Banbury Flog It!

One of the largest coffee-making facilities in the world

is based where we're filming today.

It makes approximately 11 billion cups of coffee just like this each year. Can you guess where we are?

Has it helped you? No, I didn't think it had. Today, "Flog It!" comes from Banbury in Oxfordshire.

To go with a good cup of coffee, you need a piece of cake. I have got some right here.

These cakes are called Banbury cakes and have been made in the town for the last couple of hundred years.

They're very much like an Eccles cake, full of spicy currants.

Two guys that clearly love cake - they're larger than life -

are our experts, Thomas Plant and James Lewis.

They're on hand at the town hall today.

Let's get the doors open and get that queue inside.

Dee, whenever anybody mentions Delft, what most people think about are little blue-and-white plates

-and clogs painted with windmills.

-Yes.

-But this is the proper Delft.

All these tourist things that people bring back from holidays, this is what they're copying.

This is 18th century,

made in Holland, but inspired by the Oriental porcelain

that was being brought into Europe used as ballast in the tea clippers.

This is copying Oriental porcelain.

The blue-and-white Oriental porcelain is what was seen to be the very finest of things to own.

So that's why its influence is from the Chinese.

It has a brown rim on it.

Early wares often had a metal rim to stop them getting damaged.

A lot of Chinese porcelain also has a brown rim.

So again, it's copying the Chinese.

A few little nibbles around the edge, because Delft is so soft.

If you've got little nibbles round the edge, it really doesn't matter.

If we're talking about a piece of 18th-century English porcelain,

that really does matter, but with Delft it doesn't. OK?

Is this something that's been a family treasure for years?

No, not at all.

My husband and I used to help a friend of ours out and we were setting up home at the time.

She gave us bits and pieces, things like a mirror, a three-legged desk and the plate.

-I didn't think much about it because I truthfully thought her daughter had made it.

-Really?!

She was at art college.

-You thought it was a home-made pot?

-Well, look at it!

It is fairly ugly, one has to be truthful.

I would never hurt Jean's feelings, so I said, "Thank you very much."

It's been known as the ugly plate.

-The ugly plate!

-It is!

-How wonderful!

-The kids used it to mix powder paint and stuff on.

-Fantastic!

It's survived in fantastically good condition, considering all of that.

The thing is, although people do collect Delft,

-it's not that valuable.

-Well...yes.

For a piece of 18th-century fun, you can buy a piece like this for £60 to £100.

-So it's not gonna buy you a holiday to the Bahamas or anything like that.

-No!

-That's fine.

-I don't think it needs a reserve.

Let the auctioneer have a bit of freedom. 60 to 100 and let it go.

-Absolutely. If it goes to somebody who'll love it, that's fantastic.

-It will.

-Because I really don't!

From an 18th-century heirloom to something a little more modern.

Lorna, thank you very much for coming in to "Flog It!".

-OK.

-And tell me about this bowl.

Well, it belongs to my sister.

My dad used to collect silverware and stuff,

-and his father, my grandfather, was an antique dealer.

-Right.

And he lived in Banbury all his life.

And my dad used to go to him and buy stuff off of him.

-What, off his own dad?

-Yeah!

-Why did he do that?

Because he used to go around, my grandad used to go around knocking.

-He was a knocker, was he?

-He used to go on his travels

and knock at people's doors and ask if they had anything for sale.

-Was he an honest knocker?

-Yes. Yes, he was.

I mean, he was well-known in the town,

and he'd say to my dad, "Got a bit of Staffordshire," and my dad would buy it off him.

This would have been quite new, probably, when your grandfather was going around knocking.

Yeah, probably.

This is a silver bowl.

-And it's by a superb goldsmith called the Goldsmith and Silversmiths Company.

-Yeah.

-And it's dated, London 1924.

-Oh, really?

-It's quite a heavy bowl.

-Yeah.

-It's got a good, thick gauge of silver.

It would have been just a bowl for display purposes.

It does have an armorial crest on it here, of a rampant lion.

-Yeah, the lion.

-Which is quite nice, actually.

-Yeah.

It's a very good-looking bowl.

Why does your sister want to sell it?

She's got a cabinet and it's just chock-a-block full of different bits and bobs.

-Silver's on a high at the moment.

-Wow! That's good!

Yeah, I mean, silver's doing quite well.

Even if you were to scrap that you'd get £60 for it.

-But there's a lot of work gone into that.

-There is.

-I think we'd probably get between £100 to £120.

-Yeah.

-But I'd like to reserve it at 80.

-Yeah.

-Happy with that?

-Yeah.

-What will your sister do with the money?

-She'll probably spend it, go on a holiday, put it towards a holiday.

-She won't give you any?

-No.

-No.

-Really?

-No, she couldn't.

-I'll let her keep it.

-Well, we'll see you there then.

-Yeah, lovely.

Peter, I have to say, I didn't see you to start with.

It was one of these camera guys who was looking at you.

-They were admiring it as maybe upgrading their own model to one of yours!

-Let's hope so!

It's so good.

The quality of the workmanship, the lacquered brass mounts,

solid mahogany case, and even these little bosses at the side.

-Absolutely fabulous, yeah.

-Made in solid ivory.

And it just shows the workmanship

-of the early 20th century, doesn't it?

-Absolutely.

This would have been made, 1910, 1915, something like that.

Lovely leather bellows.

Just everything about it is quality. Have you ever used it?

-I've never actually tried taking photographs with it.

-Talk me through it.

This would be mounted. He'd have a canvas screen over his head,

and he'd frame up on this screen at the back.

What he'd then do, once he was happy with the shot,

he'd lift the back up. This would be slided in.

There's a little catch there, which is opened to expose the glass plate.

-Yep.

-It would be left open for a minute, two minutes.

When the cameraman was satisfied it was done, he'd close it up,

take it out, turn it over,

-and there's another plate on the back.

-Wonderful.

Those are those classic images we see with a man with a great big black cloth over his head.

And a big flashgun.

People couldn't move for the whole two minutes, could they?

And, gosh. Haven't times changed? I mean, it really is a good thing.

-And where did it come from?

-Interesting story.

It was owned by a college of art my father taught at in the late '50s,

and they were having a clear-out and they decided to get rid of a lot of their props,

-and this was actually going to go on to a bonfire.

-No!

So he rescued it from the frames, as it were,

and it's been in the family since. And when he passed away 20 years ago, I inherited it.

-What kind of person would put that on a bonfire?

-No idea. Different times!

But at least your father rescued it and it's here to tell the tale today.

So, we have to decide a value. These are relatively common.

We see a lot of them, so they don't go to camera collectors.

They go to really interior designers.

I imagine a gentleman's office, with a big mahogany desk.

And you want tools of your trade around you.

Imagine a photography studio that might want a few props around

to show that they were established in 1905,

-and that's the type of person that will buy this.

-Fantastic.

What's he going to pay for it? £80 to £120? Something like that.

If we put a reserve on it, reserve of 60, so it doesn't go below that.

I think that should do really well.

-Sounds great.

-Somebody will snap it up.

And to think Peter's camera was rescued from a skip.

Our next item is much more of a treasured possession.

Rita, thank you very much for coming.

Tell us about your stereograph and your stereographs.

-How did you come by them?

-I was given this by my mother's friend when I was about five or six years old.

This was the original set - of Jerusalem.

And then a schoolteacher in the infants' class gave me the set from the London Zoo.

That was a very nice present. I certainly see

-that the London Zoo ones have been played with and viewed...

-Definitely.

-..much more than Jerusalem.

-We did, we played with these a lot.

The polar bear was always my favourite.

The polar bear with his paws out. You see his little paws.

-What other ones did you like?

-The tortoise was another one.

-Yes.

-And the monkeys.

They've got great character. I like the polar bear.

The monkey's very funny, but I love the zoo keeper with the baby crocodile. I think that's fantastic.

They were all so nice and we had so much pleasure from them.

And fun?

Oh, yes. Yes, definitely.

-What you do is, the viewer here, you slip in your favourite card.

-Yes.

-The polar bears.

-The polar bears.

And I will view it through here.

There he is, he's in pure 3D.

These are just great fun, really.

-The London Zoo really made a good show of it.

-Yes.

These are interesting, the Jerusalem ones.

On the top here we have the Wailing Wall. What's that one?

The Dome on the Rock, where the Temple once stood.

How old would these be, then?

I think these are going to be 1900s.

That first part of the 20th century.

I don't think they're going to be Victorian.

Where have they been recently?

-In the top of the wardrobe.

-Really?

-Yes.

-That's why you're selling them?

-Yes.

We've all seen them, my children have, my grandchildren.

Let somebody else have the pleasure of them.

Many moons ago, they were very fashionable and very collectible.

-We've had a brief conversation before and you're not willing to let them go for under £100, are you?

-No.

But I think we will try them at £100 to £120, with a fixed reserve of 100.

-Yes.

-Because this stereograph viewer is probably worth round about £30 to £50.

I think Jerusalem could be worth £30 to £50, £40 to £60,

and a similar price for these, so I think we'll get that figure.

-Yes.

-I hope so, for your sake.

-Because they don't want to go back on the wardrobe, do they?

-No.

-We'll put them in, and you'll come along to the auction.

-Yes.

Brilliant.

So we found all our items, but before we take them off to auction,

I'm off to visit one of Britain's greatest pieces of architectural history.

In 1704, the Duke of Marlborough won a decisive victory over the French

at Blenheim, on the River Danube in Bavaria.

The victory crushed Louis XIV's ambition to rule Europe,

and as a reward, Queen Anne gave the Duke of Marlborough

an area of land in Woodstock.

A year later, in 1705, plans were drawn up

to build a monument to his famous victory, and this is it -

Blenheim Palace.

The man appointed as architect was John Vanbrugh,

renowned for his English Baroque style.

His aim for Blenheim was to build a monument to a national hero,

and it's widely believed that Blenheim Palace

is the finest example of baroque architecture in Britain.

The building of the palace didn't go entirely to plan.

The Marlboroughs fell out of favour

and halfway through the project, money from the Treasury dried up,

so the Duke had to finance the rest of the build using his own money.

I've come to talk to John Forster,

head of education here at Blenheim Palace.

-John, thank you so much for talking to us.

-My pleasure.

What a perfect day to look at the architecture, with the sun shining down on that lovely stonework.

It's always best in sunshine.

Did the completion of Blenheim sort of put a strain on the Duke's finances?

Well, I suppose it did in a way,

but if you realise his income from the Crown -

at the height of the building - was £75,000 a year,

multiply that by between 60 and 200 to get the modern equivalent,

and that was per year.

It was a strain, but it wasn't going to break him or even begin to.

-He had a lot of money.

-Absolutely.

His wife, Sarah, did she have much of an input in the design?

21st century lady in the 18th century.

A tough minded lady.

He was away on campaign, of course, while this was being built,

so she supervised everything here.

So what you see was really under Sarah's direct influence.

Vanbrugh was single-minded. Did he leave in disgust?

Absolutely. He couldn't stand Sarah and he did walk out.

Was it completed to Vanbrugh's original specifications?

Yes, pretty much, as you see.

Interestingly, not only to his expectation,

but what you see here is pretty much what the first Duke saw,

unlike many houses, where you see bits added later and so on.

Yes. It is awesome, isn't it?

-You can sum up English Baroque in one word - mass.

-I agree.

If you look around, you see the heavy weight or the low centre of gravity.

Everything is solid - the towers, the entry.

If you feel Blenheim is melodramatic, it's doing its job,

because that's what it's supposed to be.

It's meant to be a moral, a lesson.

