York Flog It!

Today, Flog It! comes from the beautiful, ancient city of York,

once the Roman capital of England,

and now it boasts the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe.

This is a city that is literally bursting at the seams with a rich and fascinating history.

The city walls are the longest in England,

at about two miles in length.

York, together with Gloucester,

is the oldest surviving dukedom in Britain.

And the title, the Duke of York,

was created in the 14th century by Richard II.

And to this very day,

the title is handed down to the sovereign's second son.

I always wondered what Prince Andrew did!

Well, the only hand-me-downs we're going to find here today

will be those forgotten family treasures

that have been dusted down and sorted out by our two experts,

Michael Baggott and Mark Stacey.

And let's hope they make a big hit in the auction room.

David, you've brought a bit of a cane in today.

Do you know what happened to the rest of it?

I've no idea at all, I'm afraid.

I only remember it in my grandfather's drawer going back

60 years, 50 years now.

-Right, right.

-Erm, and I was allowed to play with that, along with three

brass monkeys, which disappeared. I've no idea what happened to those.

But you held on to this. Did your grandfather use it as a walking cane?

No, I've always remembered it exactly as it is now,

apart from the fact that it didn't have the eyes in, it has now.

It originally had red eyes, which somehow got lost,

and my grandfather put the eyes in that are there now.

Ah, right. Well, I mean, it's a lovely little cane handle,

and it's carved out of ivory. I was going to say that the eyes

have been put in later, but you know that. That's not a shock.

Probably, if they were a red stone, because this is well carved,

they were probably little cabochon garnets.

It was probably a semi-precious stone that went in.

Unfortunately, they're glued in at this date,

and this was carved in about...

it's quite early actually, about 1820, up to 1840.

So, of course, after 100 years, the glue dries out, the eyes fall out,

and your grandfather's there with the tube of glue

and a couple of very sparkly diamante-effect stones

that sort of, might detract from it a little.

I think a collector would have those replaced,

but it's lovely to have them.

It's terribly nice that it's a dog.

-Yes.

-I'm not entirely sure what dog it is.

I mean, I think it's probably something like a bull mastiff.

They were a very popular hound at the turn of the 19th century,

and obviously, someone had a bull mastiff and they had this carved up

for their cane when they went walkabouts.

It's never had any tremendous value in your family?

-Only sort of aesthetic value.

-Right, right.

It's very tactile, it's nice to sort of run your hand over it.

And that's why... I mean, with a piece of ivory, you want to see colour and wear.

And this has gone a lovely golden colour,

because it's been handled for 100 years, and the natural grease

and oils from your fingers sort of penetrate it and discolour it,

which I think is quite attractive.

There are lots of collectors of walking canes

and walking cane ephemera.

It's a pity we don't have the stick that it was mounted on, which would have probably been bone.

The whole thing would've been white,

it would've had an ivory effect, but cheaper to make it out of bone.

Still, the head, as it is, is probably worth in the region of about

£70-100, which isn't bad for the tip of a cane.

It isn't, no.

-So would you be happy to pop it into auction for that?

-Yes, I would.

-We'll pop it into the auction and hope it does well.

-Excellent.

-Hello, Gordon.

-Hello, Mark.

It's lovely to see a piece of local pottery here

-from the Brameld factory, a Yorkshire pottery.

-Yep.

-You're a Yorkshire man.

I am truly Yorkshire.

A true Yorkshire man. Why were you attracted to the Brameld factory?

-Well, my mother was called Brameld...

-Ah.

..and it turns out that I'm related to the proprietors of the,

well, it's a Rockingham piece, Rockingham factory.

Bramelds were the proprietors of the Rockingham factory.

-So you're the great-great-great something?

-That's me.

Well, if we look at this particular piece,

a very nice dessert dish, I suppose, for a dessert service.

-That's right, yes.

-And in the early part of the century, this sort of leaf decoration was very popular.

And this one is very crisply moulded,

and with this little basket weave in the middle.

