Darlington Flog It!

Today, we're in a place known as Quaker Town

and Cradle of the Railways. Can you guess where we are?

Well, welcome to Flog It from Darlington.

Darlington's most famous Quaker, Edward Pease, also an industrialist,

was fondly referred to as the Father of the Railways and he passionately

believed steam locomotives were the transport of the future.

And this notion gave birth to the world's first passenger-pulling steam engine.

And here it is behind me, Locomotion One.

Look at that! Isn't that splendid?

It's so humbling to be next to something that's nearly 200 years old

that kick-started the transport revolution.

And it still resides here in the town today.

And also here in the town is the venue for our valuation day.

At the Dolphin Centre, our experts - Will Axon and Adam Partridge -

are already steaming ahead, and I'd better get stuck in too.

So let's get the crowds inside and unpacked.

-Kath, welcome to Flog It.

-Thank you.

-How are you today?

-Fine.

Good, and you've brought in a very colourful vase.

Why have you brought this along today?

Just something to bring along, cos I'm sick of it.

-Really? You're sick of the vase?

-Yes, sick of the vase.

-How long have you had it?

-About 25 years.

-And where did you get it from?

Off a market stall before there were charity shops.

-OK.

-Charities were allowed, in Darlington, to have a market stall

once a year, and I just saw it one Saturday morning and bought it.

Do you remember what it cost?

-£1.

-Oh, right. Not a lot.

-No, no.

-And what attracted you to it?

-Just its colour.

-Yeah, it's very colourful, vibrant.

-Very bright.

-It's a very Persian-inspired design, I'd have thought. Know anything about it?

-No, not at all.

-No, neither do I.

-No, I do really. It is marked on the bottom. It's marked for Fischer.

-I can see.

-Fischer of Budapest.

There were two major firms of Hungary that made this type of ware.

One was called Zsolnay from Pecs in Hungary

and the other's Fischer, and the Fischer ones are generally cheaper.

But it's worth more than the £1 you paid for it. And it appears to be in good condition.

And there's a little nick out of the base there. But that really doesn't matter at all.

So there we've got the Fischer Budapest marks and patent mark there.

Believe it or not, it looks pretty new, doesn't it?

-Yeah, I've looked after it.

-Yeah.

-It's been dusted.

-It's 100 years old.

-Is it?

-Yeah. Late 19th century. And it really doesn't look it, does it?

-I thought the gold was going a bit.

-Yeah.

-On the sides. A little bit.

Value nowadays, any idea?

-No idea at all.

-No. Have a guess.

-20 quid.

-What if I told you it was worth £10,000?

-I wouldn't believe you.

-No, you'd be right as well. It's worth 50-80 in my opinion.

-Very good.

-And it just might make 100 if we're lucky or just over. That would be nice, wouldn't it?

-Yes.

-Are you happy with that estimate?

-Yes.

-Still happy to sell it?

-Yes, yes.

-Thank goodness.

-What about a reserve?

-Oh, yes. Best put a reserve on it. What do you think?

-I would say £50.

-Yeah, OK.

If it doesn't make £50, then take it home again. Try it another day.

-Oh, yes. Maybe.

-Do you have it out on display still?

-Yes.

-You do.

-Yeah, it sits high up on a cupboard.

-Any thoughts on what you'll do with the money? If it made 100 quid...

-Grandchildren.

-How many grandchildren have you got?

-Three.

-Three.

-All girls.

-So split it between them and take your £1 back that you spent on it?

-Oh, yes, yes. Never thought of that.

-It's been good fun talking to you.

-Yes.

I'm going to be coming back to Darlington to see you at the auction and let's hope it goes well.

So tell me, Violet, is this your snuff box? Do you partake in snuff?

No, I don't, but it is my snuff box.

It is yours. How did you come by it? Is it something you've inherited?

It was a gift from a friend of mine about 35 years...

And that would correspond with the name that's been engraved in the top.

The lady who gave you it, was that her family name?

No, it was her mother-in-law. It was her husband's mother's.

I see, so it's come through various families and generations to you.

-Yes. Yes.

-Well, it's pretty self-explanatory.

Silver snuff box. We can tell that by looking at the hallmarks inside, which all English silver carry.

We can see from the hallmarks there that it was made in Birmingham.

Birmingham was a centre of making these sort of small

-pieces of silver, objects of virtue, that sort of piece.

-Yes.

I think the date letter on there is for 1853.

I think we had a look up of the date mark.

Then again, you've got the maker's mark there as well, which is "TD".

Now, we tried to have a look, see if we could identify the maker,

and I'm afraid he's not recorded, but that's nothing to worry about.

There were a lot of silversmiths working in Birmingham at the time, producing these types of pieces.

It's been well reported that silver

is making good money at the moment, so I'm confident that something like this,

which is small, portable, period, nice quality, is going to sell well at the auction.

Now, having a closer look at it condition-wise, we've got

a small split here where we've got a small split in the silver.

That's just literally wear and tear, opening and closing,

and the other area to look at for any sort of damage is on the hinge.

And you can just see that's just starting.

-It's a little bit thin there.

-Yes.

-Just starting to split.

But I think we've got there just in time before that goes.

Nice silver gilt interior. Nice quality. What would you think it was worth?

-Say I offered you £50, do you think that's fair for it?

-No, no, no.

-Little bit more than that.

-Oh, yes.

Well, if I said to you, I suggest putting it in the sale

-at an estimate of 120-160 and the reserve at 100...

-Yes.

-..what would you think?

-Yes, I think that's fair.

-You think that's fair.

Any idea what you'll do with the money when it's sold?

I'll just buy myself something nice, other than just looking at that.

-Cos where does it live at the moment?

-On a unit.

-So at least it's out on display.

-Yes, yes.

-OK, cos a lot of the time we find these,

and they're stuffed at the back of the drawer.

-It doesn't go with the decor in my house.

-It's a little bit high-Victorian, isn't it?

-With that nice serpentine edge, scrolling acanthus leaf.

-It's pretty.

It is pretty. So, Violet, I think as I suggest, an estimate of 120-160 and set the reserve at 100.

-I'm confident it will sell well on the day.

-Yes. Thank you very much.

Right, and now for the moment of truth.

Some of you have probably guessed already, because you may own a set.

-Geoff, what do you think they are?

-We've had discussions.

-We think that they might be cocktail sticks.

-Yes, you're right. ..See, hubby knew, didn't he?

-We needed confirmation.

-Definitely cocktail sticks.

