Luton Flog It!

It hosts the largest one-day carnival in Europe

and England spin bowler Monty Panesar was born right here.

-Yes, today Flog It comes from... Where are we?

-LUTON!

One of the biggest employers in the area is Luton Airport.

We're right on the flight path!

The airport was built in 1938.

It became a very important manufacturing site for the Percival Aircraft Company,

building aircraft for civil and military use, including the Mosquito fighter bomber.

It's a lovely little plane, nicknamed the Wooden Wonder.

Today the airport has flights to over 85 destinations worldwide.

Our destination today is there - the Vauxhall Recreation Centre.

Our two high-flying experts are Anita Manning and Mark Stacey.

With a crowd this size, there's sure to be a great selection of collectables for Mark and Anita.

A nice truncheon we have here.

-Can you give us the background?

-Well, I bought it.

I got it in '43 or '44 when they had Wings For Victory week at the village.

The local postmistress, two old dears of well over 60,

put this in and also some Irish linen drawers.

-They hadn't been worn, mind you!

-Well, I hope not!

I bought this and the local bicycle man, he bought the drawers.

Everybody said, "What have you bought those for?!" To make handkerchiefs!

He was blowing his nose on that old lady's drawers for years!

-Getting back to this...

-Wonderful.

-What did you pay?

-10 shillings.

-Which is quite a lot of money then.

-It was.

Let's have a little look. We've got a very nice George IV example. Quite an early truncheon.

Painted in a nice rich, old green. We've got the royal crown.

-And the name here of the village.

-Pulloxhill.

-Pulloxhill.

I think it IS a policeman's. Early policemen didn't have warrant cards on them,

so they often carried these not only to cosh people, but as a way of arresting people.

It conferred a badge of status or respect for them.

-Have you ever considered the value?

-Well, no. Must be 12 bob, at least!

I think so. We can probably add a few bob to that, actually.

A sensible estimate on it is something like £100-£150.

Oh, well. Very good.

-Time for it to go to a collector.

-Yes, it's time for us all to go!

Jenny, I'm dying to open this box.

What have we here?

Oh, yes. You can't beat an emerald.

Let's have a look at it. It's beautiful. Where did you get it?

My father bought it in India in the last war.

This is a divine little ring.

It's set in 18-carat gold, which denotes its quality.

-Yeah.

-It was made in the 1920s. It's an Art Deco design.

We have these wonderful little step diamonds here.

We have three, two and one. And that's showing that wonderful geometric pattern,

which is from that period.

In the centre, we have a mixed-cut emerald. Emeralds are usually square-cut,

with the sides cut off,

which we call a Chamford edge.

This was because an emerald was such a brittle stone,

so they would slice off the edges so it wouldn't split.

Have you had it valued?

I took it to a jeweller's a long time ago, probably 30 or 40 years ago.

They gave me the impression it wasn't worth an awful lot.

The stone is in not first class, but good condition.

And certainly because of the stones, nice emerald,

nice step-cut diamonds,

good period, very stylish, I would say it is a desirable little item.

Your jeweller said it wasn't worth an awful lot. I'd put it at £100-£200.

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

-Yes.

I feel that it is certainly worth that price. So, Jenny, let's put it to auction.

-I'll see you in Cambridge.

-I look forward to it!

What a charming little bear.

A little salt cellar. So beautifully, realistically modelled.

His little face and lovely eyes.

-This is cast in silver from a mould.

-Yes.

Has he a name?

-No. It's always been packed away.

-I like this salt in his mouth.

There would have been a pepperette as well at one stage.

It's in two parts because you've got to fill it up.

-Would salt have gone in there?

-I know, it's not tarnished.

-I don't think it was ever used.

-Yes.

-And is it English?

-Yes. I can tell you that now.

All our experts use a little guide book like this with the history of hallmarks

-and the assay offices.

-Right, yes.

So what we do is we pick up a piece of the silver.

It's got a little leopard's head there. If you look in here, it's the assay offices in London.

-Right.

-It's got a lion walking to the left with one foot raised.

-That means sterling silver.

-Right.

It's got a capital D in a shield.

If you look down here and look at the right shield and the right typeface for the D,

there's the date - 1879. And there's even maker's initials.

WT. I've looked WT up and they're not in this book.

-So I can't trace the maker.

-No.

But he was an artist.

-Look at the way it's chased.

-I've never really noticed that until you pointed it out.

His little paws are hanging out.

-Bears are very collectable.

-Yes.

-What do you think this is worth?

-80?

-Well, on a good day,

-if two people fight for this, £350-£400.

-Never!

Never.

-Yeah.

-Oh...I can't believe it.

-Yeah.

-Still want to sell it?

-Yes!

-Let's put it into auction with an estimate of £250-£350.

-Right.

-But I know that this will sell at the top end. He's a honey.

-Thank you.

-Thank you! He's gorgeous.

-This is a rather fun cat.

-It is.

-Where does he come from?

-My mother did cleaning for a lady in the '40s.

She was moving away from Ealing where she lived.

As a going away present, she told my mother to choose something.

-So I picked out the cat.

-What appealed to you?

-The smile.

-Yes, it's quite a wicked smile.

-It is, yes.

-That would appeal to a small boy. So you picked it out...

-Just for that.

-Why have you brought it today?

-Well, I noticed it had got Clarice Cliff on the bottom.

I've never seen a Clarice Cliff animal in any of the shows.

That's very true, actually.

It's quite late. Late 1930s.

It wasn't particularly old when you picked it out.

-About 1947, I should think.

-Just a great novelty.

-It is.

Clarice Cliff did do a series of stylised cats,

which were after Louis Wain-type paintings, but they were almost robotic-looking, very square.

Those are very sought after. This is quite realistic.

We've got the mark underneath and a number as well.

-It's difficult to value. Have you thought about price?

-Not really, no.

-Why have you decided to sell it now?

-It's just standing, gathering dust.

-It doesn't fit in with the other things we collect - poodles.

-Real ones?

-We've had real ones.

So the cat doesn't fit in. We're afraid there might be a fight between them.

I'm going to put a realistic estimate to you.

I think for this we ought to look at maybe £150.

-So maybe an estimate of £100-£150, with a £100 reserve.

-Yes.

-You're happy to flog it?

-I am, yes.

-I'll see you at the auction.

-OK.

-Let's hope it purrs away.

Well, that's the end of our valuations, and before we see

how our quirky items do at auction, I'm off to investigate

a wartime mystery.

I'm here in Bletchley Park, just outside Milton Keynes,

to find out how the British code breakers, who were based right here during the war,

were able to break the legendary Enigma cipher, the main German cipher machine used during WWII.

I'm about to meet a man who has all the answers - Peter Wescombe of the Bletchley Park Trust.

Why was Bletchley Park chosen?

-It was in a very convenient position. MI5 wanted somewhere in the country for the code breakers.

-Quiet, secret.

It was. And they were specialists. They wanted mathematicians.

With Enigma, it needs mathematicians to break it. Before Beeching got his hot and stickies on it,

-there was a railway line from Cambridge.

-The academics!

And when you look at Bletchley Park from the point of view of getting information to London,

the A5 is no more than three miles away from us. You can go down to Marble Arch and, if the A5 is bombed,

you've got a railway line going into Euston.

The all-important question - the Enigma machine.

-Why don't we go inside?

-OK.

-I've got one on display for you.

Here we are, Peter. We're certainly looking at history.

Tell me about the machine. How does it actually work?

This is a German WWII naval three-rotor Enigma machine.

Used by the German surface fleets and used by the U-boats until 1st February, 1942.

It is, in fact, a very simple machine in its looks, but, in fact,

it has 150 million million million possible combinations.

That's incredible. How many machines are there?

It was used by the whole of the German armed forces and the Gestapo, the railways, all sorts of people.

There were probably 20,000 or 30,000 around at the height of the war.

How does it actually work? If you can explain that simply!

-It works off 6 volts, so you can run it off a battery.

-It's portable.

-Very portable. If you look, it has a QWERTY keyboard on the front.

-Very much like a typewriter.

Below that, you have this scramble of wires.

That's called a stecker. That's a crossover.

The output from that keyboard is then crossed over, scrambled.

-Mm-hm.

-The output from the key you press down goes through the rotors at the top

and they rotate so each letter is differently scrambled.

Then the current goes through to the end rotor, back through them,

back down to the scrambler and that turns up a letter

which is then lit up on top. That's your encrypted letter.

-That's the one you write down.

-Yes.

Gosh!

Simple, isn't it(?)

I'm pleased you explained that! What was the defining moment in breaking the cipher?

The German army had developed this from a machine that was invented for banking purposes.

The German army took it up to develop a portable cipher machine.

It was 1932 they started doing test transmissions,

sending it with this. The Poles intercepted them and they were concerned.

They had the Danzig Corridor, separating Germany from Prussia.

The Poles knew they wanted it back, so they kept an eye on them.

They set down three young lads to break into this machine.

And they did. They did a brilliant piece of code breaking.

They broke into it in 1932. The Poles told us in 1939 that they had broken it.

Then it was brought back to Bletchley Park and we broke into Enigma here for the first time in 1940.

-Right.

-There are weaknesses in it.

-Yeah, what are its weaknesses?

The main one is always the operator. Codes and ciphers are as boring as painting the Forth Bridge.

And operators got bored, so they took shortcuts and that, of course, lets you in.

The other thing with Enigma is that it never encrypts the letter as itself.

You can press letter A until the cows come home. It never encrypts as A.

That means that every encrypting means all the encrypted letters do not relate directly

to the letter put in. A is never A, B is never B.

And that was the other way they got into it.

-But the Germans were changing the codes every 24 hours.

-They were changing the key.

That only lasted until midnight when you got another set to break before midnight.

Breaking each daily key quickly was essential to use the information effectively.

By hand, this was taking two weeks to break one day's key.

Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman discussed the possibilities

of improving a Polish device for breaking it more quickly. The Poles called this "bomba".

Turing and Welchman realised that if they could develop a machine to check thousands of combinations

against the suspected plain language text, they could find some part of the daily key.

People think you have one setting for all the Enigma machines. That's not right.

Let's take the U-boats. U-boats Atlantic had a cipher net, U-boats Mediterranean, Baltic,

and U-boats in the Pacific. All their Enigma keys changed every night at midnight.

So every night you had to break it to decrypt their messages.

-How many people worked here on it?

-Thousands.

There were more girls obtaining the messages than any other job.

They were very good accountants.

The reason they had the ladies was

that the men like to think they're better, but when it comes to actual concentration

-for a prolonged period of time...

-The women have the edge.

That's why they were chosen. They'd sit for 5 and 6 hours

and concentrate on finding these day after day, month after month. They were quite brilliant at it.

Peter, thank you so much and bringing this wonderful machine,

-which is not allowed to leave your sight.

-Nope!

-It's very precious.

If you want to run off with 28lbs of machine, help yourself!

We've come to Cheffins in Cambridgeshire to sell today's items,

but first, let's have a reminder of what they are.

And it seems we've got people with a great eye

at the valuation day, because Peter only paid 10 shillings

for his policeman's truncheon.

If Anita was allowed, she would buy this Art Deco emerald ring!

While we've seen lots of Clarice Cliff, this cat is unusual.

And even though this silver bear salt cellar has lost its companion,

I'm sure it will attract the collectors.

This is what today's auctioneer thinks of my little find.

-I absolutely love this little bear.

-Nice, isn't it?

He stole my heart. I can't believe Margaret is selling him.

-I put £250-£350 on him.

-Yeah, it is a nice piece.

-Nice quality, good crisp marks.

-Nice chasing.

-Nice chasing.

With the detail on the eyes.

-The eyes are gorgeous!

-It's little details like that.

-"Come and buy me!"

"Come and buy me" face.

We've had a good look at him and the valuation is spot-on. It might even make a little more.

-Yeah, should do.

-The only downside is...

-Go on!

-There's always one!

-Yes.

-This was one of a pair. Without a doubt.

-We said that.

-That's the only thing the buyers might say.

-Somebody will have the pepper bear.

-Exactly. You can never tell.

-And it's just a nice decorative piece.

-I'm not really into silver,

but I've done a few valuations in the past on little bears

and also little owls. The owls and bears are so collectable,

they tend not to sell to silver dealers. These sell to collectors as well as silver dealers.

-It's almost an object of virtue dealer.

-And the decorator.

-Not the purist silver dealer.

I think it'll do well. We've got interest on the phones.

-Good luck with this, Will.

-Thanks.

So let's see what the bidders think of that salt cellar.

And now for my favourite lot of the sale - the cute bear. I'll have a tear in my eye saying goodbye.

I'm pretty sure at £250-£350 that he is going to sell.

You were having a chat to somebody before you came over to me and he said, "I'll buy that."

-He's interested.

-I think there's going to be a lot of interest.

-He was a silver dealer.

-Yes. He's retired now, but he was.

And his son's got a shop. The bear could end up in London!

-He's doing his travels! I had a chat to the auctioneer.

-Yes?

-He agrees with the value.

Plus a little bit more. Fingers crossed!

This rather nice, well-admired small silver bear salt for you.

Nice, crisp marks. Super quality.

I've got to start this at £200.

-220. 240.

-This is a good start.

-At 260.

My bidders are out.

At 280. 300.

320. 340.

360. 380.

400. 420.

440. 460.

Yes or no? At 460. Coming to you now.

At 460 in the room. The hammer's up... 480.

-Yes! Yes!

-500.

-Someone in at the end.

550. Thank you very much. At 550 on the telephone now.

Are you out? At 550 I shall sell it.

You're all out at £550? Sold!

-Yes! What do you think of that? £550.

-Marvellous.

-For such a tiny little thing!

-But he was so beautiful and so collectable.

-What are you going to put the money towards?

-I'll take the family for a meal, then my grandson shall have it.

-The money?

-In his account.

-In his account. How old is he?

-15 months.

-And what's his name?

-Tyler.

-Tyler.

-Our only little grandchild.

-You must be so proud.

Tyler, well, that's a big deposit in his little account.

When he goes to university!

I'm bid 260, 280.

All out elsewhere, I shall sell it.

Next up, the policeman's truncheon, owned by Peter. We've got a valuation of £100-£150.

-You're not an ex-policeman.

-No.

-How did you acquire this?

We bought it in about 1943 at the Battle of Britain week.

They had a sale in the village.

The postmistress, her great-grandfather was the village policeman in the Napoleonic Wars.

-And we got it for 10 shillings.

-That was a great bargain.

The trouble with these is - I've had a number of truncheons over the years -

if it happens to be slightly rarer than the valuer recognises, and two people want it,

-they can fly away.

-Yeah.

-Other ones should make £100 and barely struggle to make £80.

-I think we're on a winner.

-It's got the original paintwork.

-And it's police memorabilia.

-I don't think we're going to plod on this one.

Oh.

Police truncheon. "Pulloxhill" it's inscribed.

Nicely decorated. Interest here.

50. 60. 70 bid. At £70 I'm bid here now.

I'm bid 70 here now.

-Oh, come on!

-80 can I say?

£80 away. 80. I've got 5.

-90 can I say?

-Oh, come on...

90 away, thank you.

-At £90 in the room now.

-He's selling.

-It's a discretionary reserve.

-£90 in the room.

-He's sold it.

-For 90. That's a shame.

-Just. We did it!

-We did it. Sold for the reserve.

-But it would have been nice to get 100, 110.

-It should have. What will you put that towards?

-I'm going to go and buy ten big tins of... I can't mention it.

-You can!

Ten big tins of Quality Street and eat the lot!

-Can you save me the purple ones?

-Oh, yes.

Next up, something for the ladies or the jewellery dealers.

It belongs to Jennifer. An 18-carat gold ring in the Art Deco style.

It's absolutely lovely. We've got £100-£200 on this. Sad to see it go?

-Well...

-You don't wear it?

-Not in years.

-I know who would wear it - Anita.

-I thought it was beautiful.

I tried it on, fell in love with it. Unfortunately, I can't buy it!

But someone will, right here, right now.

Emerald 18-carat gold ring. I've got interest here starting...

I'm bid 70. 80. 90. I'm bid 100 here.

At £100. At 110. 20.

130. 140.

150. You're in at 150. My bidders are out at 150.

160. Fresh blood. 170.

-Commission bid there.

-At 170. 180. 190.

Round it up now. 200. At 220.

-220 I'm bid. 240?

-This is more like it now.

230. 240, 240.

Don't lose it now. 250, 250. No, don't shake it. At 250.

Try me again. At 250. The hammer's up. Fair warning.

At 250. All done?

-Hammer's gone down.

-Did you enjoy that?

-£250.

Wasn't that stressful? I thought it was only going to go for 100.

It found its true value. What will you put that towards?

-My husband wants a dinner out.

-He can have several out for that!

-Ohh. Treat yourself as well.

-I've already been on holiday.

-Where have you been?

-Cornwall.

-Oh, you've been down to Cornwall! Yeah!

25, 35...

Who else is in?

It wouldn't be Flog It without Clarice Cliff. This is one for the collectors, but it's not purr-fect.

It belongs to Robert. Hi, Robert. Good to see you again.

-Who have you brought along?

-My wife, Sylvia.

-Sylvia, hello.

-I love this pussy cat. Do you?

-Not really. I'm a doggie person.

I'm a doggie person, but I think this is going to fly,

despite the little chip.

We've got £150 to £200, £300 on it. Here's our expert who valued it.

I had a chat to Will just before the auction started. He said it could double the top end.

I vowed I wouldn't do any more Clarice Cliff. We do so much of it.

-But sometimes you've got to do these quirky pieces.

-Yeah.

This is something we haven't had before. It's slightly psychotic,

-but in a charming way. Don't you think?

-Yes!

-I wouldn't want it as a pet! It'd rip your arm off.

Well, let's find out right now. It's going under the hammer.

The unusual Clarice Cliff cat with the bizarre stamp to it.

Where will you start me?

I've got conflicting bids here. We'll bypass the estimate. 180. 190.

200. 220. 240.

260. 280. 300. My bidder's out.

At £300 now. At 300. I am bid 300.

You're out on the phone. At 300...and 20. 340.

At 340 now. 360. 380. At 380.

The bid is at 380. 400. And 20. At 420.

440. And 60. At 460 in front. 480.

500, thank you. At 500.

And 50 now. 550. 600.

-The bid is in at 600.

-That's good.

-At 650. 700. At 700.

-I'm shaking. Are you?

-Yes.

At 700 I'm bid now. In the room. Are you all out?

-I shall sell it at 700. Sold!

-They didn't just like it, they loved it!

£700! What are you going to do with that?

We're going to Florida in a couple of weeks' time.

-That'll pay our Disney tickets.

-Aww.

-What a wonderful...! How exciting was that?

-Lovely!

-Marvellous!

-Your first auction?

-Yes.

-Coming back for more?

-I'll see if I have any more in the loft!

Got auction fever now. Thanks for coming in. Mark, thank you.

-It was a "come and buy me".

-It was.

-We've thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

I hope you enjoyed the show. Plenty more surprises to come. Until the next time, cheerio.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2007

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