And what I particularly like is this back, which is so well done,

so well made, and the feel of it is very good, isn't it?

-A lovely piece, yeah.

-Have you got a large collection?

I've got a large collection of Rockingham pieces.

-I've another piece like this, but mainly, I've got the Brameld blue pottery.

-Yes, blue and white.

The blue and whites, yeah.

Give us a resume of the factory, from what you've found out about it.

Well, the factory was situated on the Earl Fitzwilliam estate

and it was part of the Leeds factory really,

but the Leeds factory decided to wind down the production at Swinton, in South Yorkshire,

where this was made, and so the Bramelds took over

the proprietorship of the Rockingham factory.

They changed the name to Rockingham when Earl Fitzwilliam put money into the factory.

And of course, they produced some wonderful rococo wares.

-Oh, they did. They started making porcelain in...

-That's right.

Sorry, 1826. They closed in 1842.

That's right, it was a relatively short-lived factory.

-Yes, that's right.

-As you say, from 1826-1842.

A very collectible factory now, particularly here in Yorkshire, of course.

It's a fascinating story and it's really nice to see this piece here.

I guess you're selling it because you've already got a double?

-I have, yeah.

-I think if we were putting this into a local sale,

which it is, in Ilkley,

we would put an estimate of maybe £100-150 on it.

-That's good.

-Would that be all right with you?

-Yes.

-And then we'll put the reserve at about 100, with a bit of discretion for the auctioneer.

Let's hope on the day,

we'll get a good result and some good collectors in to buy.

-And a bit of publicity for the Rockingham factory.

-Absolutely.

All publicity is good publicity.

Beverley and Owen, hi there.

We've seen a lot of miniatures on the show before,

but not miniatures painted on buttons.

Now, what's the story behind these?

Well, we volunteer for a local cancer support charity

in a village called Dunnington, just outside York,

and these have been handed in to the shop.

We're looking to sell them in auction to try and get the best price we can.

So you two act as the sort of experts for the charity shop?

-Well...

-You sift through everything.

-We sift through things.

Sift through things, experts may be a very loose term!

I wouldn't call us experts! We're good at sifting.

-Do some research on it and then flog on their behalf.

-Yep, absolutely.

Have you done much research on these little buttons?

We have done a little bit of work.

-I've taken them to a few of the big auction houses...

-Which ones?

I've been to Sotheby's, Christie's and Bonhams in the UK.

I'm lucky enough to travel, so it's been to Christie's in New York.

These little buttons have flown all the way across the Atlantic to New York!

-They've also been to the Victoria and Albert.

-What were you doing there?

I work for an IT consultancy,

so we deal with a lot of the big banks in London and New York.

-So I travel quite often.

-And what did they say?

They all liked them. They hadn't seen them before.

They said they were quite nicely painted.

They're beautifully painted.

I think they're painted by a professional artist,

maybe almost a theatrical or scenic artist,

because they've got that look, there's a slight chocolate box,

-doll's house look to them.

-Yeah.

I think these are one-offs, obviously painted on the back of a penny,

and the pennies are all dated around about 1870, 1860, at the latest 1890.

-I think the paintings are later than the date of the penny.

-Sure.

I reckon these are 1910 or 20, does that correlate with...?

That correlates.

I took them into the Victoria and Albert...

-Gosh, they've been around.

-They have been around.

And based on the wear on the pennies,

they suggested, probably turn of the century, around 1900, 1910.

That's exactly what I think.

It'll be hard to sell these. There are people that collect buttons.

Yeah, there are.

Any ideas? I mean, it really is speculative.

Personally, I think they're great.

They are little works of art.

I'd like to see them maybe mounted, architecturally sort of

three above three and framed, they'd look fantastic.

-But then you wouldn't realise they were buttons.

-No.

You want to hold them, you want to sort of caress them and feel them.

-And turn them round.

-Yeah, flip them over.

I don't know how you'd display these, or mount them,

or what you'd do with them.

-I think they'll go to a textiles dealer.