And so popular round the 1930s.

The jazz age, the decadent period where everybody was drinking cocktails.

-Have you noticed that two of the cockerels are facing this way?

-Yeah.

-And the others are facing THIS way. Ever wondered why?

-No!

It's because it's a matched set really.

I think two got lost originally and they've been replaced.

Oh! So what about the little hooks?

-That was for just hanging on the side of the glass if the glass was deep.

-Oh.

How did you come by these? Are they yours, Chris?

No. We found them in a house that we were renovating, and these were left.

-Well, that's a nice little present, isn't it?

-Yes, it was.

So they are sterling silver. You know, precious metal.

It does have a value, and at the moment silver's doing quite well.

It would have been in a set of six from Sheffield.

I've looked under a lens there and I can see that there is

-in fact a crown, and there's a date mark, which tells us it's 1927.

-OK.

But these two have been added later, because I think two have been lost

-and these have been purchased separately. They're from the Birmingham Assay Office.

-Oh!

And there's an "L" there with a little lion passant moving to the left,

which tells us it is sterling silver.

And there is a little assay mark of an anchor, which says it was made in Birmingham.

And that date letter "L" is in fact for 1935, so these were bought

-later, which does devalue it really because it's not a complete set.

-Yeah.

But I think it's a nice story and, incidentally, the assay mark for Sheffield

is a crown, and these two cities, Birmingham and Sheffield, they had a lot of silversmiths working there.

And they lobbied Parliament in London to have their own assay mark, and all the meetings they had

between the silversmiths were carried out in a pub called the Crown and Anchor.

-That's the best bit.

-Once they got permission to have an assay office, they basically flipped a coin

-and Birmingham got the anchor sign. And that's how they got the assay marks, believe it or not.

-Oh, right.

So that's quite nice. And there's a nice bit of social history going on here.

But because it's not a complete set, they don't have a great deal of value,

because there's not a lot of weight in silver and that's how silver's determined - by scrap value weight.

So, for auction purposes, we're going to be looking at around £20-£30.

It's not a great deal of money, is it?

-No, that's fine.

-I feel it's a shame to sell them really.

-If you want to sell them, we can put them into auction.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Shall we try?

-Might as well.

-Are you sure?

-Absolutely.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Well, you found them for nothing, didn't you?

-Yes, we did.

-You never know, they might get you a bottle of champagne.

-Or half a tank of diesel.

Half a...!

I think I'd go for the champagne. Treat Chris!

-Hi, Dave.

-Hello.

-How are you today?

-Not bad, not bad.

-And what's made you come along to Flog It?

-Well, I watch the programme and I've actually seen one similar to this sold.

-Have you?

-Without the heraldic bits.

-Yep.

-Got this one from a charity shop.

-Did you?

-How long ago?

-About 18 months.

-18 months ago. How expensive was it?

-£1.90.

-£1.90?

-Yes.

-Yeah. And you're selling it.

It appears to be a Georgian cannon.

This bit is Georgian. The stand is later.

Little garrison stand there,

which is probably in the last 50 years, I'd have thought.

So, what attracted you, just cos it was a bargain?

Well, I thought it was an excellent piece of workmanship when I saw it.

And it was that that attracted me.

It's a nice piece of brassware. It's a good piece of workmanship, and you've got

the George III cipher on there. Any idea what it's worth?

-Not really.

-Well, I'd estimate that at £30-50 at auction. And

I think it would probably make that, perhaps a little bit more.

It's a miniature example.

The big ones on the big cast-iron stands can make hundreds, even sometimes

thousands, but this is fairly ordinary.

So I'd expect that sort of money. Are you happy with that?

-Yeah, yeah.

-OK. Say it makes £80, what would you do with it?

Probably most of it would go to

-a computer programme or some such thing.

-OK. Or back to the charity

-shops for more bargains?

-Oh, always.

-Yes, yes.

-Do you scour them a lot? Is that a hobby of yours?

-Well, I look. I look.

-So, off to auction with it.

We'll put it in the auction with a £30-50 estimate on it. Any reserve?

Well, I would like a £30 reserve.

Bottom of estimate, see what happens.

-If it doesn't make that, we'll take it home.

-Uh-huh.

Thank you for coming, I'll see you at the auction.

OK.

Cor blimey, Linda! Where have you been keeping this album?

In an attic. I don't know. I don't know where it's from.

Looks like it's been kept outside or something in the rain.

-In the chicken coop maybe.

-In the chicken coop? I hope not!

I'm holding onto it here. I might have to wash me hands!

It's a shame. This has the potential to be a nice album,

with these flags and this, I think, hand-painted decoration to the front.

But, as is obvious, it has perished somewhat.

But let's have a look inside and see what it contains.

Look at these. These are in slightly better condition.

Nice bright colours and so on. What can you tell me about them?

They belong to my son's fiancee.

Her parents are Slovakian, and the album's been handed down through the family.

The Austrian postcards...

and Austria was known as the "in" place for postcard production before World War I.

-It sounds like...

-They're lithographic prints.

-They're lithographic prints. Well, it sounds like you've done...

-Just a little bit.

A little bit of research. That's good. I can't really add much more,

other than to say, from a commercial point of view,

I think they're going to stand a chance of generating

some interest in the saleroom. There are obviously postcard collectors, we all know that.

It's well documented that postcards have a market.

But looking at the subject matter here as well, we've got some rather interesting battle scenes,

scenes, I think, from the First World War

-and earlier in some cases, and some rather interesting propaganda-type postcards in there.

-Yes.

And again, like you say, they're all lithographic prints, the postcards themselves.

-I haven't counted them up. Do you know how many there are?

-114.

114. Well, you say they belong to your son's fiancee.

-She hopefully knows you've brought them here.

-Oh, yes, she does.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Value-wise, has she ever had them valued?

-No.

-Did she have any idea?

They've only been given to her about a year ago.

Her parents gave her them, told her, "Do what you want with them."

-They've just bought a house, they're getting married this year.

-Yes.

-So the money, whatever they make, will go towards something.

-Oh, that's a nice touch.

-That it's going to be put to good use.

-For the future rather than the past.

-So she inherited them from her parents and you say that they were from Eastern Europe.

-Yes.

OK, which would suggest why they are Austrian - European postcards rather than the English postcards.

English postcards tend to be more collectable.

-But, from what you've said, I think there is going to be interest in these. Well, it was 115?

-114.

I mean, I've had a flick through. I haven't looked at every one. Some are more interesting than others.

