Belfast Flog It!

Today's programme comes from a city which is the birthplace of writer, CS Lewis.

It's also home to many famous musicians, such as Van Morrison.

Even the world's best footballer was born here, George Best.

Welcome to Flog It! Welcome to Belfast.

Belfast is renowned for shipbuilding.

The world's most famous ship, Titanic, was built here

by Harland and Wolff, once the world's largest shipyard.

These yards played a vital role in Britain's war effort during the 1940s.

The famous twin cranes, Goliath and Samson, still dominate the city's skyline.

Belfast is now enjoying a massive process of renewal.

It's a stylish, modern city with superb facilities

and delightful citizens,

of which hundreds of them have been queuing outside the town hall here today waiting patiently

to meet our experts to have their treasures valued.

They all want to ask that very important question. What's it worth?

Today, they're in the capable hands of Anita Manning

and David Barby.

Jo, let's have a look in here.

Ah...

Being a Scot, and coming from Glasgow, I should know all about whisky.

What we have is Irish whiskey here.

It was distilled by Bushmills, who are one of the oldest licensed distillers in the world.

-It is a famous, old whiskey.

-Absolutely.

-Are you a whiskey drinker?

-I'm afraid not.

-Why did you buy this?

I didn't buy it, actually. I won it in a raffle in a charity auction.

Were you never tempted?

Never tempted. Not my tipple, I'm afraid.

-What's your tipple?

-I like white wine.

Oh, yes.

This is called Bushmills Millennium Malt.

It was made in 1975, especially for celebrations in the millennium.

-That's correct.

-The cask number of bottles was 300.

-It's what we would call a limited edition.

-Yes.

If we look on the label, we can see "selected for UTV", which would be Ulster Television.

That's correct.

This would have perhaps been donated by Ulster Television to your charity.

Yes, for the auction to raise funds.

Pricewise, how much is a bottle of Bushmills? How much would you pay?

I think you'd probably pay £20 to £25.

I think we have to pitch our estimate not too high above that.

It will find its own level.

If we put it maybe £40 to £50, would you feel happy enough at that?

Yes, I think someone else can get some pleasure out of it.

If you sell it, you can buy yourself a good few bottles of white wine with that.

-That would be very nice.

-Let's go for it.

-Let's put the estimate maybe £40 to £50, with a reserve of £35.

-OK.

-See you on the day, Jo.

-Absolutely.

-Sober?

-Absolutely.

Jackie, I like good, solid furniture.

You can't mistake this for anything else, can you?

It is a solid piece or furniture, dating from the middle of the Victorian period.

Around about the Exhibition time, 1851.

Where did it come from?

It came from my grandmother's house.

It had been in the attic for quite a number of years.

Did it stand on a sort of

chest of drawers that would look similar?

Well, in her house there was quite a lot of furniture which would have been dark, old, heavy furniture.

Maybe originally it had sat on that, but she died three years ago.

-Nothing is left of the other furniture?

-It went when the house was cleared out.

-The whole lot went?

-A lot of stuff went, but she had mentioned a few things we needed to take out of it.

So we had taken this out of it and kept it.

This is just part and parcel of a huge bedroom suite that would have had a triple wardrobe, wash stand,

dressing-table, dressing mirror, maybe a set of chairs, bedstead, side cabinets.

This piece, middle of the 19th century, Exhibition period

and I would think at auction there is still an element of demand.

Whereas heavy mahogany furniture, dark furniture, also known as brown furniture, is no longer de rigeur.

There's very few people that want it.

I think this as a mirror, OK, there'll be a demand.

If this goes up for sale,

it will sell for something in the region of £140 to £160.

You are not going to replace it with anything of quality similar to this.

If you get rid of it, you get rid of it.

It's a bit big for our house now.

I can see this in a modern home, a minimalistic home

on a piece of furniture, in a bathroom or cloakroom.

We can see the whole family reflected in the mirror.

Are they going to the auction?

Yes, I would imagine they would be.

-Giving you moral support.

-Yes, absolutely.

-I look forward to seeing all of you.

-Thank you.

This owl is absolutely adorable.

I think I love him more because his eyes are missing.

Yes. It's very cute.

He is, isn't he? How did you come by him?

-I bought him from a bring-and-buy sale many years ago.

-How much

-did you pay?

-A few pounds, I'm not sure.

-Like a fiver.

-Probably, yeah.

It was about 15 to 20 years ago.

-You know he's a pepperette, don't you?

-I do.

I'm calling him a he because I think he's a wise old owl.

I know why his glass eyes are missing.

Really, the sockets of his eyes, you use to turn and take the lid off.

They've been over-used and eventually the little eyes have fallen out.

Looking inside, it's been nicely wash gilded.

There's a gilding wash just there.

That's to stop the salt or pepper from corroding the silver.

I think he's really, really beautiful.

He's hallmarked, on the back,

but the mark is a little bit indistinguishable.

The good thing about sterling silver is any accompanying piece always has to have a hallmark as well.

You know they belong together.

On the rim, just there,

I managed to find one.

I've looked there and I can see that

it's got the leopard's head for London. We know its London silver.

We've also got

the little Q, that tells us, 1859.

It's lovely. A shame about the eyes.

-I know.

-I think they can be replaced. It's like teddy bear eyes.

The glass eyes always go missing.

-It was a good investment.

-Was it?

It was. What do you think it's worth today?

I haven't a clue.

It's only tiny, maybe £50 or £60.

Well, I'd like to say to you let's put it into auction with a value of £80 to £120.

Right.

A fixed reserve of £80. Don't sell it for any less.

I think this could do the top end, even with the missing eyes.

-I don't think that's a problem. Put him under the hammer and see what he does.

-OK.

Angela, what's this guy's name?

Leo.

How long have you had him?

I've had him since about 1951, in or around that time.

So you've had him for nearly 50 years?

-Yes.

-As you know, Angela, it's a Steiff lion.

We can tell that factory

by the little button on the ear.

They are still making quality toys, quality teddies, animals and so on.

-This one from about the 1950s.

-Yes.

-Did you just fall in love with him at the time?

-Absolutely.

Whereabouts did you buy him?

It was Montreal.

A friend bought it for me.

And he's come across the Atlantic?

-He has, indeed.

-He's lovely.

He has the most gorgeous mane.

It's lovely. He's got highlights.

-I wish I did.

-Slightly squinty eyes. A wee bit of...

damage on the tail, here. He has been in the wars, did you know that?

I didn't know till I came down today.

Somebody's had a bite out of him.

That might make a wee bit of difference.

Apart from that, he's a lovely soul.

Value.

What do you think? Have you had anyone value it before?

I did have it valued once for £200.

For £200.

-About ten years ago.

-Yeah.

I feel,

Angela, I would like to pull the estimate down a little bit to give it a chance at auction.

I would like to estimate between £150 and £250.

-Would you feel happy at that?

-I would, indeed.

We'll put it in and hope we've just hit it at the right spot.

-Yeah.

-Angela, he's been with you for a long time.

Why are you selling him?

-I've nobody behind me that I want to give it to, really.

-Right.

What you would like is for him to have another...

-..a good, good home.

-A good, good home. For that pussycat.

-Yeah.

We're about halfway through the day and we still have hundreds of people to see. We've got our work cut out.

Now we're gonna put our valuations to the test. It's our first visit to the auction room.

While we make our way over to John Ross's auction house,

here's a quick reminder of all the items we're taking with us.

It's not to Jo's taste, but Anita thinks her commemorative bottle of whiskey may have a certain appeal.

This dressing-table mirror is on the large side for Jackie and the family.

Nevertheless, it's a quality item.

Susan's little silver owl pepper pot may be missing its eyes,

but I think a wise buyer just may sniff out a bargain.

Finally, Angela's Steiff lion.

It's a bit baggy around the seams,

but I'm sure he's gonna attract a lot of attention.

Right now it's time to up the tempo, this is where the excitement starts.

We've come for our first visit to the auction room which is Ross's of Belfast.

Let's catch up with the man with the gavel and all the local knowledge, Daniel Clarke,

see what he says about our valuations.

Definitely a lot of local interest with this lot. That's all I can say.

Bushmills Irish single malt whiskey. It belongs to Jo.

She won it in a charity auction and we valued this at £40 to £50.

Quite honestly, I think it's really hard to value things like this, unless you taste it.

What do you think?

-Well, the seal is still intact, so nobody has had a swig at it as yet.

-I can't fiddle it!

Bushmills, the oldest distillery in the world.

It's Irish. You CAN buy it in the shops at about £95.

Not terribly old yet.

I think probably the estimate is fairly right.

Is this your tipple?

Not really, for me.

I do like this, I must admit.

Either that or dandelion and burdock.

We've got something now that has loads of local interest.

I think it will appeal to everybody.

It's a single malt, Irish whiskey. It belongs to Jo.

Not for much longer, we got a value of £40 to £60 and it was put on by our expert, Anita.

-You won this, didn't you, in a charity auction?

-Yes.

-It cost nothing, it's a good investment.

It's worth at least 90 quid. It's going under the hammer now. Good luck.

Lot 561, the Bushmills Millennium malt whiskey.

Shall we say £50 for the Bushmills?

With the porter at 50.

At £50. 5. 60. 5. 70.

-Yes.

-I knew it wouldn't let me down.

£80. The porter's bid at 80 for the whiskey.

That's a good result.

£80, I'm selling now. At £80...

-Yes.

-There we are.

80 quid. The auctioneer and I

were musing over this bottle before the auction started,

saying the valuation was OK.

We thought, really, to do a proper valuation you've got to taste it.

-Did you?

-No, we couldn't let Jo down.

What are you gonna do with the £80?

Anita suggested I might like to buy some of what I really like to drink, white wine.

-There you go. You can get a couple of cases.

-I think so, yes.

Right now we've got that lovely dressing-table mirror coming up for grabs at £140 to £160.

I've been joined by Jackie.

But, where is little Ben?

There he is.

Are you OK? Are you gonna say anything?

I think he's really, really shy today.

I like his little school uniform. Lock View.

-Good luck with the mirror.

-Thank you.

-It's quality, a lovely lump of mahogany.

Here's David, who put the price on it.

I understand that the Irish dealers buy brown furniture in England,

where it doesn't sell, and bring it to Ireland where there's a market for it.

-I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

-So am I.

Let's hope it's a true reflection of the price. £140-160.

Victorian mahogany, dressing-table mirror on a platform base.

Could we say £100? £80, please.

80, I'm bid. 90. £90, I'm bid. £100.

£100. At £100 I'm bid now for the mirror at 100.

At £100, 110, £110 under the rostrum at 110,

at £110, are we all done at £110?

At £110 I have, you're all out at 110, all finished, at £110.

£110 - I'm pretty sure he's used his discretion.

We had a reserve of £125.

You got 110. Just shy. Nevertheless, it's a good result.

£110, sold for.

Is he going to have the money?

Ben? How are you going to spend £110?

What's Mummy going to do with it?

-I wonder.

-It's going to be split between Jamie and Ben.

You've got another son? Two boys?

Lovely. Thank you for coming in.

-OK, thank you.

-Phew, just!

Angela, good to see you again.

Angela brought in that lovely Steiff lion with a value of £150-£250, eh?

-What do we think? A big growl.

-Grrr!

-Oh, easy, tiger! Easy, tiger!

And here's another little tiger. You put the valuation on.

We normally see lots of Steiff teddy bears on the show, and they sell so well.

But I think the lion could be quite unique.

It will add to any teddy bear collection.

It has a wonderful expression on its face.

I fell in love with it.

Why do you want to part with this lovely little lion?

I'm going to Canada next year.

Putting a few bob together? I don't blame you. What part of Canada are you going to?

I lived in Montreal.

-So, you're going back to visit friends? Any relatives out there?

-My brother in Toronto.

-Oh...It's a long way.

-Yes, yes.

We'll get you there, hopefully. Half the air fare, at least.

Let's hope we get the top end. It's going under the hammer now.

Lot 76. A Steiff lion, on view there with the porter,

£100, please, 80,

60 I'm for the Steiff lion. 70.

At £70 for the Steiff lion, 80.

-At 90, 100, 110...

-We're getting there, getting there...

Here at £120, against you, madam, at 120.

130, new bidder.

£130.

-Come on!

-130, on my right.

At £130, last call, sir, at 130. 140.

At £140, with you, sir, we have £140,

at £140...

-Yes!

-£140.

-Thank you so much.

-It's a little towards the air fare.

It will get you to Canada.

-Thank you so much.

-Hook up with everybody you know there. All your family and friends.

-Thank you for very, very much.

-Well cone.

-It was close.

Right now, it's my turn to be the expert.

I'm joined by Susan. We've got that lovely silver owl pepper pot, about to go under the hammer.

I hope we get the top end of the valuation. I'm looking at the 150s, fingers crossed.

He's got no eyes, but he just needs a little bit of TLC.

-Yes, definitely.

-Susan's brought her mum along for moral support.

-What's her name?

-Rita.

-Rita, hello! Fingers crossed for Susan.

-It's going under the hammer. Are you going to treat Mum, later?

-Definitely.

-Mum's being treated for lunch.

-Lunch to start with.

-Lunch to start with!

-It depends how much we get. If it sells!

It's going under the hammer right now.

£100, please, for the pepper pot.

£50, anyone? 50, 60, 70, 80, 90...

-That was our reserve, wasn't it?

-120, 130, 140.

Gentleman here at 140. 150, new bidder. 160, 170...

-He's gonna bid on it.

-180, new bidder.

-I said we should get 180.

-200.

-Ooh, brilliant.

-£200. 220, at £220.

240, new bidder. At 260, 270...

-Oh, this is fantastic.

-I can't believe it.

-£270.

-280.

-I said owls are really collectible.

-The lady's bid at £280.

Back of the room at £280.

-You, madam, at 280..

-Fantastic.

-At 290.

-Oh!

-290.

He's soaring high now!

We have £290, madam.

-I'm selling now at 290... Lady's bid, 300.

-300!

-£300.

I'm shivering. I'm tingling.

-£300, I'm selling now...

-This is great. This is absolutely fabulous.

-Yeah! 300 quid!

-I can't believe it!

-Thank you very much.

-. What are you going to put £300 towards?

I don't know - a good night out.

Mum! That's what you're going to put it towards!

A good night out and lots of lunches.

Thank you so much for coming.

They absolutely adored that.

Owls are so collectible. What a wonderful moment.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

I've always been a big fan, a huge fan, of traditional Irish music.

It's exciting, it's romantic, and it's bewitching.

You can't help but tap your foot

along to the pulse of that heartbeat.

And an instrument that's very much central to traditional Irish music is the Irish frame drum,

it's called the bodhran, and its name means "roaring sound" or "deafening."

So you can't exactly miss it.

And a man who knows a thing or two about the bodhran is Eamonn Maguire.

So I've come for a lesson in the art of drum-making.

I love your workshop. It looks like organised chaos in here.

My type of place! Tell me, the bodhran, is it pronounced boh-ran?

-B-0, sort of "boar"?

-It depends on what part of the country you're in.

-OK.

-Up here, they call it a bo-ron.

-Bo-ron?

-Yeah.

-Now, where did the interest start with you? I know you're a keen player.

Well, about 40 years ago, you wouldn't have been able to buy a drum up here, a bodhran.

-Were they all made down south?

-That's it. There was only, maybe, two makers in the south at the time.

One was the Furey brothers. Their father made them, Ted.

And another boy, Charlie Burns, made them in Tipperary.

I decided to make one for myself, because I couldn't get one.

-Because you couldn't get your hands on one.

-I'd worked at curing skins for...ever.

My brothers used to go out hunting and I cured rabbit skins and hare skins, made Davy Crockett hats.

So I had a good idea how to cure a skin.

I got a goatskin and cured it, made a drum, somebody heard it and asked me to make them one.

Made them one, somebody else said, "Another drum,"

so I just finished up starting a wee business up out of it.

Talk me through the process of making a drum. How long does it take you?

I have to buy sheets of this ply, split it up into sections.

The right depth. That's the standard depth, then?

-Well...

-Different sounds, different depths?

-I make two different depths and two different sizes.

I make a 14-inch and a 16-inch.

-Years ago, most people would have played on an 18-inch drum.

-That's big, isn't it?

-I've seen pictures of The Chieftains, Massive, big drum.

-That's right.

I made Kevin Conneff two drums - that's the fella who plays with The Chieftains.

-But, in recent years they've shrunk..

-Purely because of travel?

You can pack stuff into it and put it in a travel case and take it away with you.

It fits in the overhead locker.

That's important! Yes, that's important.

So, you've got the plywood around the jig, and you've got two scarf joints. You've glued them up.

What happens next?

You take a skin...

What's this, is this goatskin?

It's been cured in lime.

You cure this in a big barrel of lime for ten days.

-That's quite a thick skin, isn't it?

-Yep. And then you mark it out into a circle. Cut that circle.

Then that has to be steeped again in water, just to soften.

I'll show you just what I mean.

So you leave a bit of excess, so you can fold it over.

Yes.

Here's a skin, there.

My word, that's really supple, now.

-Oh, aye.

-Is this hard to get hold of, this goatskin?

Not really. There's quite a few places in the north, where there's wild goats.

And they have to be culled every so often.

And I'm in touch with most of the guys who do the culling.

When they're culling,

I go up and skin the goats for them.

Oh.

And this is the rim we done earlier.

This is a 16-inch.

When I'm putting on a skin, normally, I would peg out where the backbone is,

and have it running down the centre of the drum,

so that it leaves the softest pieces for playing on, the playing surface.

And just tack the four corners...

and there's no real strain that needs to be put on it now.

So all the way around, tack it up.

All there is left to do after I've put the skin on

is to stud it up.

Usually... There's one here.

Yes, because it looks quite crude, like that, doesn't it? With staples all the way round.

Normally, I would leave these staples in until the skin's dry,

then I put a uniform line of staples in

and then finish it off with a piece of leather, studded round it.

-Hide the staples.

-Yeah.

-And as that dries out, that starts to tighten.

-That tightens up.

But this is tuneable drum, with tuning pegs inside.

Oh yes, little lugs.

Yes, and they're just tuned with an Allen key, so it allows for

a good bit of tightening, or loosening up - whatever you need to do.

But with this style here...

this is unique to us.

I was going to ask that, because most of these handles

are running right across the drum, but yours just finish halfway.

That's a wee thing that I developed, from playing with my fingers.

Just using your fingers to dampen the skin.

Dampen the skin, change the tones.

Yes, it changes the tone, doesn't it? Listen.

You need to do that with a drum with the skin tied on...

Well, that's the difficult bit.

Incredible drum rolls, just with one hand.

If you play close to the skin, close to the side here...

That's great.

That's really, really good.

Let's have a quick lesson before I go.

Just hold the stick.

-The other way round, Paul.

-OK.

-Right?

-Quite a loose....

-Up and down. You just take it up and down.

PLAY SAME RHYTHM

There you are.

-Thank you very much!

-No bother.

-I'm useless.

-We'll sign you up now!

Thank you very much.

Back at the valuation day, David's discovered a piece of local craftsmanship.

Tim, can I ask why you're parting with this quite delightful piece of Belleek porcelain?

It was given to me several years ago by my mother.

She had it given to her by her late sister,

possibly 35, 40 years ago.

And the whole thing is now turning circle,

and I know my mother and father are planning to put in a bathroom,

and any money that this may realise could go towards that.

And they're not aware of it.

I think that's a very nice idea.

This is what is termed as at cabaret set.

In other words, a tray.

In the middle, here, would be a teapot, and then you'd be accommodating on these lily pads

things like a sucriere - a covered sugar box -

milk jug, and then four cups and saucers.

Now, with Belleek porcelain, you divide it into various categories depending on the mark.

You have impressed marks and the early mark, which doesn't include Ireland,

and you call that first period.

After 1891, second period.

This is second period, because if we have a look at the mark,

it includes the country of origin, Ireland.

Now, this came about because of an act that went through the American Senate,

and they said that any object imported

had to have the place of origin, and it has to be printed in English.

This is why you get, "Made in Czechoslovakia," "Made in France," "Made in Germany," "Made in Ireland."

So that all came about because of that American act. 1891.

It affected the whole of the world.

What I find intriguing is that the factory established in 1857,

and the factory is associated closely with County Fermanagh

because of deposits of an ingredient in porcelain manufacture, which was called feldspar rock.

They imported the clay from Cornwall, and then used this rock, which is ground down to a very fine powder,

mixed together, and they had true porcelain.

By using the same sort of ingredients, feldspar, for the glaze, it gave it an iridescent quality.

This is the beauty of Belleek porcelain.

Now we come to putting a price on this object.

Have you any idea of how much it's worth, in your own head?

I've had a...

Not recently, but fairly recent valuation on the plate, of £650.

Oh!

-£650?

-Yes.

Well, that's far more than I would have placed on it.

In my own mind, I might have thought 250-350,

and hope to get more.

But if you were to say, "I want it to go for auction. I will put 650 on it."

I will go by your decision.

I would like to send it to auction.

-Right.

-And I would like to put a reserve of 650 on it.

I'd like to see how it does.

So, if we put a reserve of £650 as your wishes,

the auction house would then have to put an estimate

that's £650 to £750 - that sort of price range.

It might just frighten people away.

£650 has been priced by a dealer or an auction house?

A dealer.

A dealer. Well, Tim,

I hope that I'm proved wrong.

I hope so too, and I hope that the people at the auction will do the plate justice.

Rita, thank you for coming along to Flog It! and welcome.

This is an interesting thing here.

Let's open it and have a wee look and see what it does.

This is what I would call a Victorian home entertainment centre.

Tell me where you got it, Rita.

I bought a house. These two old people lived in it and had died.

And their son sold the house to me, and he took what he wanted and told me to dump the rest.

So when we saw this, I had no interest in it but my husband kept it.

And it was kept and never taken off the shelf.

That's where it's been up until today.

-Did your husband know what it was?

-No, he thought it had something to do with being a doctor.

Well, it's a Victorian stereoscope.

And every home would have something like this, and they would buy cards

which would show you perhaps the great exhibitions,

or scenes in Japan, scenes of India,

so that people were able to see foreign lands at that time.

Unfortunately we don't have any of the slides or the cards.

If you had, you would have probably worked it out that it wasn't a medical instrument!

And it was a piece of home entertainment.

Now, on the front here, we have two eye pieces.

These would be used when we were viewing the cards which were specially manufactured for this.

And this big lens here would be used as a magnifying glass for photographs.

So, interesting that it has dual purpose in that regard.

-What year would you say it was?

-It would be the late 1800s anyway.

Now, they used these in the early 1900s.

In fact, they were still being made up until the beginning of the First World War.

But with that ebonised decoration, I would say that it would be the late 1800s.

Anywhere from 1880, 1890 upwards.

So, price-wise, I would estimate it in the region of say, £20-30.

We could put it into auction with that estimate.

It might go a wee bit further because it's an interesting thing.

But it's not a fine thing.

-Shall we go for it at that estimate, Rita?

-Yes. All right.

I'll see you at the auction and we'll have some fun.

-Yes, thank you very much.

-Nice to meet you.

What a wonderful cavalcade of early 20thC life is contained in these three albums.

Where do they come from, all these postcards?

Well, the collection I inherited from my aunt who was born in 1905.

Her husband was born in 1903 and obviously collected them as a small boy.

There are some from the shipping ones, where relatives of theirs were emigrating to Canada,

1911, 1912, 1913, that sort of thing.

-Just prior to WWI.

-Yes.

Just having a quick look through, there are a lovely selection.

And the typical holiday ones like this one from Blackpool.

And it has, "Our dirty darling at Blackpool", which is wonderful.

And there's another one here which made me smile.

It's, "Happy New Year, hoping you'll turn over a new leaf."

And right in the middle of the leaf is a bottle of Guinness.

-Well, you are in Ireland, aren't you?

-Absolutely. It's such fun.

Then you've got this collection of liners, trawlers and other vessels.

What I like is you've got these lovely symbols - hands across the sea. They really are good.

There's also some scenes from WWI.

In particular, the artist, Bruce Bairnsfather.

So there we have these humorous scenes of Tommy in the most appalling circumstances,

but with that element of British humour coming through which I thought was so good.

You've also got a lot referring to views of Ireland.

You've got Lisburn here. You've got other scenes as well.

A lovely collection, and they are untouched.

This is how a dealer or collector likes to buy them, untouched.

Now, price. I think these are going to make a very good price.

The last collection of albums comparable to this made over £350.

There are one or two which have the corners rubbed or bent, and some with creases.

That affect the value terrifically.

So I think we've got to look in the region of about £280-350, that sort of price range.

We'll put the reserve,

let's stick our neck out and say 280, bearing in mind you have to pay a commission.

-Yes.

-Will there be no regret in parting with your family history?

No, no. Not at all.

Strictly speaking, it's not my family, it's my aunt's in-laws.

It doesn't have any great emotion from my point of view, just curiosity value.

-Nobody to pass it on to?

-Nobody to pass it on to, and when I fall under the proverbial bus,

someone will have to clear my house and get rid of them so I might as well do it for them.

-Could I leave you my address, please, for future contact?

-Well, yes, by all means!

Tim has high hopes for his Belleek plate

although David isn't so sure.

Anita described this Victorian stereoscope as a home entertainment system.

Not of huge value, but of some interest.

And finally David was fascinated by John's collection of postcards

which has been in his family since before the Great War.

Daniel, you must see a great deal of Belleek - it's just made up the road, isn't it?

This belongs to Tim. It's been in his family for quite a time.

He wants £650-750 as a valuation.

David, our expert, was a bit reluctant to put that on it.

But Tim has been offered that sort of money from the antiques trade

so that's what he wants from the auction room. It's punchy, isn't it?

I think it's strong.

-What's going for it is it's really reasonably early, second period.

-Yes.

But is not a crouching Venus with all her fingers and toes.

It's a relatively ordinary piece. There's a lot of Belleek in Northern Ireland.

It's collectors that are buying it and it's probably not one of the more collectible pieces.

-So I would have seen the price round £200-300.

-That's about right, isn't it?

-I think so.

-I think you've got to be a wizard to work some magic to sell it for £700. Maybe you can do it!

I hope you can.

We're keeping everything crossed as Tim's Belleek plate is first up.

Now, the valuation, I've got to bring our expert David Barbie, everybody's favourite, in on this.

I wish you wouldn't say that.

You were slightly swayed by Tim because you really put the valuation on of £650-750

-because you've had an offer from...

-A local dealer

and it was just to verify his price that I came along in the first place.

-Right.

-I must confess, Tim was rather shocked at my initial low valuation.

-I did not think it was worth £700.

-Not in auction anyway.

-Not at auction.

-We had a chat with the auctioneer and he agreed with what you've just said.

-So, fingers crossed, whoever was prepared to pay you that sort of money for it is in the room.

-Right.

-OK.

-What will we say for the early Belleek plate?

A couple of hundred pounds for the early Belleek?

£200, please, anywhere?

100. I'm bid £100 for the early Belleek, at £100.

At £100. 120.

150. At £150 for the early Belleek, at £150.

180, thank you.

190.

210.

-210, I'm bid. 220.

-This is better.

-Against you.

220. 230.

240. 250.

-A little climb coming on.

-260.

At 260 I'm bid now. At £260...

At 260 I'm bid.

No. Right, OK. Does that offer, it's not gonna sell,

does that offer still stand with the private deal?

-Can you ring them up and say, I'll accept your offer?

-Yes.

Yeah? I think you should do that pretty quickly, before he checks in with the auction house.

-Thank you very much.

-Tim, thank you. I'm sorry you were not successful.

Well, hopefully another time.

I have just been joined by Rita and we've got the home entertainment system,

the Victorian stereoscope. I love it.

Not a lot of money, £20-40, hopefully a little bit more.

Rita's saying, please don't show if it doesn't sell. But we're going to.

Anita, you put the valuation on. I think it's a "come and buy me",

-I think it could do a little better.

-It's such a nice little thing.

It's a little after-dinner conversational entertainment, to look at these things.

Much better than looking at the telly!

Ooh!

-Apart from Flog It! of course.

-Victorian stereoscope with slides.

There we have it, £20, £10 please.

10, I'm bid, 15. 20.

At 25.

30. At £30.

The bid's under the rostrum at 30. With you, sir, at £30.

£30, I am bid now. At £30.

Five. At 40.

At five. At 50.

-This is good.

-At five. At 60.

At five. At 70.

At five. At £75, I am bid at the back of the room. At 75.

At £75, I am selling now at £75.

-Yes. Hammer's gone down. That was a good result, Anita.

-Excellent.

-I am happy for you.

-Thank you very much.

-That's OK.

We've got a fantastic set of albums, lots of photographs.

They belong to John. We've got a value of £280-350.

There is a great deal of social history in these albums.

What I like also is the fact they are in their original albums.

So many people put them into these plastic sleeves, which are OK, but you don't get the sense of history.

No, you don't. Happy with the valuation?

Yes - I'm hoping for the upper end.

I'm hoping for the upper end. I think this will surprise us.

-Fingers crossed.

-Have you got prior knowledge?

No, I can assure you, I haven't, but I'd like to see this do 400-500.

That sort of figure. It's going under the hammer now. Good luck.

Three postcard albums, approximately 400 postcards.

Nice lot, can we say £300?

I'll take 200 to open. £200 anywhere?

With the porter at £200. At 200. 220.

250. 280.

300. 320, new bidder.

-350.

-The porter is still in there.

380. £400. 420.

450. 480.

At 480, it's back with the porter at 480. New bidder at 500. 520.

550.

-550. 580.

-Brilliant.

580, I'm bid. £600.

At 620.

At 620, it's back with the porter at 620. 650.

-This really is good.

-At £680.

I am bid 700.

At £700. With the porter at 720.

I think this creates a record for postcards.

Yes, we can dine out on this one.

£780 with the porter. At 780, any more?

At £780. Last call.

At £780...

Yes! What a result. £780, John.

-I'm so delighted you brought them along to Flog It!

-Well, I'm delighted with the result.

I thought on a good day, they might go for £450-500.

There's a lesson to be learned -

if you've got any photographs albums with lots of old postcards,

please hang on to them because they are worth a fortune.

The auction is still going on, it's all over for our owners

and everybody has gone home happy, especially John.

It was lovely to see that big grin on his face with that staggering £780 for the photograph albums.

That made his day. I hope we've made your day as well.

Sadly that's it from Belfast so, until the next time, it's cheerio.

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