-Yep.

And I think the price...

£150-180. Somewhere around there.

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's good.

-We just didn't know.

-I think...

if they'd have stayed here and they'd have gone into a jumble sale,

I'd have been lucky if I'd seen £2 for them.

So anything we get above that is great.

Yeah. Could we put a sort of a valuation,

an auctioneer's estimate of £120-160?

Just to...yeah.

To get people attracted into them, yes, that'd be great.

-Do we need a reserve?

-No.

-Because these have to sell.

We don't need a reserve for them. Anything we can get is a bonus,

so they can go with no reserve.

Thanks very much. Let's do it then, shall we?

-Let's hope we get around that figure.

-That'd be excellent.

-If two people want them, then we're going to.

-Great.

Frances, thank you for bringing in this wonderful,

stylish sugar and cream set. Where did you get it from?

I'm afraid I bought it on an antiques stall in York market.

-Did you? Was that a long time ago?

-Yes.

About 20 or 30 years ago.

Was the set very expensive back then,

can you remember what you gave for it?

I think it would be about £4.50, something like that. I think.

£4.50. How reckless of you to spend so much money on a set!

Well, I think Art Nouveau collectors everywhere are crying

and sobbing silently when you say £4.50.

It's such a stylish set that it lifts it up from the ordinary.

It should be WMF - Wurttembergische Metallwarenfabrik.

But I have been over it with a fine-tooth comb

-and there is not a WMF mark anywhere to be seen.

-No.

What there are on the base is very simply stamped EPNS,

and one over zero, and those are English marks, American marks,

and you also find them on the Continent.

You do find them on WMF,

but I find it extraordinary that they wouldn't have marked it.

But it's good enough, that's the thing.

I mean, it's only silver plate,

but the interiors of both pieces are gilded.

-Yes, I like that about them.

-And you've got this...

And it does clean up nicely.

You have polished it beautifully for today.

I don't polish it very often, but it does come up, I think, nicely.

It's lovely.

And you've got this very European idea of Art Nouveau,

which mingles with Vienna Secessionist movement.

So this is very angular.

An English piece, you might expect florid curls and what have you.

-But what lifts it above the ordinary are these fantastic handles.

-Yes.

The handles are absolutely wonderful.

And you've got an almost Charles Rennie Mackintosh device there,

you see that on some of his designs on the back of some of his chairs,

that very elongated and sort of Celtic knot.

-Yes.

-So that's lovely.

-Good.

-And it's originally, as I say, a sugar-and-cream set.

-Yes, yes.

You wouldn't have a teapot, because you couldn't fit it on the tray.

You'd have it when you had strawberries, or something like that,

a little sifter spoon to go over them. But it's great.

I mean, it's a great shame it doesn't have a WMF mark on it,

because that would make it worth a fair bit of money.

-But you're still going to see a good return on your £4.50!

-Good.

I think we can pop that into auction for between £40 and £60 pounds.

-Lovely.

-Put a £40 fixed reserve.

And hopefully, if two people who buy WMF regularly see that

and get carried away, we might touch £100, on a good day.

Depends on the day.

Indeed. But you're happy to pop them into the auction?

Yes, yes.

It's not my favourite piece, I'm sorry, but I just don't like this.

The best feature, Frances, the best feature!

So that's why you've had enough of them?

Yes, I've had enough of them.

Let's hope they're somebody else's cup of tea!

Before we head off to the auction,

I'm going to spend a bit more time with Michael.

He's a silver specialist and he's told me of a unique collection that's just nearby.

So, Michael, we're here at York Minster, what has York Minster got to do with silver?

You wouldn't know from the outside, but it houses

-one of the finest collections of York silver in the country.

-Really?

Yes. And that was put together by William Lee,

who was an antiques dealer in York.

What sort of period's this we're talking about?

1944, Lee reads a piece in The Times

that a York teapot's coming up for sale in London, during the Blitz.

He gets to London about six o'clock,

and then walks round Blitz London for three hours till the sale starts...