-Yes, they are.

-Value-wise, I think we're looking in the region of sort of £50 upwards, so I would

like to put an estimate on them of say £50-£80

and stick a reserve at that £50. What do you think?

They'd be happy with that, because they're just going to be stuck in another damp attic

and deteriorate even further.

Exactly. We don't want that, because I think

we've got to them just in time before the cards...

-The cards are fine and they're all unused.

-Exactly.

-But they haven't been stuck down.

-No.

-And that's the sort of number one rule for postcards.

Don't stick them down - that just devalues them for the collector.

-Right.

-So we'll put them together, and if we value those at £50-£80, put the reserve at £50,

-and then hopefully we'll get cash to put towards your son and his fiancee's wedding.

-Yes.

-Good.

That would be lovely. Thank you.

Now, 27th September, 1825, is certainly a date

to remember here in Darlington, because it was the first time ever

a steam locomotive was used to haul passengers on a public railway

system, and the locomotive involved was Stephenson's Locomotion No. 1.

It certainly was a piece of railway history.

And today in Darlington, yet another is just about to unfold.

I'm here at Darlington Locomotive Works to find out a little bit more.

There's thousands of rail enthusiasts in the UK,

but one group in particular took their

passion, their energy and their enthusiasm a lot further than most.

They turned a pipe dream into a reality. Meet Tornado.

49 A1 locomotives were built between 1948 and 1949, and each and every

one of them was scrapped by 1966, replaced by modern diesel engines.

So the A1 became a missing part of railway history till 1990.

The idea was hatched to build a brand-new A1 from scratch, and work

began on the 50th locomotive of this class.

Hopefully, Director of Engineering David Elliott can tell me how a seed of an idea with thousands

of little parts like this can turn into something like this.

The A1 was the last development in a long line of locomotives,

which included the Flying Scotsman and Mallard.

Created as a simplified version of the earlier models,

the A1 was developed for post-war conditions, when there

was a combination of poor coal with a shortage of manpower.

Tornado has also been tweaked from the original, but this time

to compete with modern diesel trains on the UK's mainlines.

David, great to meet you.

Thank you for showing us around. I want to know who came up with the idea, because this is awesome.

It was down to a group of enthusiasts who also happened to be businessmen

and the rumour has it that it came out of a convivial party, and after

they'd got past the first two or

three bottles of wine, the question came up, discussing the whole railway

movement about the engines which were missing from the national collection.

And it wasn't very long before they decided that this A1 Pacific

was the biggest omission from the collection of preserved locomotives.

Wonderful craftsmanship. How many are in the team here?

Well, at the moment we've got

about six people regularly working on it, plus a number of volunteers

and others who come in just for specific activities as required.

Thousands of hours.

Many thousands of man hours. We haven't totted it up, but I should

think it's heading for 90,000-100,000 when it's finished.

Gosh. Have you any idea of what it's cost so far?

Up till now, we're approaching £3 million, and by the time she's

finished, over 3 million.

That's a lot of money. So how have you managed to fund this?

The vast proportion has come from

individuals contributing regularly to the project.

What have been the main problems?

First, we had to establish whether there were any drawings for the engine.

Luckily, as a result of a major trawl

through the National Railway Museum, we discovered they had

-around of 95% of the original drawings for the loco.

-Yeah.

This made the whole project possible, because if we'd had to work just off

an arrangement drawing and redraw all the detailed parts,

it would have been a huge task, and really outside our capabilities.

People said you could never build a new steam locomotive -

-the specialist skills you need are no longer there.

-Yes.

The difficulty was, unlike the old days when there was

a loco works that did everything on the same site, we've had to source this

from all over the UK, and into Europe and South Africa and beyond.

Yeah. Can we take a guided tour?

-Certainly, by all means.

-Where do you actually start?

Well, we laid the frames in the first instance.

That is what everything else hangs off.

-Yes.

-We did actually have the wheels made early on.

This enabled us to get going with

-something that was very identifiable as part of a steam locomotive.

-Yeah.

Early on, the essential thing was to make progress to make it look as though we were building an A1.

And the boiler, where was that made?

Well, the boiler was and has been the biggest single problem.

There's no manufacturing facility in the UK that

produces steam-locomotive-type boilers on this scale. And finally, we chose the Mining

and Locomotive Works in Germany, which is, astonishingly, still

a fully-fledged steam-locomotive works here in the 21st century.

What's been the highs and lows so far?

One of the highest points was when we steamed this boiler for

the first time. They invariably leak somewhere.

-This didn't leak anywhere, which is what we'd hope.

-Once you've

got the steam up, you've got to generate it into power.

Yeah. In order to be able to create enough pull to start a heavy train,

three axles are coupled together so that they all go round at once,

and altogether, when this

is running at, say, in the order of 75 or 80 miles an hour, she's capable of

-producing about 2,600 horsepower.

-Wow.

That's equivalent to most of the larger diesels that are around today.

Have you had to modify the brakes?

Only to enable them to haul modern rolling stock.

This must be special for the people of Darlington. Do they keep an eye on what's going on?

23 of these were actually built in the Darlington Locomotive Works of British Railways.

Fantastic. Every morning when you come to work here and you

look at this, you must go, "What a great day."

It's not always like that.

More often than not I'm coming in to sort a problem out, but

there are times at the end of the day when I just stand back and look at it

and think, "What is this that this team has created?"

-Yeah.

-Cos the opportunity to build a new steam locomotive of this scale

and size in this century is just astonishing.

Wow! That's all I can say.

I really wasn't expecting that.

It's magnificent. What an incredible achievement, and the great thing is,

Tornado's built right here in Darlington. That's history.

One day I'm going to take a ride on her, and I'm sure all the

people of Darlington will as well, and they'll feel extremely proud.

So far we've had some lovely little items.

So let's have a reminder of them before we make our first visit to the saleroom.

Will valued the silver snuff box at £120-£160,

and I think he's definitely on the money with this one.

Kath's vase is certainly bright and bold.

Let's hope it catches the attention of the bidders

when it goes under the hammer.

The cocktail sticks won't make a lot of money,

but I'm glad Geoff and Chris brought them along

to the valuation day as they're such interesting little items.

With a valuation of £30-£50, I'm convinced the cannon will go with a bang.

And finally, the Austrian lithograph postcards

are soon to go under the hammer.

Let's hope they make a picture-perfect profit

at the auction.

Today's sale comes from the heart of Darlington from Thomas Watson Auctioneers.

