Ipswich Flog It!

Ipswich is the oldest Anglo-Saxon town in the UK

that has always been inhabited.

It has got a wonderful hotchpotch of buildings from every era - Elizabethan through to Art Deco.

It's also got this fantastic, newly modernised waterfront area

which is adding a new architectural dimension.

And also bringing in thousands of visitors.

And there's no stopping our visitors to the Corn Exchange today.

They have brought along all sorts of antiques

for our experts Adam Partridge and James Lewis to value.

First up, it's a very special book with Adam.

-Hi, Chris.

-Hello.

-So you've got this autograph album here.

We're going to have a look through it. Is it your album?

-Or how did you come to buy it?

-It is mine. I didn't buy it.

My father was the mayor of the London borough of Havering

in 1970, when I was a teenager.

So, while he was doing his year of office,

I either took the autograph book round with me on my travels, or he took it for me,

and anyone of interest that he met while he was out and about,

he got their autograph, or I did.

So it's a collection of the year, basically, when he was in office.

-From 1970.

-1970.

That's given us a good picture of the profile of the album.

I suppose we've got some interesting people in there.

-Yes.

-Let's have a look.

-Jackie Oliver.

-Jackie Oliver was a well-known racing driver.

During the year my father was the mayor of Havering, they opened a new ring road

and Jackie Oliver actually broke the ribbon that opened the ring road with his racing car.

He drove round the new ring road.

-So "To all the girls at the..."

-"County High School." When I was at school, you see.

There's Ronnie Corbett. Terry Venables.

-Ron Boyce. Is that football?

-Football. A lot of footballers in here. My dad was a big West Ham fan.

-Right. There's Bobby and Mrs Ferguson.

-That's right.

-Then we go through... There's Jimmy Greaves.

-Yes.

-Now the important one is a bit further...here.

-There.

-That's Douglas Bader.

-Douglas Bader, that's right.

During the year that my father was mayor, he got invited

to a lot of charity events, one of which was a Cheshire Homes do.

The Leonard Cheshire homes.

Douglas Bader was obviously present at the time so he got his autograph while he was there.

-I think that's of local interest as well because he was a local man, Douglas Bader.

-I believe so.

I know that I remember, as a child, seeing the films on the telly, and obviously, he is a famous man.

I remember reading Reach for the Sky, the autobiography.

-And there was a film as well, wasn't there?

-That's right. Kenneth Moore.

-I read it as a child.

-It was inspirational, really. A great story.

-Incredible man.

Absolutely. Maybe this is a good area to be selling a Douglas Bader autograph.

Let me ask you - why did you bring this collection of autographs in?

It resembles your childhood, doesn't it?

To be honest, for the last 20-odd out of the 30 years

it's just been sitting in a box in a spare bedroom gathering dust. It seems such a waste.

They are tricky things, autographs. I've got a few myself, of sport, like cricket and stuff like that.

-They're nice to own, but you never look at them, do you?

-No. And it's personal taste.

They don't display very well. They just sit in a cupboard.

I've got the memories of the year, regardless of the books.

-I've always got that to look back on, whatever happens.

-Happy to sell it?

-Yes, I am.

There's not a lot of financial value associated with this.

But we are selling it in the right area, so it should find its true value.

I would be thinking an auction estimate of £30-£50...

-That's fine. Better than sitting in a box at home.

-Absolutely.

Here we have a classic 18th-century English porcelain teapot

influenced and inspired by the pieces that were brought over

from China at the same period. Do you know anything about it?

I just always thought it was something which was from Lowestoft.

And we are a Suffolk family and we did have connections with Lowestoft.

-Brilliant.

-Obviously, not that far back.

-Absolutely bang on.

It's got all the right elements for a Lowestoft teapot.

This wonderful, curved, elongated spout,

this iron-red scrolling panel, the iron-red border.

And if you turn it over

it's got this oxidisation on the foot rim as well.

The body is quite brown.

This is 1770, right bang in the middle of Lowestoft's production.

It was in 1757 when a gentleman called Hewlin Luson,

who was an estate owner, an estate called the Gunton Estate.

He discovered a porcelain clay and he tried making porcelain from that.

He failed, and just six months later, the Lowestoft porcelain factory

was established by another couple of gentlemen and the factory continued until 1799.

So it was one of the most well-known and well-respected of the 18th-century porcelain factories.

And Lowestoft is really sought-after everywhere but nowhere more so than here, in its home.