A brave man!

-..dodging the doodle bugs.

-Yes.

And when the teapot comes up - it's one of the first lots in the sale -

he creeps into the room, hangs around in the back, bids,

buys it for the record price of any Queen antique pot up to that point,

and that's what starts him off.

-And is that piece here?

-It is.

-It is?

-We can go and see it now.

Well, let's go and have a look.

We're surrounded by lovely pieces of silver.

-You can't wait to get your hands on them!

-Absolutely.

We've seen York silver on the show before,

we know it was a thriving centre for silversmiths,

because there was an Assay Office here,

and we know the impression mark, a shield with five lions.

Five little lions in a cross, which is the city arms.

So there was a good industry for silversmiths here at one time.

When did it all start?

The first recorded incidence we've got of a town mark being used,

the touch of the town, is 1410-11.

Unfortunately, we don't have anything that survives from that early date.

Unless anybody digs something up, we're not going to find anything.

But we have got the earliest recorded impression.

So this is the oldest piece of York silver in the country?

-In the world.

-Fantastic!

And it's this modest little spoon.

It's got the very early town mark,

which isn't that cross with the five lions, the city coat of arms.

-This is half a fleur-de-lys and half a leopard's head.

-London mark.

So they'd adopted half of that.

That's just struck in the bowl.

Of course, we don't have a date letter system.

-It's before the date letter system.

-When did that start to come in?

-Probably 1559.

-And that was an A?

-That would have been an A,

but we haven't found any of those still existent.

-And that's purely for York, not for London or Edinburgh?

-That's just for York.

The earliest one we know of is 1560-61, which is a capital B,

which is also in the Lee collection.

That's not bad going, is it?

He knew what to buy, there's no doubt about that!

What would you expect to pay for a spoon like that?

That's priceless, isn't it?

You'd probably never come across another one. If you did...

-Name your price.

-You could indeed.

-We have another spoon there.

Absolutely. 120, 130 years later, York comes into its own.

We get, arguably, the most important provincial silversmith in the country

working in York, John Plummer. Unfortunately, we don't have something here,

but we've got something by one of his contemporaries, Thomas Mangy.

It's what we call a disc end spoon, technically,

but they're also called death's head spoons or memento mori.

If you have a look what's engraved,

there's a skull and a motto that I'm covering up.

-What does that say?

-"Live to die."

"Live to die," and "Die to live." So they're very cheery things.

It's a sort of like a 17th century biker.

It's a bit full on and puritanical.

-If you see a spoon like that...

-Buy it.

You're 99% certain that it's York without even looking at the marks.

That's a good way of identifying a bit of York silver.

It is, if you ever see one.

-Do you come across them regularly?

-I've come across one.

-In your life?

-Yes, in 30-odd years.

So they're obviously abundant(!) This is number two.

Here's the teapot we were talking about earlier.

This is the start of the Lee collection, what set him off.

The question is, would you brave the Blitz to go and buy it?

Probably not, no I wouldn't.

It's a bit of a plain Jane. Queen Anne silver is very plain anyway.

It's supposed to be decorated with armorials.

There's no engraving.

This hasn't been engraved. A London one might be.

You might have small applied card work by the handles.

It looks very contemporary.

That's simply the style of the silver at the time, very plain.

Queen Anne - not a lot of it about now.

What should we be looking for in York silver?

You probably won't find any early pieces.

If you do, people will know what they've got

and they'll be many thousands of pounds.

What you stand a chance of finding

is stuff from the later period of the Assay Office.

Let's look at that. Let's move on.

-This bowl.

-That's lovely.

-It's rather splendid.

It's got a very early example of the town mark,

which of course is the leopard in the cross,

and we've got the IHIP stamp for Hampston and Prince.

-So, if you see that on a piece of silver...

-You know it's York silver.

That's the way to tell because not many pieces do bear a town mark.

It's only the larger pieces of hollowware.

-You've got to do your homework when trying to identify York silver.