The sale is just about to start, so let's hope the room

is full of eager bidders all wanting to put their hands up for our lots.

And the auctioneer selling our items is Peter Cartwright.

-We've got Violet's little silver snuff box with a value of £120.

-Aha.

-Hopefully we're going to get a little bit more than that.

-Hope so.

-..Will, will we get that top end?

-We had a little bit of a haggle, didn't we, on the valuation day?

-Did you?

-Yes.

I was looking for 100. You were looking for 150. I think we settled in the middle, 120.

But silver snuff boxes always come...

There's a fair bit of weight there. My theory is, you know, snuff in the 17th century

was the elitist, fashionable thing to do if you could afford it.

In the 18th century, it became a habit, because everybody did it

-and everybody smoked as well and ground their own snuff from tobacco.

-Yes.

Maybe because there's a smoking ban now,

being inside pubs and clubs and things, people might start to take snuff.

So we need some "noseologists" here to bid on this, don't we?

-That's what they call them, "noseologists"...

-Oh, very good.

-Snuff-takers.

-I wouldn't know...

The Victorian silver snuff box. Birmingham, 1853.

With a silver gilt interior and the engraved decoration.

And I can start this away at £70 for the box. At £70. 80 now.

At £70. You've made a bid at £70.

80 surely now. 80. 90.

100 in the room, the bid. At £100.

110 now for the box. At £100.

Gentleman's bid then at £100 for the box. Are we all done at £100?

Yes! £100.

-Bang on the reserve, Violet.

-Yes, that's fine.

We just got it away. Thank goodness we put a reserve of 100.

Otherwise I would have been in trouble with Violet.

I thought it might have made a little bit more, but you know...

We might offer them a quick profit. Who bought it?

-Well...

-That's it.

-Are you going to spend the money on yourself now?

-Yes.

What are you going to treat yourself to, less the commission?

-A nice piece of luggage.

-Are you going on holiday?

Yes, yes. No, I've just been, but we do go often.

-Just got back and you're off again!

-Yes!

Next up, we've got a late 19th-century Hungarian vase with a value of £50-£80.

We've got the vase. Unfortunately, the owner Kath is on holiday, but we've got Adam, our expert, here.

-Will we get that top end, Adam?

-Erm, we should do.

It's a nice-looking vase and it should make over 100, but I don't know if it quite will.

I'd like to think it would as well, but we've got a room packed full of bidders. It's up to this lot.

-My prediction is £70. What's yours?

-No, I'm going to say a bit more. I'm going to say 85.

-OK.

-OK.

-Let's see.

-Let's see.

The Hungarian vase by Fischer of Budapest

with a floral and gilt decoration. Interest in the lot.

I can start this at £40.

At £40. Five now. 45. 50.

He's got a bid left on the book.

At £55, the lady seated. 60. Five.

70. Five. At £70.

-Centre of the third row at £70.

-Oh, come on! A bit more.

-£70, all done then?

-Who said 70?

-You did.

I can't believe that.

-That wasn't fixed.

-No!

£70. Well, it is a cracking result anyway.

Hit its money.

Chris and Geoff, it's great to see you again.

The cocktail sticks are just about to go under the hammer. No reserve.

-Well, you both look so well. You've got lovely tans. Have you been on holiday?

-No, no.

-We own a caravan park, so we're working outside all the time now.

-Lots of caravans going in and out.

-That's right.

-So you've got a bit of land, then?

-Yes.

-Yeah, just a bit.

-Just a bit.

-In lovely Richmondshire.

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

The six silver cockerel cocktail sticks. In the box. 15 to start.

At £15. 20 now for the six.

At £15. Still in the box now.

At 20, seated with the gentleman.

-That could be it.

-Five for the lot now. At £20.

Gentleman seated then at £20. Are we all done now? At £20 the lot.

Well, they've gone. It was better than a fiver!

It was kind of my low-end. I was hoping for a little bit more.

-Never mind.

-20 quid.

Well, it's a pub lunch.

-Exactly.

-And it's been lovely to be on Flog It.

-Yeah.

-Oh, thank you so much.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-You won't get a lot of a pub lunch either.

-Not a lot.

Firing things right now for us, we've got

David's little Georgian brass cannon with a value of £30-50.

Fixed reserve at 30. We're not giving this little gem away, are we?

You picked it up for a couple of quid?

-Yeah.

-So you've got keen eyes.

-Well, yeah.

Any other bargains you've found?

-'Fraid not.

-That's the only one.

I've never found a bargain in a charity shop.

-A little gem.

-A sweet little thing.

I thought it was a bit of you, actually, when I saw it.

Yeah, I do like it. It's a nice little desk toy.

This should get the top end.

-Should be £50, shouldn't it?

-Mmm.

-Be nice.

We're going to find out right now.

-This is it.

-The Georgian model of a cannon on the mahogany stand.

Interest in the lot, and I can start this away at £30 for the cannon.

-Good.

-At 35. 40 upstairs. 45. 50.

55. 60. 65. 70. 75.

At £70 in the gallery now.

At £70, your bid, sir, at £70.

75 for the lot now. 75.

80. 85. 90. At £90. Still in the gallery, then, at £90 for the lot.

Are we all done at £90?

Yes! £90! That's fantastic.

You see, quality always sells. What

are you going to do with that money? Less a bit of commission.

Erm, Photoshop 6.

So you're into your computers?

Well, yeah, I'm getting there, getting there. I combine it with art.

-Erm, merging watercolours with line stuff...

-Yeah.

-For pleasure, of course.

-Hours of fun!

You pretend you understand what he's talking about!

Well, we've got £50-£80 riding on this next lot.

It's Katrina's First World War postcard albums, and we've got Linda here.

-You're going to be Katrina's mother-in-law.

-Yeah.

-Hopefully we get £80 today and you can spend the money.

-No, she's spending it. No, no.

-She's putting it towards the wedding fund.

-Yeah.

-Well, it does mount up.

I got married recently, and it does mount up!

-You're still feeling it, aren't you?

-Still feeling it!

-Best day of my life though.

-Good. Right answer.

Let's hope it's a good day here for Linda and Katrina. Going under the hammer now.

It's an album of Austrian World War I postcards,

approximately 120 in the lot. Interest in these.

I can start these at £60. At 70.

80. 90. 100. And 10, sir.

110 in the room. 120. 130. 140.

150. 160. 170. 180. 190.

-Fantastic!

-You were right on the day.

