every room in the castle today.

So many people have turned up.

Here in the Drawing Room, we're surrounded by family portraits,

but also by owners laden with antiques and collectables.

James Lewis is at the table and he's just about to start his valuation.

Laura, let me take you back to a different era.

We're in the middle of Queen Victoria's reign.

-All right.

-The date of this is 1867...

a long dining table,

string quartet in the corner.

The diners are all sitting there

with their black tie and dinner jackets.

And that is the type of scene that this would have graced.

It is a fantastic claret jug.

Is it something that you've used?

Not used, no.

But I remember it as a child.

It belonged to my father's side of the family.

It was his great-grandfather that purchased it, I should imagine.

They bought the Strand Hotel in 1850-something,

I can't remember the exact date.

OK, what sort of guests did they have?

-Well, I do know Disraeli was there.

-Really?

-Yes!

-Disraeli could've been served from this claret jug?

Quite possibly, yes.

Of that period?

-Yes.

-How wonderful? That speaks volumes, doesn't it?

It was clearly a very good quality hotel.

Oh, yes, but I remember as a child, going to the hotel...

and Friday was silver cleaning day.

And occasionally, this was out to be cleaned.

So, how did you come to eventually own it?

Well...

at the end of the lifespan of the hotel,

back in the '70s, there were three spinsters who

were left with the hotel and they were getting on in years.

One of them died and so the other two decided to sell up.

-Oh!

-And we had a big, fantastic clearance sale.

That happened to be in the sale and it all came flooding back to me.

And my father was with me and he said,

"You really liked that, didn't you?"

And I said, "Yes."

Next thing I knew, he'd bought it.

Aw, lovely.

And he said, "There you are. There's the present for you."

-Wonderful.

-Yes.

In terms of quality, it doesn't get much better than this.

It's by a maker, Daniel and Charles Houle,

who are London makers,

and specialised in this near-Renaissance style.

You could imagine the shape,

almost on a Roman table.

But then when you apply the decoration,

it becomes more of a Renaissance style.

We've got these embossed flower heads

and scrolling foliage applied to the body.

The hallmark is up at the top, exactly where you want to see it,

just under the lip. And it hasn't rubbed at all.

It's in lovely condition.

I guess you want to know what it's worth?

-Yes, please.

-Um...

I think we should put an estimate of...

£600 to £900.

I think it's a wonderful thing.

-That's fantastic.

-It's lovely.

I would like to see a reserve of...

£550 as a safety net.

-Yes.

-But, you know, it's a lovely thing to see.

And thank you so much for bringing it today.

-It's an absolute pleasure.

-Thank you.

Muncaster Castle has been home to the Pennington family

since the 13th century.

And Iona and Peter are its current guardians.

The home underwent extensive remodelling over the decades,

and now houses an eclectic collection of antique furniture and paintings.

Here in the Drawing Room, there's a portrait I want to show you,

it's a full-length one of Iona's grandmother, Joan Ramstein.

And there you can see her, she's exquisite.

So beautiful, I love this painting.

It was painted in 1915.

Now, if you notice the ring on her finger,

the ruby up there and the buckles on her shoes,

well, they are a very important part of the family's collection.

Because they're still currently with the family

and they get used on special occasions.

And they're right here.

And this fantastic portrait is by the Hungarian artist,

Philip de Laszlo.

He's best known for his portraits of aristocrats and royalty,

including the Queen and the Queen Mother.

Well, I wonder if our experts can find some priceless treasures

to take off to auction.

Let's catch up with them!

Our style guru, Caroline, has found something

to send the ladies into a spin.

Joan, how wonderful is it to see these two lovely dresses?

Aren't they beautiful?

And they combine my favourite things -

fashion, France, antiques.

Tell me what you know about them?

I can certainly tell you that

once I used to be able to get into both of them,

but certainly no longer.

And I bought this one when I lived in London during the '80s.

And that one was given to me by a dear friend

who went to live in New York.

He actually felt it was too heavy to put in his suitcase to take.