-Absolutely.

What are the key points to look for?

In about 1776, they started to introduce stud-marking

in London, which is all the marks struck at once in a single punch.

Throughout the history of the York office, right up until it closes,

every mark is individually stamped.

Whilst they'll try to line them up

in a straight line, they don't always do it.

So, if the hallmarks are a bit higgledy-piggledy,

you can start to get excited. You can't be definite.

What happened to the industry?

What was its demise and when did it close down?

It doesn't shut, it doesn't close, it just peters out.

By about 1858-59, you've got the last maker, Robert Hazelgrove.

The only thing known by him was a button, currently,

and it peters out and that's the end of the York Assay Office.

What we all want to know is,

where can we buy it from, if we want to start collecting York silver?

Go to specialist dealers, first off. Have a look, see what they've got.

It's going to be a bit pricey, but you'll get used to it.

-Then, what I like to do...

-Always buy the best you can afford as well.

Absolutely, or do what I do - be really cheap, go round antique fairs,

trawl through boxes of teaspoons and if you find a York one,

you'll probably pay £5 for it, and it's worth 30.

As far as larger items go, the sky's the limit.

-Recently, I saw a coffee pot that was £22,000.

-That's a lot of money.

-Michael, thank you very much.

-Pleasure.

It's auction time, and we've four very different items going under the hammer.

Michael reckons David's cane handle might just go walkies out of the sale room,

whilst Mark's pretty sure there'll be a bidder green with envy for Gordon's dish.

Have Debbie and Owen and the buttons got it all sewn up for today's sale?

And will Frances's stylish cream and sugar set

sweeten somebody's appetite?

For today's auction, we're in the wonderful Yorkshire Moors,

home to the Victoria Salerooms at Hartley's Auctioneers and Valuers,

in the heart of Ilkley. Andrew Hartley is our auctioneer,

and I'm interested to hear what he's got to say about those pennies.

This one is a real curio.

It's quite a novelty item.

Edwardian pennies, and they're all hand-painted in oils,

little miniature portraits, and they belong to Owen and Beverley.

They want to sell them because the money is going back

to the charity shop where they were found.

I've done a valuation of £120-160.

-Yeah, I've done two things.

-OK.

First of all, I've brought the estimate down again, as I do.

-Auctioneers tend to do this.

-I know, it's a come and buy me.

But also, it's charity. We're not gonna charge commission on this.

We want to get the best we can, gross as well as net.

-They are unusual, aren't they?

-They're very unusual.

Some gifted amateur, enthusiast, whatever word you like to say,

has set about those pennies and taken a hacksaw

and all sorts of things to them and painted out these lovely little

paintings of children, very beautifully done,

but very much on a sort of amateur basis,

which means it's impossible to value, which is fine,

but there are six of them.

If you divide six into 60, that's only £10 each.

-It's got to be worth more than that.

-It has.

-I know we'll sell them.

-Could well sell them reasonably well.

-That's what we want to hear.

In charge of the silver section in today's auction

is Andrew's daughter, Daisy.

Something for Art Nouveau lovers. It's a sugar and cream set.

Unfortunately, Frances, the owner, cannot be with us right now,

so it's over to Michael, the expert.

We're looking at £40-50?

-Yes, we'll have to root for her.

-We will.

Unfortunately, the plate hasn't been going at all today,

so we'll have to buck the trend to get these away.

-They've got the loveliest handles I've ever seen.

-Beautiful.

Buy them for the handles and put them on something else.

Exactly! We're gonna find out what the silver dealers think.

-I know it's only plate, but fingers crossed.

-Absolutely.

-Good luck.

Lot 506, sugar and cream set.

This is in the Art Nouveau style.

I've got to start the bidding at £40. 45 anywhere?

45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75.

£80 anywhere? £80 anywhere else, ladies and gentlemen?

-Going for £75.

-Lovely handles.

Lovely handles! That's what they wanted!

-What a great result!

-Brilliant.