-You did your research, didn't you?

-I did.

At £200. 210 now. Are we all done then at £200?

Absolutely fantastic! £200. What was this..."You did your research"?

-Did you have some insider knowledge.

-No, I went on the internet,

and they're supposed to be the golden age of postcards.

They're lithograph prints. They're not just ordinary prints.

And everybody from round the world went to Austria to learn how to make these postcards.

-£200...

-Brilliant.

-For the wedding.

-Oh, they'll be over the moon.

-I'll have to ring her tonight.

-Oh, good.

This wonderful Georgian stable block resides in the grounds of Ormesby Hall,

which is owned by the National Trust and it's just a few miles outside of Middlesbrough.

It's not the stable block that I'm interested in today, although it is a fantastic architectural delight.

It's in fact what's inside it.

Now, these no ordinary horses.

They are in fact police horses and there's nine of them here,

along with one sergeant and eight constables, and they make up Cleveland's Mounted Police section,

and I'm here to meet Sergeant Paul Johnson to find out exactly what the section does.

-Hi, Paul. Pleased to meet you.

-Hi.

-What's his name?

-This is Clyde. His official police name's Stranton.

He's got to be one of the biggest police horses.

We think he's possibly the biggest police horse in the country.

-We don't know anybody else who's got one bigger, that's for sure.

-My word!

That is massive. He's good on crowd control, I bet.

Tell me a little bit about what the role does here, what the section does.

A lot of our day-to-day things is just doing crime patrols

round the different districts that we cover.

It's like a bobby being on foot really, but ours are on horseback.

And what sort of typical scenarios do you get involved in?

Obviously we do a lot of the football matches, crowd control, crowd safety,

making sure everybody's going to be safe round some flashpoint areas.

And if anybody starts misbehaving,

we can use the horses to move them out the way and stop the fighting.

You don't mess with these guys! They've got such powerful shoulders, they can nudge you sideways.

He must be nigh on a tonne, something around that weight,

-so if he was running towards you, you'd quickly get out of the way.

-Where do you get your horses from?

Sometimes we get them from dealers if we have to, but a lot of the time it's from word of mouth.

We go and see the horses, see what they're going to be like, if they have the right temperament.

Somebody will ride the horse out to make sure it's going to be good in traffic, round roadworks and things.

-And then, if we think they're going to be suitable, what we do is we get them in on a month's trial.

-Yeah.

-I walked past a few on the way in. Can we look at those?

-Course you can.

You are absolutely magnificent.

Go back in. Go on. Back in.

They've got wonderful, big stable boxes.

-Yes, obviously they were built for them in the 1770s, so that...

-Just the right size for these guys.

-Anything smaller, they wouldn't fit in.

-What's the history of this place?

How long has the section been based here?

The current section as it is has been here since the 1970s.

Are there many people that want to get into the mounted police?

We do get a lot of people saying, "I'm going to join the police.

"I'm going to be a mounted police officer." Well, if you take it that there's about 1,600 police officers,

and there's only nine of us, the odds of getting on the mounted branch are quite small.

Tell us a little bit more about police training.

What's the first thing a police constable would have to do

before you take him out?

We actually send our officers away, and they go away on a four-month course.

So once they've done that four-month course, they get tested to make sure

they'll be safe to go out on the streets and their horses aren't going to run off with them

and end up killing a member of the public or themselves.

Will they bond with one horse and stay with that horse?

Yeah. We do generally have our own horses here.

And we use them most of the time.

If we were going to go to a parade, you'd maybe not take one horse,

because it might be a bit jumpy in a parade, you know. You'd have to take a more steady horse.

What would be one of the things you could show me?

I've got a couple of horses and I ride, but can you show me something?

We can maybe show you some lateral manoeuvres that we might do

at a football match or if we had a crowd in front of us and we wanted to move them sideways.

We'd move the horse sideways into them and get them to move.

-We'll show you a few things like that.

-I've brought my riding hat with me.

-OK.

-We'll get you on, then.

-OK.

Move a little bit more towards me.

Without moving her forward.

See, if I stop, I'll pull him up level with you.

-So if I wanted to close the gap up on you now, I'll open the right rein a bit.

-OK.

And then I'll... Leg on at the girth and you can get everybody like...

-Like in next to you, then.

-Yeah.

Let me try and come tight to you.

Yeah. Not bad. Not bad.

Not bad. OK.

'I tried my best and I don't think I was too bad,

'but now I'm going to leave it up to the professionals.'

Well, what a day I've had here. I tell you what,

you can't beat riding a police horse. You trust those things with your life.

They're strong, they're beautiful, they're elegant. Look at the confirmation, the way they move.

They are a great addition to the modern-day police force,

and it's wonderful to have just a little insight into what the job entails.

And back at the valuation day, it seems to be time for tea.

-May I call you Valerie? That's not too personal?

-Yes.

-Everybody calls me Valerie.

-That's good. Welcome.

-Thank you.

-Thank you for bringing such a beautiful tea caddy along.

I was really excited to see this when I unpacked it earlier.

-Can you tell me a little bit about it and where you got it from?

-Right. Well,

I got it from my husband's aunt.

There were three maiden aunts.

Never got married and they were all interested in collecting antiques.

They didn't have the distraction of husbands and children, did they?

No, they didn't. The last maiden aunt said, "Who wants to look after a man?"

Well, yeah. Were you of that opinion as well?

-Oh, no, no.

-No, no.

-Oh, no, definitely not. No, no!

-Cos you've got grandchildren, haven't you?

-I've got four grandchildren.

-Granddaughters.

-Granddaughters.

-Granddaughters, yes.

-Do they ever watch the programme?

-I think they would watch it if I was watching it with them.

-OK. Or if you were on it?

-Oh, yeah, definitely.

We have to get you on it somehow. Anyway, we've got this beautiful tea caddy. Why are you selling it?

-Well, it's not on view anywhere.

-Is it not?

-No.

-Where does it live?

It lives in the wardrobe in the guest room.

-In a wardrobe?

-In the guest room.

-Valerie, I'm getting disappointed about that.

-I know. I know.

Well, I don't blame you for selling it. Beautiful tortoiseshell tea caddy.

It's from the early 19th century. We've got a silver escutcheon,

and if we have a look inside, we've got this twin-lidded compartment as you usually find.

Unfortunately there's a little bit of damage on this one,

but you can see the original lined interior, the foiled paper there to keep the tea fresh,

cos tea was an expensive commodity. That's why they had these exotic caddies.