This is the home of the victor of the battle.

Yeah, there's a sense of theatre.

Yes. An essential part of baroque is symbolic, allegorical illusion.

If you look, you see at the top there, there is a ducal coronet shape,

and then below that, a stone orb which represents power,

and then below that, the curved shape is the fleur-de-lys of France.

But upside down in defeat -

symbolic, totally, of the Duke's defeat of the French.

It's four times in that tower, it's four times in the tower behind us,

and there are two more towers in the south of the building.

So the message is made very clear.

Yeah. And a lot of it is sort of castle-like, as well, isn't it?

Well, Vanbrugh was a soldier,

and he inherited the notion of fortification from that, so, yes...

He said he wanted to give it a "castle air" as well as being a home in which the Duke would live.

Baroque is... Well, it's architecture from southern Europe, that's its origins.

Why didn't it really take off in England?

Well, as it came through northern Europe,

its emotionalism rather conflicted with the more dour,

the more Protestant kind of philosophy in those countries,

and so its excesses were taken off.

By the time it came to England, 150 years after it began in Italy,

you get this restricted form of baroque

which is called English Baroque,

and Blenheim is commonly thought to be the best example of that.

Yeah, not quite so theatrical.

-It doesn't drip with ornamentation, does it?

-No.

You've got bits. There's detail all around which you can pick out.

The roof-scape is particularly ornamented, I think.

What I love as well is there's a very shallow rise on the tread of the step,

so...the perspective is a lot deeper than you actually think it is.

It's a trick of the eye.

And you've got a little tiny front door

with huge, great big Corinthian columns.

Well, there's the drama you were talking about.

You've got a simple front door

but it's dramatised and it's taken to extremes,

-because it wants to have this emotional, baroque effect on you.

-Yes.

-I love it. I absolutely love it.

-I'm glad you do.

Does the symbolism continue inside? Can we go in?

Absolutely. Come and have a look.

Well, my eyes gravitate instantly, when you come through the door, to that wonderful ceiling.

Magnificent. You see there, kneeling, the figure of the first Duke of Marlborough,

hand on heart, true baroque emotion, presenting the victory of Blenheim,

which he's gesturing to with his other hand,

and he's offering it to the spirit of Britain, Britannia,

who's in white, seated in front of him,

with the spear in her hand and the red plume in her hat,

offering his achievement to his country.

All the figures there are symbolic of all kinds of aspects of war and Marlborough's achievement and so on.

-Who is the artist and when was it painted?

-James Thornhill.

-He did the ceiling in St Paul's.

-That's right.

He painted this in 1719.

-And he charged too much so the Duchess sacked him.

-Really?

-Yes!

-How much did he charge?

Well, he charged one pound, 25 shillings a yard. £9,000.

She thought she was being ripped off, in modern language,

and so he was dismissed.

-I think she got a bargain.

-Didn't she just? Superb.

It's beautifully encased.

It's bordered, so it doesn't go any further, does it?

If we were in sort of the South of France now, or Italy,

that painting would sort of drip out of the walls.

It's English baroque, it's contained. Absolutely right.

The condition of the house is superb.

I'm surprised it survived the Blitz.

Well, the story is that Goering rather fancied it as his country house once they won the war,

which they were convinced they were going to do,

so it was spared the bombing, even though MI5 were located here.

It was Churchill's birthplace, wasn't it?

-I think they wanted to cock a snook at Churchill, if you like, yes.

-What a lovely story!

-Absolutely.

Blenheim Palace is as breathtaking inside as it is outside,

and the level of detail that has gone into the design

truly makes it one of Britain's architectural gems.

It's now time to look back at what we're taking to auction

from our valuation day in Banbury.

Even though Dee's 18th-century Delft plate has suffered a bit of wear and tear,

after being used to mix children's paints,

I think it will still attract the collectors.

Peter brought in this rather fine-looking mahogany camera.

What it lacks in mega pixels, it certainly makes up for in style.

With the price of silver at a high,

this simple, quality bowl should do rather well.

And finally, Rita used this stereoscope as a child,

but she feels it's time to let someone else enjoy these

delightful scenes from the past.

For the auction, we've come to Jones & Jacob

in the picturesque village of Watlington, deep in the Oxfordshire countryside.

The two men wielding the gavel today are Simon Jones and Francis Ogley.

I'm going to have a quick chat with Simon about Rita's stereoscope.

We've seen plenty of these on the show before, the stereoscopes.

We've got some great view cards, as well. I particularly like London Zoo there.

There's also some early ones of Jerusalem from the 1900s.

It belongs to Rita, and we've put a valuation of £100 to £120.

There is a fixed reserve at £100.

That's not unreasonable. It's not the greatest set, but it's got the interesting London Zoo ones.

Jerusalem is a well-known series - you see lots of them about - so fair enough.

-And it's an aluminium one rather than anything more fancy.

-Yeah.

It's the animals, I think, which are the key to it, aren't they, really?

It is a bit of fun. That's your early television, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Do you find these sell really well?

We've two or three main collectors of them and two or three dealers,

so they go pretty well, but they don't make a great deal of money.

It's the slides that really sort them out.

Something rare rockets away. Something a bit ordinary - Jerusalem -

less exciting.

Let's hope that our have got both eyes firmly focused on our items.

First up, it's Dee's Delft plate.

Right now it's something for the purists, and I love it.

It's an 18th-century Delft plate and it belongs to Dee here.

-Who's with you?

-My daughter, Alex.

-Alex, how do you do?

-Very well.

-So, were you responsible for mixing up paints on this plate?

Yeah, every summer holiday on the grass in the garden. It was just the mixing tray.

-And you thought this was a bit of pottery made by a school kid, didn't you?

-Absolutely.

When did you find out it was 18th century?

A friend of mine came round one day and said, "I think that's old."

"It's old! It's old! Let's bring it along to 'Flog It!' and show it to James, our expert!"

You love this kind of thing. Tin glaze.

It's a classic bit of British 18th-century pottery.

It's lovely. I love it. And it's so underrated.

This has been around for 200 or so years. And what's it worth?

-£60 to £100.

-Exactly.

-That's what you put on it!

Well, let's hope it gets more than £100 right now.

Damage on Delft - it doesn't really put the collectors off. It adds to it, as far as I'm concerned.

-As long as it's not too bad.

-Indeed.

-Smashed into 30 bits is a problem!

Well, good luck, OK? Good luck.

It's going under the hammer now.

Lot six is the Delft plate.

Here we are. Blue and white one.

-And what can we say for that? 60 or £70 sell me for this one?

-50.

50, I'm bid. 55 anywhere? 55. 60?

65. 70. 75. 80. 85. 90.

95. 100. 110. 120.

130? 120, then, with Alan at 120.

All done at £120. All finished, 120.

-It's going down.

-Fantastic.

£120. And what were you saying? Good job you didn't have

a dishwasher!

Oh, that's ridiculous.

-That's fantastic! No, as James said, it's from the 18th century.

-Well, yes, it is old.

-It's a hardy survivor.

-It needed to be!

With you two about!

What are you going to spend £120 on?

We're redoing an extension, so it's going to be for the light in the kitchen -

-a nice centrepiece.

-Oh, lovely!

-You can think of "Flog It!" when you turn the light on.

-Turn the light on and there you'll be!

For an old plate used as an artist's palate,

the Delft did rather well for James.

Let's see how Thomas gets on with Rita's lot.

We've seen these on the show before, the stereograph viewers.

We've not seen images of London Zoo.

Rita, they are lovely. They all put a smile on our face earlier.

-Thomas, they must have cheered you up.

-They did. Not that I needed it.

-Course not!

I had a chat to the auctioneer and he said the value is spot-on.

£100, £120 should do it.

It's not the best stereograph viewer he's seen, but the images will hopefully get it away.

At the valuation day, I first saw the Israel ones, which are quite common.

But Israel does have that... It does have that draw for people. Well, it's Palestine, actually.

And old photographs of Palestine are really popular.

But the London Zoo ones, when I saw those, I thought, "Oh! A polar bear, monkeys and penguins!"

It was really nice.

So...fingers crossed. This is it. It's going under the hammer.

Lot 110 is next, which is the stereoscopic viewer and the slides.

We throw in a free Clarks shoe box.

£100 for it?

80, then, to start me. £80 I'm bid.

85 anywhere? We all happy at £80?

All done, then, at 80. All finished.

-It hasn't sold.

-Hasn't sold.

That's surprising.

That's really surprising.

-It didn't sell.

-That's a shame.

-You have to take them home.

-That's all right.

-At least it's not a chest of drawers!

-You can get that in the car.

-No, I don't mind taking it home.

-I'd rather take it home than...

-Yes.

-..not have had the reserve on it.

-You did the right thing.

-Yes.

Always protect your investment with a reserve.

Oh, dear. The bidders didn't agree with Thomas' valuation.

What will they make of James' estimate on the plate glass camera?

None of us are camera-shy. We stand in front of them most of the time.

Except for Peter, but you've brought a camera!

-I have indeed.

-And we've got £80 to £120 on this.

It's lovely, it's mahogany, it's what you expect.

And the condition is fantastic for early 1900s.

Will it do the £80 to 120?

I think so. It's got to.

-We've seen them on the show before. Rescued from a bonfire.

-Indeed.

So classic recycling, really.

What more can we do? Let's flog it! It's going under the hammer now.

Lot 96 is the early 1900s mahogany plate camera. There it is.

What can we say for that? £80, £90 for it?

£80 for the plate camera?

-60, then?

-Oh, come on.

50, if you'd like to start me. £50. 55, 60, 65, 70, 75. £70 I'm bid.

75 there. £70 seated here in front of me, at £70.

All done at 70, all finished.

We just got it away!

-We're happy with that.

-Absolutely splendid, yes.

Exactly. Yeah, treat yourself to a meal or something.

I've got a three-way split with my wife and my son!

Fish and chips!

I'm only on a percentage, so...

Right, next up, Lorna's silver octagonal bowl.

In fact, we have Lorna here and we also have your sister,

because it is, in fact, your bowl.

-So we couldn't let you get away with it!

-No!

We clobbered her, didn't we? Got her in, we got her into the auction.

We've got a valuation of £100 to £120.

Yeah, it's a very nice bowl.

Lovely, what we call, thick, gauge of silver.

Good weight - nice and thick and solid.

Was it early 1920s?

It's 1900s, I think, something like that. It's quite good quality.

Goldsmiths and Silversmiths, good makers.

So hopefully, lots of money.

-Well, the trade's here.

-The trade's here.

Thomas has spotted the trade, the silver trade following us around.

Good luck, both of you, OK. This is it.

Lot 236, the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths octagonal silver bowl -

300 grams. £100 for that?

90, I have. 95 anywhere?

90, 95, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140.

140. On commission. 150.

At 150. At 150? My right, at 150.

All done at 150?

The hammer's gone down. We'll take that.

That's a good result, Sylvia. £150.

-Happy?

-Yes, fine.

Are you going to treat your sister?

Oh, yes, of course.

She's going to Greece for the first time

towards the end of the year with my mum,

and the silver was my mum's and my dad's years ago, so...

It's a bit of a family holiday.

It's great that the family's stuck together.

-You don't live too far apart?

-No.

-No.

-20 miles apart. Well, you're saying, "Not far enough"!

-Sometimes!

Well, that's it. It's all over.

The auction's finished, and I've got to say, that was tough going today.

All credit to our experts, but I think everybody's gone home happy,

and I hope you've enjoyed watching, too.

So, from Jones & Jacob in the Oxfordshire countryside of Watlington, it's cheerio.

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