I wish Frances could have seen that.

Here's something to get to grips with - a cane handle.

I think it's a bull mastiff.

As far as I know it's a bull mastiff.

I'll stick my head out and say that it is.

You dog lovers out there are probably criticising us.

I'm a dog lover, but I think that is a bull mastiff.

It belongs to David. Hi. I see your daughter's here.

-What's her name?

-Julia.

What are you gonna put the money towards for Julia?

Julia's going to Italy with the Guides

-for an international jamboree.

-Right. Great fun!

She's convinced me she needs more spending money.

Will we get top spending money?

-What are we hoping for, £100?

-£70-100.

You'd have to be barking mad not to buy it for £70. It's wonderful!

All you've got to do is find a period cane, put the two together

and there's a profit for someone there, so hopefully they'll see that

and chase it up to the £100 mark.

Lot 355, an ivory cane handle, a bull mastiff's head.

-I'm starting at £70. Do we have 75?

-We're straight in at the bottom end.

80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 110.

120 is it now? Anybody else at 120?

You'll finish at 110. Going...

Yes! £110.

-Dog lovers will turn out all the time.

-It was beautiful though.

-Superb. The dog lovers were out in force today.

-Congratulations, David.

I hope your daughter has a great time with the Girl Guides.

Thank you.

Serving up for you right now a lovely dessert dish,

owned by Gordon, who's literally selling the family treasures.

Your great-great-great-grandfather worked at the Rockingham factory,

where this was made, and you collect Rockingham,

but now you've decided to flog your collection.

No, only some of it.

-Just some of it. And you bought this one on eBay?

-I did.

-You didn't inherit any of the collection?

-Unfortunately not.

-That's a shame.

-I've had to buy them over the years.

How much did Gordon pay for it?

-£95.

-£95 on eBay!

Right, we've got our work cut out. Hopefully we'll get the £100.

Hopefully get 150. This is it. Good luck, Gordon.

The Rockingham porcelain dessert dish, a Brameld mark.

I'm starting at 55. Do I hear 60?

60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100.

100 anywhere? Anybody else at 100? 95 on my seats.

You're all done at 95? All done. I'm finished.

-He sold out.

-He did, for 95.

-You got your money back.

-That's what it was worth.

Exactly!

What are you gonna do with 95 quid -

less commission, so you've lost a tad really.

And the cost of me stopping here overnight.

That's the world cruise I've planned!

I've just been joined by Owen and Beverley.

We've got those pennies. Let's hope they're pennies from heaven.

I love them. I put a valuation of around £120.

We came to that decision, didn't we?

I had a chat with the auctioneer and he said they might struggle

at that sort of price, so he's reduced my estimate

to £60-90.

-If we get his top end and my low end...

-We're there or thereabouts.

He's waivered the commission, so all the money goes back to the charity.

Great.

All we can say is, fingers crossed!

Let's hope we come up heads with these ones.

374 is this very curious set of six coat buttons,

made of brass mounted around copper pennies.

I have to start the bidding at 120.

Do we hear 130 in the room?

Anybody else at 130?

130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190,

200, 220, 240, 260, 280, 300, 320,

340, 360, 380, 400, 420, 440, 460,

480, 500, 520, 540, 560, 580...

-Brilliant!

-Oh, fantastic! I'm shaking.

700 is it anywhere? You're finished at £680?

It's going this time. All done.

£680!

Absolutely fantastic.

-I'm boiling hot. I'm actually tingling.

-That's great.

That makes a big difference to the charity, for York Against Cancer,

-all for their work, so that's great.

-Pennies from heaven!

That's the auction over with for our owners, and the highlight for me

had to be Owen and Beverley's set of buttons.

The penny dropped for me at the valuation day when I saw them,

and it was such an interesting story I had to take them on,

but it was impossible to value.

They actually sold for a staggering £680,

and all the money is going to charity.

That's it from Hartley's Auction Room in Ilkley. See you next time.

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visit the website at bbc.co.uk.

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