Belfast Flog It!

Belfast has many claims to fame. John Dunlop invented the first

pneumatic tyre.

Harry Ferguson revolutionised farming by developing the modern tractor.

And the Royal Victoria Hospital was the very first building in the world

to be fitted with air conditioning.

Hoping to raise the temperature are our experts, Anita Manning and David Barby.

Anita's found something that will definitely get the ladies hot under the collar.

-Maureen, wasn't George Best a great-looking guy?

-Oh, yes.

An interesting lot, this is.

-Here I am in Belfast with Belfast's best boy.

-Best boy.

Tell me, where did you get it?

My husband bought me the LP and then...

-Did he want you to shape up and dance?

-Yeah.

As you can see, it didn't do me any good.

Oh, you're absolutely fine.

So, tell me where you got this signature.

He lives across the street from my mother's house. I knew his parents,

knew his sisters and his brothers, most of all him, as well, you know.

You're obviously a lot younger than George Best.

I'm more on to the ages of Julie and Grace, his sisters.

Now, did he play football with the kids about the street and so on?

He did and he taught all the kids in the street.

And he taught all the kids? Was he a nice guy?

Oh, yes, very down to earth.

But very, very shy, in a way, too, you know - he was a shy boy.

-He was very good looking.

-Blue-eyed beauty.

Yeah, yeah. Did he have a lot of girls running after him?

Yeah, yeah, a lot. Especially models.

So what we have here is a very simple thing.

It's a Shape Up & Dance record and this sort of stuff was very popular in the '70s

with our darling George Best there and a glamorous girl by the side.

That was one of his girlfriends.

That was one of his girlfriends and they're shaping up and dancing there.

Well, Maureen, very difficult to estimate accurately an item like this.

Because it's a record rather than a football shirt or a piece of football memorabilia,

it's not as valuable as one of those items would be, but it's still of tremendous interest.

Now, we're selling it in Belfast,

so this is the best place to sell it.

And the fact that he is recently deceased will make it

even more interesting.

But I'm going to put £40 to £60. Would you be happy, Maureen, with selling it at that price?

At the highest, at the highest.

At the highest price. Well, Maureen, we're looking for the highest price,

-but what we're doing by estimating it low is to encourage...

-Encourage...

Encourage the bidding.

If we put it too high it can put people off, but I would still like

-to put it in about 40 to 60, but only if you are happy.

-Yeah.

We can put a reserve price on it and we tend to put the reserve price towards the lower estimate.

Right. Yes, that's fine.

-Are you happy with that?

-Yes.

It find its own level and hopefully go beyond the top estimate.

-He's a good Belfast boy.

-He was a bad Belfast boy,

-but he was absolutely wonderful.

-He was.

Ann, I always find paperweights fascinating.

It's almost like looking at one of those soothsayer's crystal balls, isn't it?

This is lovely. Where did it come from?

Er, it came from my Auntie Peggy. She gave it to me about 1965.

Do you know where she got it from?

Well, she was a headmistress of an all-girls boarding school in Letchworth,

although originally from Ireland,

and her pupils came from all over the world and one pupil

-gave this to her.

-Well, it's a very lovely piece.

And it was on her desk and I admired it and she said, "You can have it, Ann."

What age were you then?

Oh, I was still at school,

I must have been about eight.

There's a lovely history behind paperweights.

England produced some very fine paperweights, Scotland also, but this one here is very much

in the French style, particularly sort of Clichy-style paperweight,

probably dated from the early 20th century, where you have this millefiore design at the top.

Clichy became quite an important factory, but they started off

making very cheap glass and then ended up producing exquisite objects similar to this.

Would that be French, then?

Er, I think it is French, although if you look very carefully

on these barley-twist inclusions - can you see those? -

there's just a hint of gold.

-Really?

-Just a hint of gold, which you do associate more with the Italian factories.

-Right.

So I'd put it down as French, but it could be from another Continental source.

The other thing I love about this is there seems to be a cone right in the middle of all those bubbles.