And sometimes they have little gilt...brass ball feet

or ivory feet.

And this one has little tortoiseshell feet.

It's in good condition. Any idea what it might be worth?

-Well, only from seeing things sold on Flog It.

-Right.

So maybe round about £500.

That's a pretty good guess. I was thinking estimate 500-800.

-Right.

-So you're on the lower end of that.

-Mm-hm.

-Which means hopefully

-you'll be pleased with the result if it makes more.

-I will.

-Yeah.

So I would suggest that estimate, 500-800. We'll put a reserve of 500.

-Yes.

-If it doesn't make that, it's not worth selling.

-No. It's worth putting back in the wardrobe!

Yeah, well. You might want to have it out on display perhaps.

Overall, it's pretty clean and tidy, and the back also.

I'll just rotate that. Ooh, I do like that.

So let's say it makes £800. I don't think that's out of the question. How would that be spent?

Well, I've already said I've got four...quite expensive granddaughters.

Not £200 each, is it?

-I'd split it for them.

-Valerie, thanks again for bringing

this in and I look forward to coming to the auction and standing with you and watching it make a fortune.

-Let's hope it does.

-I hope so too. And I've thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you very much.

-That's a pleasure.

Eve, it's been a long day here today at the Flog It valuation.

We're on the final furlong and you've brought in two pieces

of what's probably going to be easily identified as Royal Worcester.

What can you tell me about them?

Well, I inherited them about 20 years ago from my brother-in-law.

They belonged to my sister-in-law and when she died, he just passed them on to me.

-He wasn't interested in holding on...?

-In keeping them? No.

-And they're displayed, are they? They're in nice condition.

-They're just behind glass in a cabinet.

And value-wise, have you had any idea of what they might be worth?

-No, not really.

-Royal Worcester tends to be a factory that produces wares that, to be honest, you either

love it or hate it. It tends to be very sort of floral, shall we say.

This sort of beige or peach blush sort of ground.

You say it was your brother-in-law. It's not exactly very sort of masculine porcelain, is it?

-No.

-So we can see why he perhaps handed them on to you.

The floral painting on these is of nice quality. It's not signed anywhere.

I can't see any artist signing. I see on one of the pieces there are some decorator's marks

underneath, which, with some research, identify the artist.

But really the Royal Worcester that makes the big money are those, you

may have seen them, Stinton vases that are painted with cattle scenes and landscapes and birds perhaps.

Do the artists always sign them or not?

Well, it was sort of post-1900 that Royal Worcester encouraged

people to this free-hand painting and it was really the artists

that became most popular, that almost had a following in themselves,

-and they will sign their work.

-Yes.

These have been signed beneath with the decorator's mark, so these would probably have been

produced in larger numbers than those almost sort of exhibition pieces, shall we call them,

that are signed by the artists.

Now, date-wise for these two pieces, Royal Worcester introduced a system

of dating their ceramics by adding dots to the marks underneath.

What we can learn from that is that these have been dated from the dots

underneath - 15 dots, we date them to 1907.

That's a good, easy way of dating them that Royal Worcester have provided

and that still continues to this day, the dating system they use.

Now, this one here nearer me, the flagon vase, shall we call it?

These have gone off the boil recently in the marketplace, so I suppose on that

you would be looking at a value of...say £50.

The other piece you have - the shell-moulded bowl -

-is a bit more eye-catching.

-More about it, yeah.

-There's a bit more about it.

There's obviously more into the production of it and again it's nicely decorated

and you've just got the hint of this sort of peach blush ground underneath the flower painting here.

Again, dated the same, 1907. Now, value on that, I suppose,

is going to be a little bit more than the vase.

So I would say on that maybe 100-150.

-Yes.

-So if we're looking at the two together, we're looking at 150, that sort of level, 150-200.

-It makes sense offering them together. How do you feel about that?

-Yes, that's fine.

And reserve-wise, I think we should reserve at the bottom figure, 150, and just give the auctioneer

some discretion, so if it gets to 140, he'll sell them rather than not sell them for a tenner.

-Yeah, that's fine.

-You're happy with that? Good. So 150 reserve with discretion.

-150-200 as an estimate, and we'll see you on the day.

-Lovely. Thank you.

-How are you, Brenda?

-Very well.

-Good. Welcome to Flog It.

-It's nice to be here.

Oh, really? I'm glad. Have you come far?

-No. I live in Darlington.

-OK. Now, I always find it quite sad when people are selling their family medals.

-Yes, but they're not my family.

-OK, so where do you get them from?

My husband and I are avid car-booters, and I particularly like jewellery. He likes watches,

but we collect anything. But because we do this, everybody thinks we can value things.

-OK.

-So there's always friends saying, "My friend has this, would you just come and look at it?"

or "Can you value this?" If I can, I will, but more often than not I can't.

And a friend said she had a friend that had some medals,

would I come and look at them? So I said, "I will."

Because I said, "I don't know anything about them,"

she assumed they weren't worth anything. I said, "No! They probably are worth something."

"I'll throw them away." I said, "You can't throw them away!"

I said, "Give them to a charity." "No, I'll just throw them away."

-I said, "I'll try and find out something about them."

-OK.

-And this is why you're here today?

-And she said, "Yes."

-So will she be watching this?

-No, she doesn't know I'm here.

-OK.

-Because we've been on holiday and I got a phone call this morning

-from my step-daughter to say, "Flog It's at the Dolphin Centre..."

-You had to come.

-"..Is there

"anything you can take?" I thought, "I'll take the medals."

-You're going to tell your friend before she sees it on the box?

-Yes!

You've got an interesting collection of medals.

We've left those in there - standard-issue World War I medals.

So there's not a lot of value there. The ones of interest are this trio here.

And this is the particular one of interest.

These again are standard World War I medals.

This one however is the award for Bravery in the Field.

So these are all awarded to the same person, who is Sergeant J Stott of the Royal Engineers.

-Be interesting to know who he was.

-It would, wouldn't it?

Medal buyers will research these when they get them and they'll try

and find out what it was he did to be awarded this Bravery Medal.

So this is the one that adds the value.

Without this, you might only have £50 for the whole lot.

-But this one makes the whole lot probably worth £200-£300...

-Wow.

Something like that. So not a bad little haul.

So what I'd suggest is that we sell them as one lot, this being the main focus and THIS being added on.

-Put a reserve of £200.

-Sounds good.

-Yeah, and an estimate of 200-300.