-Which it is, it's very heavy.

-How fortunate for you?

So, he gave it to me, which is lovely.

It's beautifully fitted.

1950s. It has the look, you know the Dior New Look shape?

So, it would give you a tiny waist and when you walked,

it would just be wonderful.

I'm going to dream about this tonight, it's gorgeous.

-It felt very elegant wearing it.

-I bet it did!

Did you wear it a lot?

Yeah, quite a bit. When I lived in London,

I used to go to the opera and to music and so on.

So, it was perfect, the little black dress with just a little bit extra.

And Jean Desses, Paris...

excellent make.

I've looked inside, I cannot see any labels.

It's not haute couture,

so it hasn't been made specially for anybody.

I think it's been pret-a-porter, so you'd go into a shop and buy it.

Nonetheless, you would pay a lot of money.

Now, the other dress, do you know that I would've worn that?

-I would've bought that, it's fabulous!

-It's gorgeous, isn't it?

1950s...

puffball...

strapless...

boned.

Again, I used to wear this when I lived in London for parties.

And again, sadly, I can no longer get into it.

But it's great fun.

You know that would sell nowadays

for the girls where they want to wear them to the proms, parties...

anywhere. It's really interesting, if we look inside,

we've got a make here...

Ricci Michaels and nylon which it is.

You know, that's not a bad thing.

It's been retailed in Harrods.

-Yes.

-So, it would've been a very expensive thing.

That would move wonderfully as you danced or just walked.

And then, it's got boning in the bodice, which is just as well.

-So, it wouldn't drop off as you were dancing.

-Absolutely.

It really is lovely.

I don't know...

To give it a presales estimate, I would say £50-80.

But if we put a fixed reserve of £50,

are you happy with that?

-Yeah, that's fine.

-Not to stop it getting lots more.

All right, OK.

Now, this one is a different kettle of fish.

I would think £300-500.

Yeah. Well, that one was a gift

to me and I think it's a work of art in its own right.

So, it's of sentimental value.

I think I'd probably want to keep that one.

But it's interesting to hear its value.

I don't blame you one bit, I think it's gorgeous.

Oh, wonderful! Thank you, you made my day.

Oh! Thank you very much.

It was a pleasure.

It's nice to see a touch of glamour being brought in.

Now, James has spotted something rather unusual.

Now, Lynn, Peter, I have to say this is about

as far from my comfort zone as is possible.

For me, I'm an old-fashioned sort of character, really.

So, tell me what you know.

We bought it from an antique shop in Melrose in Scotland,

last November.

And, originally, I thought they were just three plates

that I thought would look nice in my conservatory.

When I went to pick it up, I realised it was a light fitting.

And it was £15.

-OK.

-Which I tried to reduce.

That's my game!

When I tried to reduce him, he said,

"I'm selling it on behalf of somebody else, he wants £15 for it."

"If you don't buy it, I'm buying it."

So then, I thought, alarm bells started ringing,

then I started to research and found out that it was Danish...

and, um, Soholm?

Yeah. If we turn it over and have a look on the reverse,

Um, there we go. The great thing about modern ceramics,

is it says a lot of it on the back, a lot of the time.

So, we've got Soholm, the factory...

And then see that S-T-E-N-T-O-I, Stentoi?

What that means...

..earthenware, stoneware.

It's incised. It's very much in the

Hans Coper and Lucie Rie style of pottery,

with these incised decoration and the colours that flow from them.

And...

I actually quite like it.

It's quite impressive when it's lit up.

-Yeah, lovely.

-Quite impressive.

We've got holes behind that central disc, haven't we, just in here.

You can see the beams of light would shine out from behind there.

It also shines across these as well, obviously.

With the front plate being away from the back two,

the light also comes out the side

and does the same thing across all three.

-It's quite a clever piece of design, isn't it?

-Yup.

And the great thing about it is it's very now.

Ten years ago, this would have been in a general sale in a box,

might've made £10 or £20.

At the moment, there's a massive fashion for antique furniture,

Danish, simple clean lines.

1960s, 1970s furniture.

And therefore,

the kids today...

the new money are looking for this sort of thing.

And we found a couple of them that have sold in auctions

and the two that we found made about £200.

If you'd put a £15 bet on and got a £200 return,

you'd be quite happy.

You would, you would.

Let's put £200-300 on it at the moment.

£200 reserve and see what you come up with on the day.

-All right.

-All right, OK, that is fine.

Good luck. Let's hope we do well with it.

OK, thank you.

That goes to prove there are still bargains to be found.

Well, there you are,

our first three items found and we've been working flat out.

We're halfway through our day.

Everyone's enjoying themselves, aren't you?

-ALL:

-Yes!

-Yes, that is the main thing,

but we're going to put those values to the test.

We've got two great experts, James Lewis and Caroline Hawley.

Who do you think is going to be the most accurate?

-ALL:

-James!

Look at that! What about Caroline? Come on, someone for Caroline.

Everyone wants James. Right now, we're going to find out.

Let's put them to the test!

Here's a quick recap just to jog your memory

of all of the items we are taking along to go,

under the hammer.

The silver claret jug

has bags of style and finesse.

Just like this lovely dress that I hope

will send the sale room

into a spin.

And those looking for that '70s retro look will surely fall for this

Danish ceramic wall light.

Our auction destination today is in Carlisle,

just ten miles from the Scottish border.

The city is the main shopping centre

and the commercial and industrial hub of both North Cumbria

and parts of southern Scotland.

Today's sale room is Thomson Roddick and Medcalf,

and John Thomson and Stephen Parkinson are the auctioneers.

Remember, if you are buying or selling something in an auction room,

there is commission or a buyer's premium to pay.

Now, here,

it's 15% on the hammer, plus VAT.

Do factor that in. Do your sums because it does add up,

you don't want to get caught out.

First up, it's that stunning pink dress.

Joan, good luck and thank you for putting big smiles on our faces at the valuation day.

-We love it!

-This is something for the ladies.

It's that wonderful... It's a puffball dress, isn't it?

-It is.

-It is great and you wore it?

-I did.

It was very Bananarama in the '80s.

It was, it was great. I used to wear it to parties

and wear it with my Dr Martens and wear it with stilettos.

Guess who wants to wear it now?

-Me!

-This one.

-I think every party dress tells a tale.

-It does.

Some better than others, but I just think it is gorgeous.

Yeah.

Anyway, let's find out what the bidders think.

It's going under the hammer now.

Let's start at £40, I think.

Not that I would know, £40 bid.

£40.

£40 bid. £5?

£50. £55.

£60.

£60.

£60. £5?

£70.

That's from Harrods, you know?

I know!

£70.

On commission on £70 only. £75.

£80.

Gosh, come on!

At £80. £85?

£85.

£85!

Last chance for this, at £85.

At £85.

-Yes!

-£85!

-Yes, well done!

-Fantastic!

-Do you like it any better?

-That's amazing!

-Brilliant.

Thank you for bringing that in.

We don't see a lot of textiles, and it cheers us up.

It does, everybody's loved it, everybody that's seen it.

I love it and I'm not a girl.

A dress like that is timeless.

Now, will these wall lights dazzle our bidders?

Hopefully, right now,

we are going to try and turn £15 into £200 for Peter and Lynn.

We can normally do it when our owners buy something at a car boot.

But, it's very rare you can do it

if they buy something at an antique show,

which you did last year.

-Yeah.

-A light fitting.

-Yes.

-Flavour of the month, isn't it?

Did you buy it for your house and think, "Oh, it doesn't work."

Yeah, we were going to get it for the conservatory

because it was the colours.

And it did work, but uh...

-when we did a bit of research...

-You didn't like it?

I like it, but then I started researching

and thought it's got to be worth more than this.

OK, here we go, let's put it to the test.

Danish stoneware wall light.

We have a nice, attractive item, this, isn't it?

I can start a bid here with me at £140 bid.

At £140 bid.

£150.

£160.

At £160, still bid.

At £160.

Come on, it looks nice. Look at that, it's lit up as well.

At £160 bid.

At £160, is that it?

At £160, at £160.

Sorry, that's just not enough.

It didn't sell, it nearly did at £160.

Look, it just wasn't the market for it here in Carlisle.

I think you're onto a winner with that, I really do.

You'll certainly make more than 15 quid, it's at £160.

It needs to be in a design sale, doesn't it?

Yeah, 20th-century modern sale.

Get it into a specialist sale, like James has said.

-And it will do £200-300.

-We'll give that a try. OK, thank you.

It didn't shine in the sale room, but hopefully the ewer will.

This is the one I've been waiting for,

that wonderful silver claret jug,

belonging to Nora, who's right next to me with a big smile on your face,

because it's going!

Look, claret is my tipple.

I'd like to be taking this home, but I'm not allowed to buy it.

If I was allowed to, I'd be bidding on this.

So, if we felt that way about it,

then that lot out there are definitely going to feel that way.

It's all down to the bidders now.

-Ready?

-Yes.

This is it, let's do it!

I'll start this at £450.

£450.

£480. £500.

£520, £550, £580.

£600. £620.

At £620.

-At £620.

-Well, we've sold it. Let's get a bit more.

£620.

£620, a lovely ewer.

£620. Nobody else?

At £620 only, last chance.

At £620.

Sold! Straight in and straight out, just over the lower end.

-That was close, wasn't it?

-It was close.

-It's gone and that's the main thing.

-It's gone, yes.

That's our first three lots done and dusted, under the hammer.

So far, so good.

While we're here in the area, I've been exploring the more scenic side

of the Lake District.

While Coniston Water may not be the largest or the deepest of the lakes,

over the centuries,

it's certainly been a magnet for the elegant and the rich

as well as being the scene for some fearless water-borne escapades.

Coniston Water is the Lake District's third-largest lake.

It's five miles long, half a mile wide and 180 feet deep.

The lake became famous when Donald Campbell attempted

to beat his own world water speed record

in January 1967.

You're past the point of no return the moment you start.

There is no going back.

Tragically, Donald Campbell lost his life when the boat lost control.

But this tale of tragedy is only part of Coniston's history.

It's one of England's most beautiful landscapes,

but prior to the Victorian era, few came to visit.

In the 1850s, new railway links brought tourism to the lakes.

Victorian workers began to get weekends off,

and were already holidaying in resorts like Blackpool in Lancashire.

The furnace railway operating in the Lake District

capitalized on the links already established

to Lancashire for ferrying minerals and industrial materials.

Now, they could carry fare-paying day-trippers.

From holiday hotspots, like Blackpool, they organized

day trips touring the lakes, travelling by train,

horse-drawn coach, and of course the steamboat.

For around five shillings,

holiday-makers could pick

from one of many day excursions

to the lakes.

One of the most popular,

was the Outer Circle tour

around Lake Windermere.

These were some of the first all-inclusive tours in the UK.

And so, the era of mass tourism in the English Lake District was born.

Now, the more adventurous would do the Inner Circle tour

and buy their tickets from this ticket office

and leave on this very jetty,

Lake Bank Jetty on Coniston Water,

to get aboard this wonderful steam yacht, the Gondola.

Just look at the beautiful lines on this vessel.

She was built in 1859, one of the first to be commissioned

by the Furness Railway Company,

for its day-trippers.

And I'm getting on board!

It wasn't just the aspiring classes taking part in the excursions.

Restrictions in travel to Europe during the Napoleonic Wars

had established the Lake District as an alternative to the Grand Tour.

While the Victorians maintained this tradition,

they could now enjoy days out and better still,

do it in first-class style.

I'm going to find out more from the boatmaster, Bill King.

Bill, this is the height of luxury for a steam yacht, it really is.

When I was approaching, I was thinking why is it called Gondola,

but you can see, by the bow section,

it's very elegant and it's very extravagant.

Just looking around, it's steeped in architectural detail.

You've got wonderful, sort of, Corinthian columns.

You really do feel like you're on some kind of Grand Tour, don't you?

Yes, and it was designed very much that way,

that people who were accustomed to that kind of luxury,

perhaps on the great train tours in Europe,

would see the same sort of luxury here.

And that's second-class?

It's second-class through there.

They would've had slighted wooden seats in there

and there would've probably been a door

-to segregate the two classes.

-I was going to say, did they ever meet?

The first and second...

No, there were different places to board the boat.

Over the bow for the well-to-do

and over the stern for steerage

and the rather steamy, sooty end of the boat.

Well, I'm keen to look around.

So, will you be my tour guide and can I go see the engine room,

the nuts and bolts of the vessel?

Yes, absolutely. Paul, the engineer, is waiting for you down there

and looking forward to telling you all about it.

-Hopefully, I can fire up.

-Absolutely, yes.

Gondola is more than 150 years old

and considered to be the oldest yacht in the North.

It was in 1918 that she was brought back to her former glory

after being left beached and derelict.

This is definitely the warmest part of the vessel, that's for sure.

It is lovely in here.

But, we could be, literally, standing on the foot plate of a locomotive?

Exactly, that's exactly what it is.

It's a narrow-gauge Ffestiniog standardised locomotive boiler.

Do you have to polish this?

-Every day.

-Every single day?

We polish the brasses every day, throughout the boat, not just in here.

There's a lot of brass to polish.

There is. Do you want to polish some?

No, no! I'll tell you what I'm going to do,

-you've kindly given me some gloves.

-I have.

Can I start to put some logs in?

You can indeed. Just behind you are some ready to put on.

OK.

That's looking nice.

If you put two or three pieces in...

Brilliant stuff.

We monitor the pressure from these gauges up here.

So, what you've just put in will now burn,

boil the water that's in here.

And we've now got just under 130 pounds of pressure on.

So, once it's built up enough pressure and enough steam,

-we can head off?

-We can indeed.

Do you go, "toot, toot"? Have you got that noise?

We can, we can do that from the top side.

BOAT ROARS

And now the world knows we're reversing out of our berth.

-If you want to steer for the narrowest.

-OK.

You steer, of course, by just aiming the bow flag where you want to go.

Yeah.

Just right of the old man of Coniston.

What a view!

Travelling at around seven knots, which is about 7-8 miles per hour,

we get to experience the tranquillity of the lake and this amazing scenery.

It's so beautiful,

just seeing all the undulating landscape around the water.

I don't know, it's bowling me over really,

this is such a privilege to do this.

And there, look, we're just approaching Peel Island.

That's the inspiration

for Arthur Ransome's children's book, Swallows and Amazons,

written in the 1930s.

This is brilliant!

This is the first time I've actually seen Peel Island from the water here.

And look, just there, that inlet, that's the secret harbour.

That's all lit up at night now, and all the canoeists are camping.

Victorian art critic and writer John Raskin bought a house

on the lake here called Brantwood. And we're just going by it.

We are approaching its jetty.

He was a bit of a celebrity and it must've been quite a thrill

for all the Victorian day-trippers

to actually bypass his house.

You can see it in the trees, just there.

It's a lovely view of the house.

You can imagine them all trying to spot Raskin at work in his study,

probably cataloguing one of his Turner paintings.

These stunning views would have been pretty much the same

for those Victorians.

And what a wonderful escape from those industrial towns.

More than 7,000 visitors, annually, took the Inner Circle trip,

shortly after it opened in 1865.

Towards the turn of the 20th century,

that number had trebled to around 22,000 visitors.

And today, it still draws in the crowds,

taking part in activities in and around it.

Let's hope that trip on the Gondola,

which you can see just disappearing in the distance taking in all

this magic scenery, will be with us for many more generations to come.

It truly is special.

Welcome back to Muncaster Castle,

our magnificent valuation day venue.

As you can see, the sun is still shining.

Hundreds of people are here,

which means hundreds more antiques to value.

So, it's time to go inside and catch up with our experts

to find more treasures to take off to auction.

Isn't that right, Jazz?

Yes. Woof, woof!

Now, Caroline's found a little treasure.

Linda, hello.

Hello. Pleased to meet you.

Pleased to meet you! Have you come far?

I've come from Grange-over-Sands,

which is apparently about an hour away.

But it took me three hours to get here.

Three hours? You're worse than me. How did it take you three hours?

I just went the wrong route.

I couldn't find it, I nearly gave up.

Aw! Well, I'm glad you didn't give up.

Now, where did you find this fine thing?

About six weeks ago, I bought my dream home.

It's an Edwardian flat

on the promenade at Grange.

I had a bit of furniture, but not enough to furnish it.

So, I bought the contents of the flat...

-Right.

-..and this was in a drawer.

Fabulous.

Well, it is Turkish.

-Right.

-It's silver.

And, I would think it is 19th-century.

There's some damage on the enamel. Can you see here?

Yeah, yeah. It's missing.

It's beautiful, this green and red enamel.

And it's the Order of Osmanieh...

created by Abdulaziz, in 1862,

for outstanding services to the state.

It would've been a very precious object

to the person who received it.

-It doesn't appeal to me.

-Does it not?

-No, no.

-Shall we turn it over and have a look on the back?

And here is the date of the beginning of the Ottoman Empire.

And it's missing something here,

it would've had a ribbon...

-you see, to wear it.

-Yeah.

Well, fancy finding this as a little extra.

It was just in the drawer, there was a few tools and...

matchboxes and some playing cards and...

-and that!

-Yeah!

£50-80?

Oh, wonderful! Yeah, great.

How's that?

Yeah, that's smashing. And my son gets married this...

August in Mexico.

-I'll spend it when I'm there.

-So, it'll go to the Mexico fund?

Yeah, definitely.

Well, do you want a reserve on it?

No, no, whatever.

You want to let it go?

-Yeah.

-OK, we'll put £50-80...

-That'll be smashing.

-..without reserve.

-Super.

-Great!

-That's great stuff. Thank you very much!

-That's a pleasure, Linda.

-Glad to get rid of it.

What a lucky find!

Now, does luck run in your family?

Well, it seems to here for the Pennington family.

Their luck hinges on the survival of one glass bowl.

Peter, can you tell me the story of the bowl?

It's a bowl that was given us to by Holy King Harry, King Henry VI,

who was a rather unfortunate monarch

because he was really defeated in the War of the Roses.

In 1464, he was beaten in the Battle of Hexham.

He fled into this part of the world seeking shelter.

No-one really wanted anything to do with him any more,

because that upstart Edward of York was king.

He turned up, found in the woods around Muncaster, and brought here.

He was so pleased that we looked after him for a number of weeks,

when he left, he left his little enamel bowl

that we have in front of us,

saying, as long as this bowl remains unriven,

Penningtons from Muncaster never shall be driven or if you

don't break the bowl, you'll keep the castle.

That's astonishing, from the War of the Roses.

Where do you normally keep it?

Well, it's hidden safely in the castle.

Only family members know where it is.

So, it's our secret.

If I do tell you by accident, you better start running,

cause I'll have to kill you.

Please don't tell me.

I think we better put this away now.

Yes, please.

Earlier, we touched on Donald Campbell

and his presence here in the Lake District.

So, it's very apt that James has happened upon his next item.

Jacqueline, 4th of January 1967, not too far from here,

at Coniston Water,

we saw one of the worst disasters in world record history, didn't we?

We did.

Donald Campbell's Bluebird, but Donald Campbell was...

an amazing character.

-Yes.

-In the 1950s and '60s, he broke the world record on land,

and on water!

The only man ever to hold both world records at the same time!

-Yeah.

-But, what do you have here?

Donald Campbell's autograph.

And my uncle,

he lived in the village and he used to go down to the boatyard

and do odd jobs.

And, I used to go to his house for my lunch.

And one day, he said, "Would you like his autograph?"

And I said, "Oh, yes."

So, I brought it in the next day

and he got both, Donald Campbell's

and...

his team as well.

Oh, lovely!

Gosh, how exciting.

It must've been an amazing thing

to view those world record attempts.

I don't think we realised how important it was at the time.

We used to hear his engine set off,

and we used to all run to the office window

and watch him just disappearing to start his run.

How exciting.

Well, what we have here is...

-a piece of history, really.

-Yes.

And it's a very sad thing that autograph collectors

love rare autographs.

Those people that die young, those people that die unexpectedly,

often have more of a following,

same in pop memorabilia, same in actors and actresses,

Marilyn Monroe.

Those people that pass away early have a greater following

and it's the same with Donald Campbell.

-Yes.

-In terms of value, it is not a huge figure.

-No.

But I should think that that's going to be worth

-somewhere between £80 and £120.

-Right.

For somebody that wasn't a film star, wasn't a rock star,

that actually is quite a lot of money for something like this.

But it's your story that makes it and the history behind it.

-Yes.

-Are you happy to let it go?

Yes, I am.

-Well, somebody is going to love it. It's going to go to a...

-I hope so.

..a collection, probably, of Donald Campbell memorabilia.

-Thank you.

-Pleasure.

Now, Caroline's spotted some Art Nouveau.

Dot, how nice to meet you. Are you local to this area?

Barrow-in-Furness.

-Right.

-About an hour away.

Lovely. What do you do there?

Well, I have catteries,

I have ponies.

But I love your outfit - it would make a lovely lead rein outfit

and especially with your hat.

Oh! What's a lead rein outfit?

Well, it's an adult leading a pony with a child on it.

Anything nice that you're wearing, it catches the judge's eye.

Right. Well, next time you need a lead rein, give me a call, Dot.

I will. I don't think your outfit would fit me, though.

This is gorgeous. I love this.

Now, tell me about it. Where did you come by it?

Well, it was my mum's

and she died about four or five years ago.

And when we were cleaning the bungalow out...

my sisters put a lot of stuff out for the charity shops.

And this was among it. And I just said,

"You can't throw that out."

I said, "Can I have that?"

Yes, cos it was broke. It did have glass in it.

It would've had a mirror, I would think.

It's a period that I particularly adore.

Have you heard of the Art Nouveau period?

-Yes.

-Which is 1895, 1905.

This sits beautifully, right bang in the middle,

I would say about 1900.

It's silver plate. And can you see the lady here,

with this lovely flowing, sort of, hair and dress?

And she's listening.

Now, this particular model is actually called the Cuckoo,

because she is listening to a cuckoo or echo,

and it's got a little mark on it. Did you know?

No, I didn't. I've looked and looked, but I can't find the mark.

Well, I've looked and I've looked

and I've looked at it again.

And I found a mark, Dot.

So, if we turn it over...

and we'll need glasses or maybe even a magnifying glass for this.

A tiny little mark down here, can you see?

Yes!

-Right!

-It was probably muck covering it!

LAUGHTER

Well, there's no muck on it now.

And we can see it's WMF,

which is a German maker, which is great to find,

and that puts it up into, you know, a nice little value.

Even like this, I think it's easily going to get £100-150.

Oh, that'd be nice.

-Would you like it to go to auction?

-Yes.

Right, I think we'll put it in.

-I don't think you need to put a reserve on it.

-No, no.

I am sure you don't. It's going to get its money.

Right, lovely.

Lovely, thank you.

Aw, thank you!

I enjoyed that!

It's time for us to say farewell from Muncaster Castle,

our fabulous host location today, and to our great crowd of people.

Here's a quick recap,

just to jog your memory of everything that's going under the hammer!

The Turkish silver medal for outstanding services

could draw in the collectors...

just like this exceptional autograph book

with Donald Campbell's signature.

And how can Dot's Art Nouveau photo frame fail

to impress the bidders?

Here we are, back at the auction.

We're certainly doing battle in the sale room right now.

Coming up for grabs, we have Linda's metal, found in her flat,

or a house you bought recently.

-Yeah, that's right.

-Gosh!

-It was in the drawer.

-It's got the look, hasn't it?

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

-Yeah!

Did you fancy keeping it?

Oh, definitely not!

Not a lot of money, what £50-80?

-Yeah.

-But fingers crossed we get the top end and a little bit more.

This is going under the hammer now.

This is a silver enamel,

the Ottoman Military decoration.

Quite a few bids here.

I can start, straight in with me now,

at £30 bid. At £30.

-At £30.

-Come on, any interest?

At £30, £32, £35.

At £35.

£38 on the internet.

I have £38 and 40, if you like.

At £40 bid. £42.

£45.

I think this could be finding its way back to Turkey, don't you?

-Easy to post.

-At £50.

At £55 on the internet.

-And I am out. At £55.

-A few bidders.

At £55 and £60, if you like.

At £55, are we all sure?

At £55.

Sold! £55 on the internet.

-Smashing!

-That could be going back home.

Thank you for bringing that in.

That was a good find, wasn't it?

Yes, thank you very much.

And a few more pounds towards Linda's son's wedding.

Going under the hammer now we have that wonderful autograph book,

Donald Campbell and the Bluebird team.

I don't think there's many of these about.

Sadly, we don't have our owner Jackie, she can't make it today,

but we do have James, our expert.

A lot of local interest.

No problem with the value on this one, is there, James?

-It's such an easy thing to sell, especially here.

-Yes, exactly.

And we've all been to Lake Coniston, as well.

For me, that's my favourite lake.

My favourite, by a long shot!

Anyway, let's find out if there's a lot of local interest, shall we?

It's going under the hammer right now.

This is an interesting thing, isn't it?

The autograph book containing

the autographs of Donald Campbell

and the Bluebird team.

There's not many of them about, I am sure.

Straight in with a mere £80 bid.

At £80 bid, at £80.

At £85.

At £95 on the net, now.

£95. £100.

£100 with me.

£110. £120.

-That's very good.

-£130, £140.

Lots and lots of local interest.

£160. 160 with me, now.

If it doesn't sell well here, it won't sell well anywhere, will it?

At £160. £170.

And I am out at £170,

can you believe it?

At £170. I'm sure it's worth a bit more.

At £170, we're going to sell at £170.

-We're at £180.

-£180.

£180 is in the room, now. £180.

At £180, are we sure? At 180.

Yes, well done!

A wonderful thing, local interest and a good condition -

that's what it was all about.

-Yeah.

-Great subject matter, as well.

A great example of how stories live on through objects.

Dot, good luck.

I love this and I'm pleased you took this in.

-Yeah.

-WMF, that's the name to look out for,

silver plating at its very best.

It's quality, you know.

You could have it with a picture of yourself in it.

Actually, I was going to bring a book,

a very old book, with Royal pictures, photos in.

But you changed your mind at the last minute?

I couldn't find it and, when I was looking, I found...

Look, your lot is going under the hammer right now. This is it.

Straight in at £230.

Straight in, well over...

£230 on bid. £240, £260, £280.

£300.

That's a great name.

£320.

£340, £360.

£360. £380.

£380. £400.

-£420. £440.

-Oh!

£440.

At £440.

At £440. At £440.

At £460.

-£460.

-It hasn't stopped yet.

£480, at £480.

At £480.

£480!

Isn't that brilliant?

-I don't believe it.

-That's going to come in handy, isn't it?

The animals are going to enjoy this money, that's for sure.

-It's what everybody wants.

-Thank you very much.

-No, thank you.

-Thank you!

And if you've got anything like that, we want to flog it for you.

Bring it along to one of our valuation days

and we'll see what we can do.

-Well done, Dot.

-Thank you very much.

-Thanks for bringing it.

There you are, that's it. It's all over for our owners

and what a day it's been here.

One or two surprises we didn't expect,

but that's auctions for you.

Do join us again soon for many more.

Until then, it's goodbye from Carlisle.