Er, we call them tears, so there's numerous tears inside.

-There's a lot of tears.

-Absolutely.

I hope that's not why you're getting rid of it.

-No.

-Why do you want to sell it?

Er, well, I do know people collect paperweights and I don't collect them.

And if somebody really wanted this for a collection, I'd say then it would be in a good home.

Right. I think there'll be a ready market for this in the region of about £80 to £100.

And the auction house, if they want it at a sort of comfortable reserve,

they might bring it as low as 60. Is that acceptable?

Yes, as long as it goes to a good collector who'd appreciate it.

We can't guarantee that, but I think even if a dealer buys it, it's going to be sold to a collector.

-Yes, yes.

-But let's find out if somebody there at auction is going to buy it.

-Yes.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you. It's lovely being here.

Cudsy, I love small silver pieces like that.

Tell me, where did you get them?

Well, they've been in my family for five generations now and we've just

been clearing out my granny's attic, so we've just found them again.

They've been wrapped in newspaper in the attic, really, for a couple of years now.

She's downsizing her house, so we're thinking of selling them now.

Is it something that you would like to keep?

Well, I'm not really sure what they were used for.

I've been told they're called a pair of salts and that you sprinkle salt from them.

I'm not really sure.

Ah, right. Well, that's absolutely right.

They are salt dishes.

They're made of silver, they're hallmarked silver.

Do you know how you tell silver?

-No, I wouldn't know.

-Well, I'm going to tell you today.

If you look at the silver pieces, you'll see little boxes.

Now, the little box with the lion on it tells us that it is silver - that is has been assayed as silver.

And the little anchor here tells us that it was assayed in Birmingham.

And Birmingham was a well-known place for small silver to be manufactured.

-Yes.

-Here we have a letter mark. It will be one of the letters of the alphabet,

and we can tell from that which year

-the item was made.

-Right.

It was made in this case in 1901.

And a little box at the end tells us the manufacturer's letter,

so the auctioneer will trace the manufacturer there and hopefully that will be in the catalogue.

But it still has its original liners and that's good.

Salt was a very valuable commodity and it was worthy of putting in these lovely silver condiments.

Very typical of the Edwardian times, very simple decoration,

away from the over-ornate decoration that they had in Victorian times.

Price-wise, what do you think, Cudsy?

Er, I wouldn't be able to say. I'm not very good at valuing things.

-I wouldn't be able to say how much.

-What age are you?

-I'm 16.

-Oh, well, yes.

-So...

-don't really know.

-I know, well, I'm just a wee, tiny bit older than 16!

So, er, value. I would put

£50 to £80 on this pair.

-Would you be happy to sell them at that price?

-Yes, I think I would.

We'll put them in at 50 to 80 with a reserve of, say, 45, just to protect them.

I'm sure they'll go higher than that.

-And I look forward to seeing you on the auction day.

-OK, thank you.

We can hold each other's hands and push the bidders on.

-Yes, thank you.

-OK.

Now, Winifred, I love this clock. Where has it been in the house?

-Pride of place?

-Not really, no.

So where have you housed it?

Actually, it's been in a box in a cupboard for years and years.

-You've never had it out?

-Not for many years.

Did you not like it?

Not until this morning.

Soon as somebody admires it, you see it in a different light.

-That's right, yes.

-I think this is quite beautiful. Where did it come from?

-It originally was my mother's...

-Mmm?

..I remember from childhood in her house.

It dates from the earlier part of the 20th century.

We're looking at round about 1900, 1910, that sort of period.

And this is a Continental piece.

But it's interesting that in Ireland they have a very keen appreciation of this type of Art Nouveau design,

because the actual design is similar to the old Celtic designs,

particularly this sort of openwork here.

But this style of decoration we call Art Nouveau

and Art Nouveau was an international style.

I wanted you to tell me your mother had been to Europe

and had bought it when she was abroad. But that's not the case?

Yes, my mother, I don't think, was ever out of Ireland in her life.

Oh, right, right, right.

The decoration is very similar to a porcelain on Rosenberg, which is a Dutch company,

and you have this very thin line of painted decoration, with these elegant plant forms.

But this is a pottery piece, so when I turn it upside down,

we can see the Arnhem mark at the bottom there, so we still have the Dutch connection.

The clock movement is terrible.

It's a cheap, cheap movement and doesn't do justice to the decoration

and this piece of pottery.

-I love it.

-Do you?

I love it, indeed. If I saw that in an antique shop, I'd go for it.

I look at this and first of all you look for damage.

There's two little fractures on both sides - here, here and on that side.

Not broken, but they're fractures, they're cracked, so it does affect the value.

So if this comes up for sale, it's the design and people who love Art Nouveau

that are going for this particular piece and I can see it going for about 60 to 80.

-Would you be happy?

-Oh, yes, yes.

-It's doing nothing in a box, is it?

-No, no, it isn't, really.

I would be very happy with that, indeed.

Oh, good. In fact, I should offer you that now, shouldn't I?

THEY LAUGH

Let us go out to auction and see what happens.

Yes. It's got beautiful this morning, I can tell you!

Maureen had her album signed by a family friend, who just happened to be George Best himself!

And a Continental glass paperweight would grace any desk.

Cudsy is hoping the pair of Edwardian silver salts are to the taste of the Belfast bidders.

And Winifred has been keeping her Art Nouveau clock

in a box under the stairs, much to the amazement of David.

They hope it'll catch a collector's eye.

For today's auction, we've come to Ross's of Belfast.

Let's catch up with our auctioneer, Daniel Clarke, and see what he thinks of our experts' valuations.

This is where we test them. Fingers crossed we get the top end of the estimate.

Belfast boy George Best, the greatest footballer in the world but possibly the world's worst singer.

That's what we've got here. This LP belongs to Maureen.

We valued it at £40 to £60.

She was a childhood friend of George Best so she knew him, she was the next-door neighbour.

Lots of local interest and it's signed. It was recorded in London with Miss World and both of them,

in my opinion, just cannot sing, but I think it's the autograph that counts.

Well, I understand that the reserve has now been moved to £80.

-Has it? So she's upped the ante.

-It's been on the internet.

-Right.

We have an airport named after George Best in Belfast now.

-You can't miss it can you when you fly in, yeah.

-It's a big name here.

I guess with collectables and curios like that, the internet does have a bigger market,

and people might be prepared to pay a bit more, because the commission is an awful lot less.

Well, we're still in double figures and I'm not sure people will be terribly price sensitive.

So there's every possibility it could make the sort of money that she's being bid on the internet.

-We'll have to wait and see, I don't know.

-Are you confident?

-Not confident, no.

I think the original estimate of 40 to 60 was absolutely right.

Whether somebody is prepared to push the boat out to go to £80, I'm not sure.

Hopefully, it'll hit the back of the net and sell.

# It takes two, baby

# It takes two, baby... #

We'll see how George played a bit later, but first, here's Ann with her paperweight.

We're looking at £80 to £100. Hopefully, we'll get the top end.

-I hope so.

-I can detect a...a... an Essex accent or cockney accent.

Yes, originally, but I'm here now and I'm living in Sligo.

-What do you do for a living?

-I'm a theatre nurse.

-Oh!

-How long have you been a nurse?

-Over 30 years.

-Oh, you must love the job. You must be so dedicated.

-I'm very lucky.

-In the old days, you'd have been classed as a matron.

-Exactly.

-Yes.

-Oh, dear, Matron, have we got that valuation right?

-I don't know about that!

Say for the glass paperweight?

£100?

50? £40? I'm bid 30. Any more? At £30.

40, 50, new bidder at 60.

At £60, 70.

At £70.

At £70 I'm bid for the paperweight.

Your bid, sir, at 70. I'm letting it go at £70.

-£70.

-Thank you.

What are you going to spend it on?

-I'm going to buy a little something in here that I've got my eye on.

-What are you going to buy?

-I've seen a little piece of Belleek and I'm going to buy that for my sister, Alison.

-OK.

-Good luck, good luck.

-So I shall be here.

That's what we want to hear.

Lots of our owners that sell antiques reinvest in antiques.

-It's turning over.

-It is, and it's great for the business.

-It's the rollover effect.

Cudsy is flogging Grandmother's silver right now.

-It's a lovely silver salt pot.

-Yeah.

-Why are you selling this?

My grandmother's downsizing and moving to an apartment. So she won't have any room.

-She's decluttering everything.

-Yeah.

This has been in the family for five generations. Surely that's worth hanging on to.

We kept a few things, but we had to take away some things.

There was quite a lot of silver.

That would be a keeper for me. And for you?

They're very nice but, as Cudsy said, you can't keep everything.

I can, I'm a magpie. I store it all up.

But they're downsizing and going to a smaller house.

Good luck with that.

Hopefully it will get the top end of the estimate. Silver is selling really well here.

Fingers crossed. This is it.

Complete with the liners, Birmingham 1901, rather nice lot.

Nice size. Can we say £50, please? 40 I'm bid, 50, 60 with the porter.

70 against you.

-£80. 90, 100.

-This is great. This is better.

-£110.

Your bid, madam, at 110.

New bidder at 20. At 130, at 140.

At 140 with you, sir. At £140 for the salts.

140. We're selling now at 140 with you, sir.

-Yes, well over top end of estimate.

-Lovely!

What are you going to put that money towards? Shoe shopping, clothes?

I collect hats. So I'm going to buy some more hats.

Oh, you'll get a few for that.

-I love the one you're wearing.

-Thank you.

-Suits you.

Well, time's up. No, it's not the end of the show

-and it's not time I'm flogging my watch, but we are flogging Winifred's Art Nouveau clock.

-Yes.

It's been under the stairs for a long time.

We've got a valuation of 50, 60, £70 on this.

Hopefully, we'll get the top end. What was it doing under the stairs?

Well, it was just stored in a box,

because it's surplus to my needs.

Are we looking at a "come and buy me"? Will it do a lot more?

-I think we're fairly close. I try and put sensible prices on things.

-Well, we'll find out right now.

-Winifred, say goodbye to the clock - it's going under the hammer.

-Bye!

The Art Nouveau clock. Can we say £50?

If it doesn't sell for £50, David is going to pull his trousers down!

-I hope it doesn't sell!

-At £50.

Just under the rostrum at £50. At £50, I'm bid.

At £50 I have for the clock, at 50. We're selling, all finished, 50.

-Yes, it sold for 50.

-Just missed.

Just missed his trousers being pulled down,

-didn't we?

-Oh, that's a shame!

Got Winifred going then!

-That would have been good!

-That would have been good!

I assure you, it would not have been. No surprises there.

Which brings us to the most famous Belfast boy ever, Georgie Best.

My schoolboy hero. This LP signed by George Best belongs to you, Maureen. But not for much longer.

We originally had a valuation of £40 to £60, put on by Anita here.

Since the valuation, Maureen's had a word with the auctioneer and you've upped the reserve to £80.

It's now fixed at 80. Why did you do that?

-I think he's worth more than that.

-Fingers crossed it is.

He was one of the world's greatest footballers - possibly the world's worst singer.

I know for a fact this was recorded in Battery Studios in Willesden in north London.

They were one of the first studios to have a Fairlight computer.

George Best actually sung every word into the computer and it put it into key.

It was a long process, but that's how they got through it.

Could be a tough call. It's £80.

-George Best is Belfast's best boy.

-He is, isn't he?

This is Belfast. They've got to go for it.

I was a wee bit conservative.

Ah, right, OK.

A wee bit conservative.

You could see it going to 200.

Right, fingers crossed, let's hope it hits the back of the net.

£200. That's a big shot. It's going under the hammer now.

Long-playing record, Shape Up & Dance, signed by George Best.

Collectible lot, can we say £50 for this? £50 anywhere?

£50 for the Best. 50, I'm bid.

At £50. At £50, I'm bid. Any more?

At £50. At 60. New bidder at 70. Outside at 70. Bid 80.

-£80 I'm bid now.

-You were right.

George Best, signed sleeve.

£80, new bidder at 90. £100.

At £100, 110, 120, 130, 140,

150, 160, 170,

180, 190, 200.

210, 220,

230, 240, 250, 260.

260, I'm bid.

-At £260, all out at £260.

-GAVEL BANGS

-Yes!

-That definitely is the back of the net!

Georgie Best.

-What a hero. What are you going to do with 240 quid?

-Don't know.

Out for a nice meal with my husband.

Well, so far so good. We're having a cracking auction.

Don't forget, there's plenty more to come later on.

But right now, as this is such thirsty work, I'm going to nip out and have a swift half.

This is probably one of the most famous pubs in Belfast

and is one of only two pubs in the whole of the UK that's owned by the National Trust.

The Trust made the decision to buy The Crown in 1978.

One person who played a crucial role in encouraging the purchase

was the late poet laureate, Sir John Betjeman.

Betjeman described the crown as a many-coloured cavern and, believe me, in its day, it was.

Clear, bright colourful stained-glass windows

and a very vivid crematic hue all over the ceiling,

but with decades of smoking, it has turned this dirty, burnt umber colour.

But they've started to clean it. There's a little trace of its original sparkle.

Some lovely golds, ambers and bright reds.

I think, once they've finished it, it will return to Betjeman's many-coloured cavern.

The Crown is a gem of Victoriana and it was one of the greatest gin palaces in its day.

It was built in 1826 and it was originally called The Railway Tavern.

Later on, it was bought by Michael Flanagan,

whose son Patrick turned it into what we see today.

Patrick was a student of architecture, who travelled widely

and brought home some elaborate ideas about what to do with his dad's pub.

It was 1885, a time when Home Rule for Ireland

was being openly discussed and Belfast was experiencing a massive building boom.

Skilled craftsmen were brought in from Italy

to decorate the many churches that were being built in the area.

Patrick Flanagan seized upon this opportunity

and offered them work moonlighting on the refurbishment of this bar.

MUSIC: "O Sole Mio"

The Italians used their considerable talents with great effect with their choice of materials.

Wonderful marble work, tiling, mosaic floor and, obviously,

the gorgeous ornamentation all over the woodwork.

It's this whole package that gives The Crown its distinctive character.

Despite the obvious ostentation of this place, some drinkers were keen

not to be seen enjoying the demon drink,

so they would come into one of these snugs or booths.

There's ten of them in total and John Betjeman described them as bacchanalian opera boxes.

And I think they're certainly grand enough to merit that description.

It says "matches" here on one of the panels.

That was a match striker, but it's worn so smooth, I don't think that will strike up a match any more.

Of course, there were a system of bells in all the booths, just like this one.

It alerted the bar staff as to your liquid requirements.

Now, the bells still work.

But sadly, the bar staff don't come and take your order any more.

So it looks like I've got to go to the bar myself.

Well, I couldn't come to one of the most famous pubs in Ireland without sampling a pint of Guinness.

So here goes. But it's going to have to be a quick one,

because it's straight back to the valuation day.

And here's a classic David valuation.

John, I am fascinated by these stipple prints that you've brought in.

Give me the history.

Are they family pieces? Where do they come from?

I think my mother bought them originally from

-Ross's Auctions in Belfast...

-Right.

-..about 60-70 years ago.

Do you know why she bought them?

Well, she was keen on antiques and she used to go around the auction rooms

and, you know, buy the odd painting and pictures.

-She had a very good eye, didn't she?

-She did.

-So you've inherited these?

-Yes.

-Why on earth do you want to sell them?

Well, we've redecorated the hallway where they hung

-and they just don't fit in with the decor.

-With the decor?

-Yeah.

This print - the subject matter relates to the destruction of Pompeii.

In the background, you can see the smoking of Vesuvius and there's all these terrified people.

They'd never seen this thing happen before.

One of the servants is drawing attention

to this young gentleman who is writing up notes.

That is Pliny the Younger.

His uncle, Pliny the Older, actually died during the eruption.

But this is the first account that survived

of an eruption of the sort of magnitude of Pompeii.

Fascinating subject. Really super.

The other one, I think, is the death of Socrates.

He was ordered by the Athenian Council to commit suicide.

They believed that he was corrupting youth

through his writings and his thoughts.

He was a great philosopher. So here we have him

writing up to the last moment his thoughts on philosophy.

-Yeah.

-And here we have these figures here in elegant repose

with this wreath here symbolising death.

So these prints are very much in the classical mode.

These are in their original black glass surrounds here.

And if we turn one around, this is the best one to turn around,

we can actually see this retailer's mark,

and this is probably the person who did the framing.

William Rodman and Company, Arthur Street, Belfast.

-Do you know whether they still exist?

-No, they don't exist.

-They've gone bye-byes?

-I think so.

The other interesting thing is this information here,

where we have, "Published January 20th, 1791,"

with details of who printed them, but these are later,

these are a second issue, as it were,

round about the turn of the last century, so we're looking at about 1900, that sort of period.

Now, after saying all that, let's put a price on them.

I think the auctioneer is going to say he wants an estimate

between £60 and £80, hopefully that it's going above £100.

Have you established a sort of figure that you want for these?

-I would like £80.

-You'd like £80?

-Yes.

If the auctioneer's estimate was £80 to £120, so we're going for a fixed reserve of 80...

-Yes.

-..and hope to get £100 plus.

-Yes.

-Exactly.

-Thank you very much. It's rather interesting, isn't it?

That these items are going back to the same auction house

-that your mother bought them from.

-That's true. Let's hope it's lucky!

-Fingers crossed!

Gemma, this is a lovely wee thing.

Tell me, where did you get it?

It belonged to my great aunt, who gave it to my mum as a present,

and my mum has passed it on to me to sell it, to get a bit of money to go to university.

-Ah, I see! We'll do our very best to help you, Gemma.

-Good.

What we have here is a Royal Winton breakfast set. It's for one person.

You have your teapot tea for one!

milk jug,

little egg cup,

your cup and your little toast rack, all contained in this tray.

If we look underneath, we can see

the back stamp for Royal Winton and the pattern name.

The pattern is Summertime.

That's not the best of the patterns, but people still like it.

If it was Sweet Peas, it would do a little more.

Royal Winton are sort of flavour of the month. People like it.

It was never a very expensive make,

but people felt that this heavy pattern of flowers was very cheering.

I myself find it very cheering.

It's collectively called "chintz", and you get lots of different patterns.

It's in perfect condition, it's all there, and people will like it.

Price? What do you think on price?

-Well, I was hoping to get at least £100 for it.

-At least 100?

-Yeah.

I think we'll get a wee bit more than that.

-Right.

-I always like to price things conservatively,

to give them a chance to encourage the bidding and so on.

I think this should fall somewhere between 150 and 200.

-OK.

-So that will get you a wee more for university.

And I would say, if you want to protect it, a reserve of around £130 with discretion.

-Would you feel happy at that?

-Yeah, that's brilliant.

Well, let's go for it and hope that it goes for the higher estimate.

-That'd be brilliant.

-Thank you very much for bringing it along.

-OK. Thank you.

-OK.

It's rather nice to have three generations on "Flog It!".

So we have Mary the grandma, Julie the mummy and Adam, who is the grandson.

It's rather nice. Who does this belong to?

-Me.

-And where did you get it from?

-It was a wedding present 40 years ago.

-Why are you parting with it?

Well, my husband died, unfortunately, and I don't want to keep it any more.

All right, OK.

So it was a treasured wedding present, it's been on display.

-So what prompted you to come in and sell it?

-Julie.

-Julie?

Well, it wasn't on display.

-It wasn't?

-No.

-Where was it?

It was in a wardrobe, and we were clearing it out, and I just happened to see that on the shelf.

I said, "I didn't know you had something like that.

"Where did you get that?"

I said I'd seen something like that on "Flog It!"

-and we should get it valued, so here we are.

-This is very nice.

A piece of Clarice Cliff, and I think this form, which is Rose 400 design,

is almost futuristic.

It's like one of those Flash Gordon spaceships that takeoff.

And this design here lasted for one year only - 1929 to 1930.

-My God!

-So it is comparatively rare.

It's called Umbrella pattern, though to me it looks as though

it's been blown inside out in a storm, but Umbrella pattern on a Rose 400 shape.

Now, I've said all that, what do you think it's worth?

-A couple of hundred?

-I think you'll do better than that.

-Really?

-Yeah.

I'd like to price it at £350 to £500,

but I'm going to put a "but" in this.

There's an element of wear on the black decoration on the top.

And also, there's a slight chip round the corner here.

That is going to affect the purest collectors,

so the auction house may come back with a reserve of about 280.

-Is that still going to be acceptable?

-Oh, yes!

Julie, do you like it enough to hang on to it?

-Well, I like it, but it's not mine and she's not giving it to me.

-Oh, dear! ..Adam, what about you?

-I'd rather have a go-kart.

-Rather have a go-kart?

-Oh, I think I'd be of the same inclination, actually.

-Absolutely.

Well, right now, it's time to race off back to the auction room.

David thinks John's pair of classical scenes are Edwardian reprints of 18th-century originals.

This Summertime Winton breakfast set brightened up Anita's day,

and Gemma's hoping to raise funds for a bright future.

And finally, yes, you've guessed it, Clarice Cliff rides again,

in the shape of this rather rare futuristic Umbrella pattern vase.

Here's something I've got to show you, because this made me laugh earlier. It put a smile on my face.

It's an 18th-century Irish coffer. A blanket chest, if you like.

It's made of oak. Now, this is quite rare,

because I've bought and sold these for the last 20 years of my life,

and this is the first one I've ever come across with two candle boxes.

One at either end. You normally only see them with one candle box.

You used to keep the candles in there,

and the smell of the wax repelled the moths off the blankets.

Unfortunately, the top's been patched up,

which has devalued it, but it's a unique piece.

That's the beauty of looking round auction rooms - you come across the unusual.

Fingers crossed. Your lot's about to go under the hammer.

Two stipple prints - value £80 to £120.

This is an example of something in the antiques trade

that just goes around and around, because most things in this business do.

They've been bought and sold before.

These were bought in this saleroom 70 years ago, and here they are again.

I think that's quite lovely, I really do.

I agree with David's valuation, and I'd like to see them get the top end.

If you had Sheraton-style furniture, they'd look absolutely superb,

and you wouldn't need anything else on the wall, except that print.

We're gonna find out right now what the bidders of Belfast think for the second time round!

70 years later, this is it. Good luck.

Pair of 19th-century prints in Hogarth frames.

There we have them. Could we say £100 for the pair, please?

£50. 60. 70.

80. 90 with the porter.

Bids with the porter at £90.

At £90. £100. New bidder. 110. 120.

-Good. We're in. We're in. We're in!

-140. On my right at £140.

-This is good.

-New bidder at 150. 160. At 160. 170.

180. On my right at 180. 190.

At £190. At £190.

-At 190. I'm selling now at £190.

-GAVEL BANGS

-Yes!

-Sold! You'll take that, won't you!

-£190!

-Excellent!

-What are you gonna put that towards?

-A holiday.

-Where are you going?

-Well, I hope to go in January out to Dubai on a cruise.

-Dubai?

Lovely! Lovely!

-How much was the original cost? Obviously, you didn't buy them.

-I haven't a clue.

-Probably about five guineas.

-Probably something like that!

-A good investment!

-It was!

I've been joined by Gemma in the nick of time, because your lot is going under the hammer.

-It's absolutely heaving in here! Is this your first auction?

-Yes, it is.

-What do you think?

-It's very exciting.

-It is. It's quite tense.

It's full of colour and you don't know where to look.

But right now, we're focusing on that lovely Royal Winton tea set.

It's your mum's, and she's letting you flog this

to put the money - £150 to £200 - to go towards your university education.

-So you're off to uni next year. What are you gonna study?

-Hopefully, social anthropology.

That sounds interesting! What's that all about?

It's humans within different cultures and how they interact.

-Wonderful. Will that be in Belfast?

-Yes. I'm looking to stay at home.

-Exciting times ahead. Will you move away from home?

-No.

-Love Mum's cooking!

Anita, we've got £150 to £200.

Can we get any more?

I don't think so. Royal Winton peaked a couple of years ago,

so it's not getting as much as it did before.

But this is a nice, clean little set, all the pieces are in good condition...

-There's a lot of kit there.

-Very cheery.

-It's very cheery!

Yes! Well, it's just about to go under the hammer. Good luck, Gemma. This is it. Fingers crossed.

Royal Winton breakfast set, Summertime pattern. Rather nice.

Pristine order. £100, please.

80? 60, I'm bid.

At 60 I'm bid. 70. 80.

-90. 100. Against you, sir.

-We're climbing, we're climbing.

At £110 for the Winton. At 120. On my right at 120.

-Good, good.

-One more!

-In the saleroom at £120.

At £120 against you, sir. It's on my right at £120.

At 120. All done at £120.

-You're all finished.

-That's it - it's sold.

-£120.

I thought it had to make the reserve or it didn't get sold.

If there's a reserve on things, very often the auctioneer can use a little bit of discretion.

He'll use ten per cent, which on 130, is giving him £13.

We had a valuation of 150 to 200, didn't we?

With a reserve 130 with discretion.

-Yeah.

-Is that...?

-OK. Poor Mum.

-Aw!

-Will Mum be disappointed?

-I'm happy enough. It's Mum.

-Is she here today?

-Yes, she is. We bid on the wee cups.

-You got them?

-Yeah, at £12.

-Well, that was a good bargain.

Win some, lose some!

You're watching "Flog It!", so we've gotta have a bit of Clarice Cliff in the show.

And we've got some today, and it is a cracker.

It belongs to Mary.

Where's Adam? Is he at school?

-Adam's at school.

-And Julie?

-Julie had to go to work.

-Ah!

-So it's just you.

-Just me.

-But we've got David, our expert, who's looking after you.

-My son and daughter-in-law are here.

-Oh, so you've got some company.

-Yes.

-You've got moral support.

-Lots of moral support. We've got a valuation.

Hopefully, we're gonna get mid-estimate or top end of the estimate - £400, £500?

That would be rather nice. Rather nice.

Clarice Cliff has universal appeal, so I hope we'll get the top end of the market.

-We've got a fixed reserve of 250.

-Yes.

-Yeah.

-Yes.

-Good luck.

-280.

-280? Oh! Correct me, correct me really quickly! 280!

Fixed at 280.

Lot 361, a Clarice Cliff vase.

What do we say? £500, for the vase.

400. 300 to open.

300 with the porter. 320. 350. 380. 400.

-Nice, steady climb.

-With the porter at 450.

-480. 500. 520.

-Nice, steady climb.

-That's better.

-At 580. At £600. 620. 630.

-They absolutely love it!

-They certainly do!

640 for the Clarice Cliff. At £640.

-All done at £640.

-GAVEL BANGS

Yeah! £640! Not too sad, is it?

-Take the money rather than the Clarice Cliff.

-Yes.

-I would!

-But what a good investment!

-It was. Well, it was a wedding present.

-So you didn't pay anything for it!

-That was wonderful!

-LAUGHTER

It's all still going on, as you can see.

All our owners have now gone home. They're all very, very happy.

We've been looked after here in Ireland.

I do enjoy Belfast so much. Many thanks to Ross's Auction Room.

And, of course, Georgie Best did it again.

Maureen's face lit up with that staggering £260.

Gotta be the luck of the Irish. See you soon on "Flog It!".

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

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