-I am confident that they'll make that, if not a little bit more perhaps. Happy with that?

-Yes, very.

-Are you going to tell your friend?

-I definitely am, yes.

I suppose the friend gets the money or maybe she'll help you out with a...

No, just the pleasure of coming. I've just enjoyed doing it.

Good. Well, it's been nice to have you here.

And I'll be coming back up to the North-East from Cheshire

-in a couple of weeks' time to stand at the auction with you. You'll be coming?

-Yes.

-It's the best bit.

-That's the enjoyment.

-Let's hope we get a good result.

-Oh, I hope so.

-Yeah. Thanks for coming and at least you're not selling the family medals.

-No.

Dane, thanks for coming in today to see us here at Flog It, and

you've brought with you

a piece of jewellery. Now, we always like seeing

good-quality jewellery boxes as valuers and auctioneers - that

generally means the piece inside is going to be good quality, too. Let's have a look.

If I open it up, well, there it is. Look at that. Quite a showy piece.

What can you tell me about it? Is it something you've inherited? Purchased?

Well, I did purchase it, but not how you think.

I bought an old pine tool chest full of old tools.

And in the bottom of there was

an old Oxo tin, and inside the Oxo tin... There we go.

-Don't tell me this was inside the...

-Yeah, that was inside.

And did you know it was there when you were bidding?

I didn't, no. I was after the box, the chest itself, cos I like wooden

-boxes.

-So this was literally a bonus in the bottom of the box?

-A good bonus.

-And how much did you pay for the box?

-£15!

-No! Get out!

-And where was this saleroom? You can tell me afterwards!

-I will do!

Quite a story. It's those sort of stories

that make the auction room so exciting.

That's why you've got to go to these places and view well.

Right, well, let's have a closer look at it, if I take it out of its nicely-fitted box.

We can see that it's fully diamond encrusted.

We've had a look at the size of the diamonds, and we've calculated that

there are roughly sort of 2.1 carats' worth of diamonds there in total.

Good-quality stones.

-They're old-brilliant cut, which is just the style of cut.

-Yeah.

And if I spin it over, with nice-quality

jewellery, you can tell a lot more sometimes by the back of a piece

than you can about the front.

These are the parts you're not meant to see, not show, but

the quality in the workmanship and the finish is top notch,

which would suggest to you that someone's taken a lot of care over this.

And here we've got the pin attachment.

And have you ever noticed that you can actually take this piece off?

Yeah, you can. I believe you could put it on a pendant or, like, a...

That's generally how they worked.

I'll see if I can take this off now.

There we go. So I've taken that off, and you can see you've got an area

there where you can either attach this perhaps to a pendant,

and occasionally they would attach to a bracelet.

So, very versatile. I'll pop that back on so we don't lose it.

Well, let's pop that back in its case safely.

The only other thing to say is that it's set in silver on gold.

Generally, they would set these diamonds in silver, because if they

set them in gold, it would tend to discolour the diamonds, because of the

yellow of the gold, and then that would just give a bit of a yellow

tint to the diamonds, when really people are after the brilliant white.

And I would suspect that this dates from that late 19th century.

1890, that sort of period.

So why did you want to sell it?

Well, it's not modern or, you know...

It doesn't really have any practicability.

Yeah. I mean, it's wearable. It is a wearable brooch.

Value-wise, I don't know if you've ever had it valued?

-I haven't, no.

-No, you didn't go back to the auction you bought it from?!

-I didn't dare!

They'd say, "We'll have that back, thank you!"

-Yes!

-I think a sensible estimate for it

at auction... I would like to see it in a catalogue at, let's say, £6-800.

How do you feel about that?

-Is that a figure you were thinking of?

-That will get us

-a painter and decorator in up the whole stairs and landing.

-Will it?

We're doing half the house already on that! Dane, it's been

great seeing it, and I think it could be one of the stars

of the show at the auction.

And I'll see you there. £6-800. We'll reserve it at £600.

We'll fix it at that, because

I don't think the auctioneer's going to need any discretion.

That's right, yeah. Good!

Before we head back to the saleroom, let's have another look

at all the items that are going under the hammer.

I know diamonds are a girl's best friend, but at £600-£800, they could be Dane's, too.

This is a delightful little lot.

A think Valerie's tea caddy could be the most elegant thing

in today's sale.

Royal Worcester is very collectable and although these two pieces aren't

the cream of the crop,

I hope bidders like them and someone shells out.

Brenda is selling the medals for a friend.

Fingers crossed they pass the finishing line

and she gets a cash prize.

Well, back at the auction, let's have a quick chat with auctioneer

Peter Cartwright and see what he's got to say about Adam's valuation of the tea caddy.

Here's a bit of quality. I love tortoiseshell tea caddies.

And this belongs to Valerie. She's selling this.

We've got a valuation put on by our experts of £500-£800. Fixed reserve at 500.

There is, as you can see, a little damage to one of the lids of the compartments.

That is a bit of a worry. Also, for me, it is a bit dull.

It doesn't have the usual tortoiseshell shine.

No. A little bit of oil, a bit of TLC and that just might brighten the thing up, make it sparkle.

It certainly needs it. For me, it needs brightening up.

There's a little bit of damage, but I would have been happier at 300-500.

Right, OK. So your top end is possibly our lower end, if we're five to eight.

Hopefully we can meet somewhere in the middle. But you never know, auctions are a funny thing.

-Funny business.

-This could still do £700.

We've got a diamond brooch. It belongs to Dane

and it was found in a tool chest that you bought for £15.

-That's right.

-Gosh. 2.1 carats.

-Good size.

-£600, £800 possibly.

Got to be worth that. I mean, if it doesn't sell, I'll be disappointed.

At £600-£800, it's worth all of that.

You walk down the high street and see what sort of equivalent they're

putting on these sort of things in the shop window and you can put a nought on the end.

-Had a chat to the auctioneer. He totally agreed with the valuation.

-Good.

I'm hoping for the top end.

What went through your mind when you found that?

Did you think, "It's costume jewellery," or something?

No, I wasn't really interested at first, cos I was more interested in the handles what was on top of it.

-Yeah. And then you saw it and you thought...

-It looked a bit dirty and cleaned it up and I thought,

-"Well, it's sparkling, so it's got to be something."

-Did you get it valued?

No, no, it's been in a cupboard.

So the first time you knew exactly how much it was worth was when you met Will at the valuation day?

-That's right, yes.

-Mm.

-That must have been a nice moment?