And if you've got a bit of Lowestoft porcelain, this is where you want to be selling it.

-Is this something that you have treasured?

-It has been in the family for as long as I can remember.

My grandfather was an auctioneer, and my mother used to go round to

all the old houses when they were being pulled down in the '50s.

So she has always been round collecting bits and bobs.

So we've got lots of treasures we've collected over the years.

But there's nobody here really wants to have it now.

They prefer the furniture we have.

-OK.

-It would be nice to have a new home for it.

Now, it's got a few problems.

I'm sure you're aware of it.

You know the old tradition where your mother would say, "Don't forget to warm the pot, dear"?

Well, that comes from this reason.

If you put hot water into one of these porcelain teapots, the bottom of the teapot dropped out.

That's what's happened here.

You've got a crack that goes all the way around the outside,

and the whole of this base has been out, and it has been put back and stapled, in the 19th century.

This is a classic Victorian way of repairing porcelain.

This tells us that, even in the Victorian period, this was a sought-after piece.

People were collecting it even then.

So that does affect its value. But it's got good points, too.

The colours are vibrant. The colours aren't worn.

All the way up to the neck of the spout.

And also, on the cover as well, these alternating scrawling floral panels.

So although the body itself has been cracked, the cover is in one piece.

So what's it worth? 100 to 150. Something like that.

So if we put that in a sale, is that all right?

It would be lovely because what I would like to do is recycle the money from the teapot,

to pay for a chair, a Victorian chair which I am doing up.

So we would be very grateful for that.

-Are you going to upholster it yourself?

-Yes. Hopefully.

I'll be able to get a nice fabric for it.

-Rose, I'm Adam.

-Hello.

-Very nice to see you.

We do see a lot of Clarice Cliff on this programme.

but I chose to do this object because of its unusual shape,

this very small, flared cup that you don't often see,

and this is a great pattern.

First of all, let's hear how you came to own it, please.

Well, I was helping my father to clear out his Victorian dresser

and he just said, "Don't want any of that - they can all go."

I put it into a box to go to the charity shop. Threw this on top,

drove home, didn't think anything about it.

It had some cocktail sticks with the names of sandwiches on the top.

And I thought they'd be wonderful to use in the office when I do lunches.

So I washed the pot and the sticks,

-turned the pot over, like that...

-To dry.

..to dry on a tea cloth and saw the bottom.

I didn't read it completely.

I just saw the word, "Cliff".

-And I thought, hang on, This may be Clarice Cliff.

-Absolutely. Yeah.

And it's known as the melons pattern.

There was a range of Picasso fruit patterns,

this abstraction of the fruit pattern.

This is melons here, of course, and it is from the Fantasque range.

That's not the name of the pattern. It's the range.

-So have you an idea what it might be worth?

-We think somewhere...

between £100-£200.

-We're not certain.

-You're absolutely bang on.

It's quite tricky to value,

because of the shape being a relatively unknown quantity

but if we put a reserve of 100 and an estimate of 120-180 on it,

we should hopefully get closer to 200 than 100, which would be good, wouldn't it?

That would be nice, yes. Thank you.

Patricia, this is a really pretty little diamond crescent brooch.

It is the sort of jewellery that doesn't actually date.

If we look at the diamonds,

these are modern, brilliant-cut stones.

If this had been 19th century, they may well have been old-cut or rose-cut stones.

And this mount

is a 9 carat mount and we have

a modern, 9 carat hallmark on the edge there.

So this tells us it's about 1975, 1977. Somewhere around there.

-As recent as that?

-Yes.

And the other tell-tale sign - you can't use this as a guarantee

but it's a pretty good indicator of age.

It's got what is called a roller clasp.

Occasionally, pins and mounts are broken off

and they're replaced in the late 20th century.

This is a roller clip here on the edge

and that was only used in 20th-century jewellery.

It's a pretty thing. What's the history of it?

Is it a family piece?

Not at all.

It belongs to an animal welfare society called SESAW, a little local organisation.

And it was donated to them

a year or so ago.

-And, um...

-OK.

And they knew what they were giving?

I think it was in with a lot of other things.

-Was it?

-Yes. Someone went through and said, "That looks nice.

"Let's see if it's worth anything."

People tend to have a particular brooch that goes with a particular outfit

and these coats and jackets hang in the wardrobe and they have these wonderful diamond brooches on them.

People whip the clothes out the wardrobe,

stick them in bin bags, and send them to the charity shop.

And then the charity shop goes through the coats and the clothes

and they find these wonderful diamond brooches on clothing.

So often people don't actually know what they've given.

-But it's a good find. So we're raising funds for animals in need?

-Yes, absolutely.

Tell me about the charity.

It's SESAW - Suffolk and Essex Small Animal Welfare.

And they're based at Leavenheath.

My daughter first started volunteering and I just go along with her.

So I've got to get it right otherwise the charity will lose.

-Yes, please.

-These sort of diamond brooches,

they can either be valued as a brooch itself, but also for its component parts -

its gold value and its diamond breakage value.

So even if it's not wanted as a brooch, the diamonds have a value.

So I'm going to put a value of £150-£250 on it,

recommend a reserve of 150, and I think it's going to do jolly well.

-Lovely.

-That's going to buy a few cans of cat food, isn't it?

It certainly will. And some!

That was a real gem of an item.

I'm off to find out more about a man with a taste for the finer things in life.

The first Lord Fairhaven spent his early years in America

before his family returned to England in 1912.

He bought Anglesey Abbey and set about furnishing the former Augustinian Priory

with a valuable collection of furniture, books and decorative items.

And he was so popular with the local antique dealers

that whenever they saw Lord Fairhaven coming towards them

they used to rub their hands with glee and had smiles on their faces,

so naturally, the house is full of the most exquisite artefacts.

To tell me about more about them we have got the house manager, Philip Warner.

Hello, Philip. Thanks for taking time out to talk to us.

Where do we start? Because he had the most wonderful eye.

-He wasn't a collector, he was a connoisseur.

-That's correct.

In 1926, the first Lord Fairhaven bought this whole estate at auction.

What he had purchased was a blank canvas upon which he could recreate his own vision of home.

-So it didn't look like this at all?

-Not all of it, no.

This wonderful room we are standing in now was the only survivor of the Augustinian Priory.

But, even in here, Lord Fairhaven has actually added to the medieval nature

and turned what was a monastic day room into his Gothic, medieval vaulted dining room.

If you imagine it as the backdrop for his entertaining,

for guests coming up from London for the weekend.

You've got Newmarket down the road where they can go and have a flutter on the gee-gees.

You have got all flat Fenland where you can go and shoot pheasant,

and all the country pursuits. This is what this house was conceived as,

a sort of six star hotel, if you like.

-I love the fireplace.

-That's right. The fireplace is his addition.

-This looks like it's been here for centuries.

-It does.

Part of this Augustinian Priory, maybe. But in actual fact

the fireplace was bought on the London art market in about 1929.

These kinds of things were being sold off as architectural salvage

as big country houses were going into decline.

We think that he inherited a lot of his eye for antiques and the arts

through his mother's side of the family.

His mother was a American millionairess, Cara Rodgers.

Her father was one of the first presidents of the Esso Corporation,

rather a wealthy person in the 1900s.

And really, he was being inspired by her collecting set,

mixing with the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts

in these grand, turn-of-the-century country houses.

He was buying from the top London names - Sotheby's, Christie's,

he was going to the London auction sales.

He even had certain people like David Black and Sons, silver dealers,

he would have them keep an eye on the market and advise him.

To put a collection or many collections together like this,

and make them cross-pollinate, is very, very skilful.

He collected things from all around the world, different time periods, and put them together.

There was no particular rhyme or reason to what objects he would collect.

He wasn't particularly interested

-in a timescale or collecting...

-A purist thing.

He was actually... He was simply buying things that he liked.

And what you get at Anglesey is 40 years of one man collecting art and antiques,

arranging them at his leisure, and living amongst these treasures.

And he obviously had an eye for a bargain.

This charger is a spectacular piece.

Yes, this piece we have got records for.

We know that Lord Fairhaven purchased it in the 1950s.

We know that he paid £500 for this.

-Gosh, that was a bargain!

-Exactly.

He was buying at a time when these large, rather ostentatious objects

were not quite in fashion, in the post-war period,

and he did not have many competitors in the auction room.

It's called the shield of Achilles, and it depicts scenes taken from Homer's The Iliad.

It is one of only four in the world,

the original being made for the king, or prince regent, the future George IV.

What do you think that's worth today, then?

It's hard to give an exact price, now but certainly, back in the '80s,

one of the four came up for auction and it fetched nearly half a million.

So his £500 has multiplied a good number of times.

There's a couple of things that have caught my eye

that I would like to point out to you, here in the Long Gallery.

Let's start with this one. It is a small hall bench, and it is designed by William Kent.

Possibly one of England's greatest architects.

He was doing a grand tour of Europe in the early 1700s,

100 years before anybody else was doing it.

He brought back so many classical ideas

and introduced them into his own furniture and buildings back here in England.

This is built of Cuban mahogany in round about 1720.

It's got a lovely, dark, nutty hue to it. The patina is gorgeous.

But so is the detail, the carving.

This finial is carved out of one piece of mahogany.

And something like this in auction

would be worth round about 60, possibly £80,000.

I was very lucky to be sitting on that.

It is a piece for the purist.

Interestingly enough, just six feet away,

there is something that is completely wrong, but it's not.

As an interior designer, it's completely right.

It really does work well with this piece back here.

It is a 20th-century bronze casting of an eagle

which would have been on top of a pediment outside a building,

and it's got a small piece of 20th-century marble

just laid across the wings and the head, which creates an interesting hall table.

There's the American influence,

and there's the diversity of this collecting genius.

In his will, Lord Fairhaven asked that the house and his furniture

be preserved and kept as representative of an age

and a way of life that was quickly passing.

and after his death in 1966, the National Trust

took on the task of keeping Anglesey Abbey open for all of us to enjoy.

Lord Fairhaven made a point of only buying antiques

that gave him pleasure, things he loved, that put a smile on his face.

He didn't buy fashion items.

Which is a really good tip when investing in antiques.

Buy something that's not in fashion and it won't cost you as much.

Hopefully, in 10 or 20 years' time, it will pay good dividends on your investment.

Today's auction comes from Diss in Norfolk.

We're at Thomas Gaze and Sons. Our auctioneer is Alan Smith.

Before he gets going, let's remind ourselves of our items.

We're selling the autograph book belonging to Chris.

A typical Lowestoft teapot.

An unusual flared Clarice Cliff cup.

And a diamond brooch that could turn out to be the cat's whiskers.

While we've been to plenty of auction rooms in our time

on Flog It! but today is a milstone.

It's a general sell and it really is general.

Look at this!

Architectural salvage is big business.

Something for the garden but

this has to be a first for me.

I've never seen lampposts for sale in an aution room before.

Believe it or not, somebody is going to buy this and walk off with it.

What are they going to do with it?!

I'm sure our items will be put to good use.

Let's go inside and catch up with the bidding.

Chris, it's nearly the moment we're going to sell your autograph book.

-I know.

-It's from the the 1970s. All credit to your dad for getting these.

Lots of big names in there. Adam went through them.

Little names as well - Ronnie Corbett.

I fed him that.

-Yes. There are some great footballers in there as well.

-Yes.

It is such a hard thing to value.

It really is a hard thing to value.

It is.

The Douglas Bader one should be worth £20 on its own.

It's not in the catalogue, which is a bit disappointing.

They have omitted it. They have named the footballers.

Football and TV personalities, but not actually Douglas Bader.

There weren't that many in there.

You would have thought they could have mentioned it, but never mind.

We got a valuation of £30 to £50.

Let's hope we get the top end. That's what we've come for. Good luck, Adam. Good luck, Chris.

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

Number 209 is the autograph album, fully catalogued for you.

-But with the addition that Douglas Bader is in there as well.

-Ah!

It's a wonderful collection of autographs.

Start me at £12. £12, showing here.

15, 18, 20, 22,

-25, 28, 30.

-Wow!

-We've done it.

-38, 40 bid, 42, 45, 48, 50.

-Terrific!

Downstairs is £50.

£50 - where is 5?

55, fresh bid. 60, we have,

-65 is there.

-This is good!

Gallery is now £65, and where is my 70?

At £65, gallery now.

At 65, will sell.

Yes! 65 quid! That is a sold sound.

What are you going to put £65 towards?

Hopefully I'm going to go out and treat myself to something nice,

take the family for a meal or put it towards a meal.

-Some new clothes for yourself?

-Possibly, yes.

Enjoy it - whatever you do, enjoy it. Thank you for coming in.

That was a good result. I am pleased he mentioned Douglas Bader.

-I think it was Terry Venables and the footballers that did it.

-You think so?

I think it was a good result anyway.

You like me now, eh?

Right, my favourite item of the day, in fact, of the whole sale.

It is Liz's Lowestoft teapot.

It is absolutely stunning - third quarter of the 18th century.

We filmed at Lowestoft, and I've even made a bit of pottery up there.

Wonderful memories. When I saw this I showed it to the auctioneer and we both fell in love with it.

-If this was in good condition, £600 to £800.

-Fantastic.

Fantastic shape, fantastic shaped spout.

It's got everything going for it.

-Lovely.

-What are you hoping to put the money towards?

-It's going towards some re-upholstery for chairs I have bought at auction.

-Well, good luck.

-Thank you very much.

-Going under the hammer now.

Number 293, a lovely piece.

It's local, it's 18th-century Lowestoft.

We love to have it in the rooms, here.

Starting bottom end of estimate, £90.

£90, we start.

100, 120, 140, 160,

180, 200. At £200, I'm bid.

At £200. I will take 10 if it happens. We have the £200 now.

It is a lovely Lowestoft piece.

At a bid of £200.

Well, we did it. That's good.

It's an in-between sort of sum.

I'm delighted with that. Very pleased.

You can get your upholstery sorted out now.

-Something else to spend money on. That's lovely. Thank you very much.

-Thank you. Well done.

What a great result for Liz and the Lowestoft teapot.

It makes top end.

Now it's auctioneer Elizabeth Talbot's turn

to step up to the rostrum to sell Roz's Clarice Cliff pot.

It wouldn't be Flog It, would it, without Clarice Cliff?

And Roz has brought a lovely bit along.

120-180 is what we want.

There is a lot of Clarice Cliff here, so hopefully, the collectors are going to be out in force,

-bidding against each other, put the price up. How about that?

-Hope so. Yes.

And what will you put the money towards if we get this £200?

Well, really I ought to give it to my dad because it was his pot that I took away, yes.

But it will probably go towards some new light fittings, things like that.

-You're not a big Clarice Cliff fan, are you?

-No.

-You'd like to see this one go, wouldn't you?

-Yes. Definitely.

-Is this a good pot?

-It's a good pattern, an unusual but pedestrian shape.

-I think this is it, now.

-OK, good luck. This is it.

Lot 461. We have the Clarice Cliff Fantasque melons pattern beaker.

The pattern suits the shape nicely and on this, I start at just £55.

At £55, the Clarice Cliff is 55, now, 60 got.

60, 5, 70, 5, 80, 5, 85 with me.

90, new bidder. 95.

100, and I'm out.

It's now 100 in the room. At 100.

A good buy at 100. Where's 10?

At £100, to my left, at 100...

Elizabeth put the hammer down.

-Got the lower end.

-Yes.

-Light fittings?

-Yes.

-Where are the light fittings going?

In an apartment I bought in Austria.

You've got an apartment in Austria?

-Yes.

-As a holiday home?

-No, it's going to become a permanent retirement home.

-Is it?

You're moving from Norfolk and you're going to Austria? How lovely.

All you ladies out there, we've got a 9-carat diamond brooch that belongs to Patricia.

-It was donated to the charity.

-Yes.

And the charity is?

-SESAW!

-And who have we been joined by?

I am Rosie, chairman of SESAW.

-Tell us all about SESAW then.

-We're an animal rehoming centre.

And we rehome anything from chickens to llamas, pigs, cats, dogs...

Lots of lovely animals that need homes,

all being looked after with TLC. Right, we need top money for this.

We need £150-£250, hopefully, and we're going to find out. It's going under the hammer, now.

9-carat gold, 17 graduated stones and I'm looking for £200.

Or £100, if you like.

£80, I'm bid. Don't be shy on this one.

85, 90, 5, 100.

110, 120, and £120 I'm bid now.

Where's that? 120 is the bid, 130, 140,

150 is the middle bid.

150 is now, and where is 60?

150 will be the price.

-The hammer has gone down.

-Wow!

-£150.

-That's fantastic.

-What are you getting?

-I think it's going towards a new kennel.

We've so many dogs, we're running out of kennel space.

It'll go towards perhaps building a new kennel.

Good luck to you two. And good luck to SESAW. What a worthy cause. Love animals.

Sadly we've come to the end of our day here at the auction rooms in Diss. All credit to our experts.

They've done a great job. And I think everybody has gone home happy.

If you've got any antiques you're unsure about

and you want to flog, bring them to one of our valuation days.

You can get details on our website of all the locations and dates.

Just log on to... See you there.

For more information about Flog It, including how the programme was made,

visit the website at bbc.co.uk/lifestyle.

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