It was and it's come at the right time, cos we're doing up the house.

-Haemorrhages money, doesn't it?

-Yeah, it does.

-This is it.

We're going to find out exactly what this is worth.

This very good-quality, late-Victorian, diamond brooch

in the form of a Catherine wheel.

Interest in the lot. I'll open this up at £450.

At 450. 500. And 50. 600. In the room the bid.

-We're there.

-We need another bidder.

-650 now.

At £600, gentleman's bid. At £600. 650 surely now for this brooch.

At £600. Are we all done? At £600.

650. 700. At 650 beside me now.

At £650. Are we all done at £650?

£650! Phew, did it!

Yeah, we got it away for you.

-We've got the paint.

-Yeah, got the paint. I think you've got some wood,

-some screws, some nails. I think you've got quite a bit there...

-I've already got the tools.

Yeah, they're in the bottom of the box!

Well, if a cup of tea is your brew, you're gonna love this next lot.

It's a gorgeous, 19th-century tortoiseshell tea caddy belonging to Valerie. Not for much longer.

We've got £500-£800 valuation on this. Did you ever use it?

-No, actually I kept it in the wardrobe.

-Kept it in the wardrobe!

No wonder you're selling it, then. I'd be keeping this, wouldn't you?

-Yeah. It's amazing how many things do live in wardrobes.

-Yes.

-We often find people..."Where d'you keep it?"

-"In the wardrobe."

-And you look at it and think, "Oh, it's still there." One day I thought, "Well, no."

-As tea caddies go, it is the Rolls-Royce of tea caddies.

-Right.

Had a chat to the auctioneer just before the sale started.

He said it might struggle, but I said, "I don't think so."

-I don't believe that.

-No.

-I find they go very well.

-Well, I've got a reserve on it anyway.

-You have.

-You've got a £500 reserve.

-Yeah.

And it will make 720.

I'd like it to make a little bit more than that.

We're going to find out anyway. We can't do any more talking.

-It's down to this lot here in the room to find out what it makes. Good luck, Valerie.

-Thank you.

It's a Victorian tortoiseshell and ivory tea caddy

with original interior and lids.

Interest in the lot. I can start this away at £350.

At 350. 360 now for the caddy.

At 360. 370. 380. 390. 400.

And 10. 420. 430.

440. 450. 460. 470.

-Yes.

-480. 490.

500 in the room, the bid.

At £500. 510 now. At £500.

-Bit more.

-Gentleman's bid then at £500.

Are we all done at £500?

Hammer's gone down. 500.

On reserve. One bidder.

-There was no-one here to push, was there?

-No.

If we had someone else bidding against it, we may have got another £100 or so.

-Sorry if I got your hopes up - I thought it might have better.

-You were right. You said five to eight.

I'm quite happy with that.

I'm sharing it between my four granddaughters,

because they're quite expensive young ladies.

And I guess it would have been their inheritance in a way.

-Well, it would.

-You can't split it up, so it's best to sell it.

Well, that's what I thought, you know.

They said, "Are we going to get the money in our hands?"

I said, "No, it's going in your bank accounts."

Now, this is a cracking lot. Eve's Royal Worcester vase. ..Why are you selling this?

It's just behind glass, and grandchildren are running about.

I think this is a keeper.

Yeah, and as well as the vase, we've got the nice shell-moulded dish as well, which in my mind I think

is more commercial than the vase, so fingers crossed.

-We're looking at £150.

-Well, for two pieces...

-That's not bad.

-Royal Worcester, good name like you say.

-Yeah. Quality always sells.

Everyone's after it, except for you.

-You're flogging it. Why?

-Well, it's just that the children won't want it, so...

You've got it behind glass. It's protected.

Most of our owners say they're selling it because it's in the wardrobe.

I've got that much in the cabinet, you can't see what's in it.

-You're thinning out.

-Thinning out, yes.

-Thinning out.

Thinning out the collection.

-Sell the best you don't like to buy pieces you do.

-That's it.

-Is that what you're going to do?

-Yes.

Good luck. This is it.

Shell-shaped dish with a floral decoration with a jug.

Two in the lot.

Open this up at £110 for the two.

At 110. 120 there.

At 120. 130. 140 at the back.

At 140. 150 now for the two pieces.

-At £140. Gentleman's bid then at £140 for the two.

-He's selling it.

Are we all done at £140?

-Hammer's gone down!

-Sold at 140.

-Yes.

-A bit of discretion on the reserve.

-We'll settle for that.

-Yeah, that's fine.

-That gets you on your way.

-Yes.

-Pleased with that?

-Yes.

Bit of commission to pay, but everyone has to pay that.

That's how the auction earns their money and pays the wages.

-Happy shopping! Yes.

-Well done.

We're just about to do our very own battle in the saleroom right now.

We've got Brenda's First World War medals with a value of £200-£300.

-You're selling it for your friend.

-I am, yes.

-We need to get top money, so you can go home with some good news.

-Hope so.

-Hard thing to value.

-We had a medal specialist on the valuation, though.

-Oh, did we?

-That was fortuitous.

-I'm giving away my secrets. So I'm quite confident that they'll sell.

Sometimes it's down to the officer, the campaign, if there's a bit of history behind it.

Yeah. Morbidly, it can be when they died,

if they were killed in action. I remember selling some Gallipoli medals years ago.

They made thousands of pounds.

-Gosh.

-Yes, that would be nice.

-It would be nice, wouldn't it?

-I don't think that's going to happen here.

-I'll be happy with hundreds.

A few hundred would be nice, wouldn't it?

-Yes.

-Well, we're going to find out right now, because this is it.

An interesting collection of World War I medals,

including a band of three awarded to J Stott.

And I can open these up at £240.

-Straight in! Come on.

-280. 300.

And 20. 340.

£320 with me, the bid. At 340.

-360...

-Oh!

It's a good feeling. It's a good feeling when it keeps going up.

At £390 in the room now. At £390.

400 now. Are we all done at £390?

-Yes! £390.

-Wow, that's brilliant.

-It's good.

-Oh, go home with that good news.

-Yes, I will.

Well, how about that? Another great show.

As you can see, the auction is still going on, but it's all over for our owners.

They've gone home happy, wondering what to spend their money on.

The highlight for me had to be the First World War postcards.

They are so collectable right now, fetching top money.

If you've got anything like that at home, we would love to see you at one of valuation days.

Check the details in your local press, because we're coming to your area very soon.

So until then, from Darlington, cheerio.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd