Northampton Flog It!

Edward William Godwin was a Victorian dandy, and at the age of 27, he was let loose on this.

Today, we're going gothic, at the Guildhall in Northampton.

Welcome to Flog It!

Not one to hide his light under a bushel,

Edward unleashed his young talents on the magnificent Guildhall.

The Victorian facade is inspired by medieval architecture,

and it is absolutely breathtaking!

Just look at the wonderful spiralling turrets,

the tiny little statues, the gothic arched windows.

It really is a wonderful achievement for such a young man.

Godwin was a flamboyant character,

who mixed in rather colourful circles.

Writer and wit Oscar Wilde, and James Whistler, the painter,

were amongst his friends,

and he caused a real scandal when he had an affair with

the famous actress Ellen Terry, fathering two illegitimate children.

But today, we're here to value antiques with our very own Whistler and Wilde,

experts Mark Stacey and James Lewis.

-I'm glad I'm Wilde!

-I bet you are!

-Cos some of us are in the gutter but we're looking at the stars!

Isn't he... What a poet!

-Genius!

-Genius!

Everyone is pleased to get out of the rain and into the shelter of Godwin's splendid hall.

James is first at the table, so let's see what he's found.

Glenys, there are a few things over the last few years

that have been a great investment.

One has been postcards, another's been coins,

and militaria, in general, has been a good investment.

So you've got two linked to one here,

because we've got militaria and we've got postcards.

These are wonderful. They're known as silks, and these were

sent back by the troops in the First World War to their loved ones and parents at home.

How did you come to have them?

They were my grandmother's. She collected them for years, I gather.

Everybody that knew her collected them, sent them back, posted them,

and when she died, we found the collection in an old shoe box.

Right. Well, they're interesting. We've got varying designs -

floral ones, ones with little flags on, and some more unusual ones.

We've got the Machine Gun Corps there.

And that's a nice one - 1918.

Of course, 1918 was a happy New Year

because it was the year the war ended. What else have we got in here?

We've got the military theme continuing here.

Logically enough, being in Northampton...

-The Northamptonshire Regiment.

-Absolutely.

Ah. The town hall, Northampton.

Yeah. Where we are now.

From what we've already said, they're family cards.

How did you come to have them?

It was just in the house, tucked away in an old shoe box.

Opened it up, and there they were.

I think shoe boxes were made to carry postcards.

I think you'll be amazed about how many people have shoe boxes

full of postcards at home!

And the fun was sorting through them, looking at them,

reading the messages on the back.

-Working out who was who.

-Yeah, trying to!

And you can actually uncover secret love affairs as well

with all these postcards!

Oh, so that was what was going on with Granny!

It's amazing when you think you've seen elderly people

and you always think of them as Granny,

but when you see love poems and things that were being written

-80 years ago, it's quite emotive and it brings things home to you.

-Yeah.

OK. You've obviously brought them here for a reason.

We've got the postcards, and little lace hankies as well.

They all link in. Silk hankies. We've got this, too.

It's inscribed, "The Territorial Force Association.

"County of Northampton,"

again, which is good.

Local history. "The Great War". That's what they called it.

And, of course, that would have been given

along with maybe a commemorative medal or something like that.

So not a lot of value there, but as a package,

I think we've got somewhere between £200 and £300 worth there.

-Lovely.

-All right?

-Yeah, smashing.

Are you selling them for a reason?

Because if they've been in the family a while,

-there's going to be a reason for selling.

-I am.

Go on then, tell me.

My niece emigrated to Australia 20-odd years ago.

She has always said, "I want you to come and see me."

-Yeah.

-This year she came over and she said, "You've not kept your promise yet, when are you coming?"

So my eldest daughter then said, "Mum, I'll pay your air fare, you get your spending money."

-So this is what it's for.

-Have a wonderful time.

-I will.

-Fingers crossed we'll have a wonderful time at the auction first.

-Otherwise you'll not be having a wonderful time!

-I know!

Trudy, I'm armed with my art index guide.

So tell me about your watercolour.

It belonged to my great great uncle.

-It was my great grandfather's brother, so I think that's right.

-OK.

It was always hanging up in his house, and when he died, it was just one of the things that came to me.

-A family heirloom?

-Yeah.

-A sunny cornfield.

It is absolutely beautiful.

My great grandad, he worked in the farm,

and my mum said, this is what Great Grandad would have done.

-So it reminds me of him as well.

-And have you enjoyed looking at it?

I have, yes. Yeah.

-It does look like a sunny picture.

-Let's take a closer look.

Let's take it off its little easel...and have a look.

That's an accomplished hand. Look at the figures, and the women there,

helping bundle up.

These chaps are having a picnic and rest halfway through the day.

Sussex, more than likely, with a red tile roof.

Oh, it's beautiful. It's a proper harvest scene, isn't it?

And it's signed here, look.

"Henry J Kinnard".

And if you look up here, in this book,

of relative works that he would have sold before, if they'd gone through auction, it would all be in here.

I've taken the liberty of finding it, and there it is, look,

It's Henry J Kinnard. Flourishing between 1880 and 1908.

British born, and looking at his folio of works

that have sold through auction, they're all watercolour on paper,

-and they're all painted around the Sussex area.

-Oh.

So that's quite nice,

because that's what we've got, a Sussex cornfield.

And that sold in auction for £800.

-Blimey! I'm surprised!

-Has that surprised you?

-It has, yeah.

-Yes.

-He's a sought-after artist.

-Really?

-Yeah. He really is.

There's a little bit of foxing.

-Yeah, yeah.

-That's going to hold it back a bit.

-Yeah.

Needs a little bit of conservation,

but it just needs that foxing to be stopped dead in its tracks.

I'm surprised you want to sell this, Trudy.

It's on the wall, you're enjoying it, why not carry on for a few more years?

Well...maybe I will!

THEY LAUGH

No, you can't, this is Flog It! You've come here to flog it!

-No, seriously, I'm not going to twist your arm.

-I know. No.

I just think... I do like it.

Erm...

But it's not my favourite picture.

And the money would come in useful?

-Yes, the money would come in handy.

-It would be nice to get £400 or £500 for this.

-It would.

It would, yeah.

-Would you like to put it in to auction?

-Yes, OK.

-Are you sure?

-I'm sure.

-Let's put it into auction, with a value of £300 to £500.

-OK. I definitely want a reserve on it, though.

-Of 300?

-300, yeah.

I think 300's fine.

All right, then. Yeah, OK, let's see what happens on the day.

Thank you for bringing it in. It's charming.

Sandra, imagine you're in late 19th-century Paris

in one of those wonderful big townhouses that you would find,

and you walk into your living room, this is the sort of thing you'd find on the fireplace.

These are French, these are 1870, and I think they're fantastic.

Really good quality.

-Did you find them in France?

-I did not find them in France.

I found them in Northampton at an antiques and craft fair,

and two things attracted me - the design on them, which I thought was lovely,

and I'm curious about them, I've never seen anything like this.

There was a great fashion in the late 19th century for opalescent glass, glass that's slightly opaque,

slightly different colour, and it came in browns, beigey colour like this, blues, greens, pinks -

every colour you could imagine, and a lot of these pieces

were made plain and they were then farmed out to cottage industries,

where people would paint them and then sell them on.

Whereas these are a far more classy type of vase.

These are factory-produced,

decorate by a professional artist, and almost certainly French.

And the shape is wonderful.

They're hand-gilded, great scrolling feet on there.

And the aesthetic movement was inspired by the Japanese,

and, of course, the Japanese in the 19th century -

we didn't have trade links with Japan, and Commodore Perry, an American commodore,

went over to Edo, or Tokyo,

and signed what we now call the Treaty of Edo.

That allowed trade links to start again between the West and Japan.

The first time a lot of people, mainly in the big cities,

saw anything to do with Japan, were the big exhibitions.

Imagine you go into this great big hall and you see Japanese stuff for the first time.

Absolutely fascinating, and that's what this is.

Were these sold as a pair or were they bought separately?

Vases generally were sold as a pair, just like candlesticks.

Occasionally you would get a very large individual piece

but when they were like this they were sold as a pair and worth more as a pair as well.

-Right.

-Obviously you love them, you love the colour. It matches your jumper.

-Thank you.

So why sell them?

I'm selling them because my central heating's broke down.

-Oh, no!

-I want to replace it, so I need some money.

And I can't display them anywhere. I'd rather someone enjoyed them.

We need to raise a bit of money for a full central heating system. I don't think we'll get there.

I'm nearly there.

-Just need a top-up?

-Yes.

-OK.

I reckon they are going to make £70 to £100.

Is that top-up going to be enough? Not quite, probably.

Well, yeah.

Lovely. Let's take them along.

-Let them go under the hammer and see how we do.

-All right. Thank you very much.

-Hello, Sandra.

-Hello.

-Hello, June.

-Hello.

-Very nice to see you.

You've brought an interesting autograph album along today

with lots of stars of screen and theatre in there.

But one in particular caught our attention and I'm going to show that now.

The wonderful Stan Laurel, from Laurel and Hardy.

-Yes.

-Fantastic. How did you happen to get it?

It's my gran's autograph book which my mother gave me a few years ago.

She used to work in a restaurant in London.

-Really?

-That's how she's got all those autographs.

-Wonderful.

We've also got in here some wonderful photographs.

-Gracie Fields, of course.

-Yes.

And here we've got two unique photographs of Stan tucking into a nice plate of roast dinner.

And tell me, June, did your mother cook this food?

My mother would have cooked that food and that is in the restaurant

-that she was the chef at in Piccadilly in London.

-Fantastic.

That was when? Some time ago.

-Just after the war.

-He looks as though he's thoroughly enjoying it.

Your mum must have had a fascinating time in that restaurant.

I think so. She had some very interesting customers

and I did go to the restaurant several times.

I used to go and sit in the kitchen and watch her cook.

She obviously specialised in good, old-fashioned British lunches.

Yes, she was a very good cook. A lady chef.

These are really unique and for a collector, of course,

of Laurel and Hardy memorabilia, to be able to get a photograph

which nobody else has seen, I guess, before,

-would be quite an important acquisition to their collection of memorabilia.

-Yes.

We have more modern TV personalities.

We all remember the British actors of the '70s and '80s.

A very young Jim Davidson there, and John Craven, of course, my favourite on Newsround.

Then of course more film stars here.

Wonderful. It goes right up to the present day.

We've got Paul Martin.

-And I've got his autograph.

-Yes, but this is the rarer one, it's unsigned!

Now we've got to think of a value on these things.

I think we're probably looking at something like £100 to £150.

We'll sell them together because they belong together, really.

Maybe putting a reserve of 80 so we don't sell them for nothing.

But if two or three collectors are warned through the internet that things like that these are coming up,

-I suspect there will be quite a lot of interest.

-Mm.

-Having said that, it will probably buy you lunch for two today, won't it?

-Yeah.

Not as good as your mum's, I bet.

Wonderful. I look forward to seeing you at the auction.

I hope this isn't another fine mess you've got us into.

MUSIC: LAUREL AND HARDY THEME

James was excited by Glenys' wonderful collection

of wartime silks and postcards, so we'll meet again at the auction.

I hope Trudi reaps the reward of a family heirloom,

the delicate watercolour of a harvest scene by Henry J Kinnard.

Sandra needs to fix her central heating,

so we need to catch the bidders' eye with these Japanese fish vases.

And another album, but this time full of autographs and photos of the stars.

Let's hope the room isn't silent when these are in the spotlight.

We've just crossed over the border into Leicestershire for today's sale

in the heart of Market Harborough where we find Gilding's Ltd.

On the rostrum today's auctioneer is Mark Gilding.

Let's go inside and find him.

45, you're out. 48, 50.

Glenys, let's see if we can get you to Australia, shall we?

A lot riding on this, with all those silk cards.

There's a lot of them and if you break it down to £2 or £3 a card, that's where our valuation is.

I totally agree with you, James. £200 to £300.

Let's hope we're in for more of a surprise.

-Let's hope so.

-Let's do it.

170, a collection of World War I silk postcards, a handkerchief,

and a Northampton Territorial Force certificate, framed. Lot 170.

A low start here, £110 I'm bid.

At 110 for these. 110, 120, 130?

140, 150. 160, 170.

180, 190. £200 bid.

-Hooray!

-Right, we're in.

220. 230.

240. 250.

-Come on.

-Yes!

270.

-290, £300.

-We're going to do it.

320 do I see? 320 back in.

330. 330. At 330 he's out.

At 330. Selling at £330.

We're going to take that. That's sold at £330.

-Brilliant, thank you so much.

-That'll get you over there.

I've got the ticket, I just need my spending money.

A few dollars there.

-A few dollars indeed.

-Beauty, mate!

Sandra and June, it's good to see you.

Grandma's autograph book is just about to go under the hammer.

Made all the rarer and hopefully the value's gone up with that one signature of you know who.

You never know!

More importantly, it's the Stan Laurel pieces.

-Yes.

-That lovely photograph of him tucking into the traditional Sunday lunch

-that of course your mother cooked for him.

-Let's flog it, shall we?

-Yes.

An autograph book containing various signatures including Stan Laurel

and a photograph album, some signed.

Commission bids start me here at £100.

Oh, straight in at 100.

100 I'm bid. All out at £100? 100. I'll take 10 if you like.

Commissions in at £100. It will be sold, make no mistake.

£100 on commission.

Selling away at £100.

That was quick, wasn't it? Blink and you miss it.

But it has gone.

-That's the main thing.

-Yes.

-What are you doing with the money?

I'm going to buy a set of nice saucepans.

Are you? Something for the kitchen!

-Yes.

-Good for you. I've never heard that before.

It's kind of in the theme

because you sold the kitchen photographs,

and this is something to replace them. Very good.

We've got the Kinnard. It's a lovely watercolour. £300 to £500.

I had a chat with the auctioneer earlier and he agreed with the valuation, so we're spot on.

At least we've got a fixed reserve - if it doesn't sell it's going home.

-I'm happy to take it home.

-Are you having second thoughts?

-No, I'm happy either way.

I won't be disappointed.

We're going to find out what it's worth right now.

335. A Henry John Kinnard. A sunny cornfield watercolour.

Signed and titled. Nice watercolour, this.

-Come on.

-Bids start with me at £210.

210 I'm bid. 220, 230, 240, 250, 270,

-280, 290.

-We're going to sell it now.

£300.

In the room at £300. It will be sold.

At £300.

Well, it went. We said three to five, it was within estimate.

-That's good.

-Isn't it? Where's the £300 going?

I've got some sash windows that badly need repairing so it might go towards that.

Rattling away and rotting away.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

-Thank you for bringing such a quality piece in as well.

-Thanks.

Right, Sandra, two glass vases just about to go under the hammer.

£70 to £100 we've got the valuation on.

I know you've got a very keen eye and you love car booting and all the fairs.

Yes, and I love auctions.

Has anything caught your eye here today?

-Yes.

-Come on, whisper in my ear!

Behind you, that picture.

-Right. Are you going to have a bid?

-No.

-Why not?

-I've got to take it home.

I have to walk and go by bus.

-Do you?

-Yes. I just like looking at stuff at the moment.

I think you could be in for a nice surprise with these vases.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

65 is a pair of opaque glass vases in tapering form

on gilt scrolled feet.

Enamel decoration of carp. I start with commission bids here.

£70 I'm bid.

Straight in at 70.

Five, 80. Five, 90.

Five, 100. 110, 120.

-Are these my vases?

-Yes, listen!

160, 170, 180, 190, 200.

£200 here, then, at £200.

210 I'm looking for. Look around.

£200. Selling away at £200.

Yes. That's a good sound, isn't it?

That hammer going down. £200.

-I'll have to go back to Norfolk.

-I think you will, do you know that?

You have got a cracking good eye.

I'm surprised at that. It's really good.

They're quality, aren't they? And the condition was bang on.

I'm going back to Norfolk.

It's all up there in Norfolk.

Nestling next to a village church in the rolling countryside of Northamptonshire

we find Lamport Hall, a modest stately home

containing many treasures, all with their stories to tell.

It was the home of the Isham family for over 400 years

and we pick up the tale with Sir Justinian, the second baronet.

A highly educated and cultured gentleman.

Also a very happy chap back in 1656,

because at the age of 47 he fathered his first son, christened Thomas.

Little did he know that Thomas was to turn into a tearaway, with a taste for the finer things in life.

George Drye is here to tell us more about the extravagant life of the third baronet of Lamport.

Am I right in thinking Thomas was the apple of his father's eye?

Traditionally that's the theory, but more researching Thomas,

we wonder whether actually his dad knew that

he had a naughty boy on his hands and wanted to keep him within sight.

But that said, he certainly took the trouble to make sure Thomas was educated thoroughly.

He wasn't going to be the son of the squire who just knew how to hunt and fish, although he did.

And indeed when Thomas was a young boy, he bribed him by paying him

six shillings a year to keep his diary in Latin.

-Right, OK.

-He trained him to be quite a sophisticated young man.

So he's obviously a clever chap. He got into university.

What happened then? When did he inherit all this money?

He inherited it surprisingly early in his university career.

His dad took him down to Oxford, dropped him off at Christ College, Oxford,

went off to a local inn and promptly died.

That's really sad.

He was the baronet on his first day at Oxford, extremely wealthy.

His first job was to take his dad's coffin and put it back here.

Worth remembering that Thomas at 18 was in charge of all the family finance,

that's how it worked in those days.

Gosh. Did he ever go back to Oxford?

Yes, he went back. He didn't have a glittering career.

He didn't like Oxford very much. They made him work.

I'm not sure that was much to Thomas' liking.

So, like a lot of students, Thomas decided to go on a 17th-century gap year,

which was then called the Grand Tour,

taking in everywhere from Paris to Rome.

The 20-year-old, armed with his father's fortune,

quickly gained a reputation as one of the first international playboys.

If he was sort of a wild character here, back in England,

what must he have been like in Paris and Florence and places like that?

-I know.

-Uncontrollable.

Well, that's a question of opinion.

He certainly had a mistress out there and she's over there, actually, on the painting you see.

Thomas is holding a miniature and that's Gabriella, Gabriella Boncompagni.

He burned all the candles at every end.

You know, any kid on a gap year now with have lots of money to spend would just go wild.

He got through 1.3 million on his gap year.

Oh, gosh!

Not cheap.

That's an awful lot of money.

How many of us if we spent that money would still find that what we bought was being discussed 350 years later?

It's a lot of money. I'd love to go and see, George, what he spent it on. Can we go?

I'd love to show you.

These are some of Thomas' paintings.

Some Salvatore Rosas.

And these are Thomas' on the stairs as well,

-all the way up the stairs as you can see, all brought back by Thomas.

-He did have a good eye, didn't he?

Do you think? Your eye is probably better than mine for these things, in fact.

Young Thomas was having a whale of a time and his trip turned into a three-year shopping spree,

in spite of a constant flow of letters from Lamport pleading for his return home.

Instead of Thomas coming home, box after box full of artworks arrived.

Oh, gosh, George, look at these. You didn't tell me about these.

-No, I didn't.

-Fine art meets furniture.

My word, that's all painted on glass panel, isn't it?

Yes, in reverse. They're an acquired taste to the English eye.

Yes, they are. That's typically continental.

What must the family have thought when this arrived? They must have thought he'd gone bonkers.

Don't forget, of course, his poor brothers and sisters were here.

His sister depended upon him for her dowry, which he wasn't providing for her,

so she wasn't going to get married in a hurry. Money was going out.

He was getting into debt and these things were coming to the hall, so it must have been fairly tense!

I'd have thought so. What happened? What happened once he got back?

Well, he finally agreed to come back, in part because his favourite sister had died

and his little brother was losing his cool about the whole thing.

Thomas finally pitched up, in debt,

in desperate need of money,

so the family agreed that he had to be married to a rich heiress.

But unfortunately, his reputation by that stage had got ahead of him

and there were two or three girls who took one look,

-or, probably the parents, said not on your life.

-Party animal!

Yeah. But in the end they found a very wealthy girl, who was apparently quite pretty, too.

She was the daughter of a Dutch merchant in London

and obviously she'd get the title and her children would become the Baronet

and her dad would settle all of Thomas' debts

and then supply also an extensive dowry on top of that.

All was set up, all agreed,

and then sadly, on the eve of his wedding day, Thomas died.

Oh!

-What age was he?

-24.

-What did he die of?

-Well, they all died of smallpox.

It was a sort of cancer of the 17th century, really.

When it wasn't plague in the southern parts of Europe, smallpox killed them.

What happened to the estate?

Well, the estate was handed on, went to his younger brother.

But obviously he had no financial help because the marriage didn't take place.

No. The younger brother had to do the best he could.

-Yet nothing's really mentioned about him.

-No. We have a portrait of him.

He's tucked in the corner of the drawing room where nobody ever sees him.

20-odd years ago when I came here, this house was pretty derelict

and we spent all that time putting it back together again, getting the contents restored.

My heart goes out to Justinian, the younger brother, for stitching it all back together again,

-but everybody really fancies Thomas.

-George, thank you so much for showing me around.

It's well worth a visit, coming here. There's so much to see.

-I'm going to now take another look.

-OK.

Back to the valuation day, where Mark has met someone familiar.

-Hello, Anita.

-Hello.

-Or should I say Joan Rivers?

Because we've all commented on it, you do look like Joan Rivers.

-You're not a relation, are you?

-No, I don't tell rude jokes!

Oh, good, neither do I.

Now, moving on to something much more important,

this lovely little butter boat, or cream jug.

-Where did you get it from?

-I got it from a table top for 20p.

Now, tell us, what's a table top, like a jumble sale?

-It's a bit upmarket to a jumble sale.

-Right.

-This was here in Northampton?

-Yes, yes.

-For 20p?

-Yes.

When was that?

It was about a year ago.

-And can we have the address of the next one?

-No!

-You're keeping it a secret, aren't you?

-Yes!

Well, did you have any idea what you were buying?

-I thought it was very pretty.

-The shape and the flowers.

Yes, the shape. I'd never seen anything like it before.

I thought it's really pretty, so I bought it, because I like pretty things.

-I collect different things.

-It's a lovely object. I want to tell you about it.

-It's 18th century.

-Really, that old?

Yeah. It's over 200 years old.

-I'm amazed.

-It's a wonderful little thing.

It's a little butter boat, for melted butter or a little cream jug, something like that.

It's wonderfully modelled, as a leaf, with these lovely little sprays and sprigs of flowers on it

and this lovely body, moulded with the leaves.

It's got a little bit of a firing fault there, but that's absolutely fine.

Minute damage on it, incredible.

I'd love to be able to tell you the factory but I've been racking my brains

and I've been asking colleagues here.

There's so many different possibilities.

I don't think it's Worcester, but it could be Lowestoft, it could be any number of the Liverpool factories.

It could be any number of Staffordshire factories.

What I've done is taken some digital photographs of it,

and I'll have a word with a few colleagues when I get home

and whatever we find out we'll put it in their catalogue description, and maybe boost it up a bit.

Now, from 20p, how much do you think it's worth?

-No idea.

-£20, £50?

Possibly. Possibly.

I think you're going to be quite pleased, actually, because I think we should put it in at £200 to £300.

-£200 to £300?

-Yes.

-Really?

-200 to 300.

-I don't believe that.

We'll put a reserve on it.

-Yes.

-Maybe £150.

-Really?!

I don't know, if two collectors want it... It's in such lovely condition, I'd love it at home.

It's in such lovely condition it could really fly.

-It's a lovely little object.

-Thank you very much.

-What a very good eye you've got.

-Yes, I have, actually.

Chris, if there was an award for bringing the heaviest thing ever to Flog It, I think you'd have won it.

These are incredibly heavy, aren't they? You can hardly lift them.

The first thing to say is they're clearly cast in solid bronze

and they're plaques of Gladstone and Victoria and are they family pieces?

They look as if they've been somewhere dirty.

They were found in my grandfather's garage.

-Really?

-18 months ago.

No idea at all of family history?

-No.

-How long they've been there, why they were there?

-No.

Well, they clearly have a value.

I know this sounds really crude but I think the first thing we need to do is actually weigh them

and make sure we don't sell them at less than scrap value, but these are too good for that.

They really are.

They've survived for 120 years and I'd like to see them survive another 120.

They're marked on the back. I'm sure you've seen it there.

It says, "Cast by D Smith, 28 Clerkenwell Close, London."

The only thing I can suggest is that having looked on the internet and finding no D Smith at all,

and no trace of a caster,

what I believe these are are probably a commission

to be made as special individual objects,

which is why we have no trace of them.

-You bought them along so you obviously want to sell them.

-Yes.

-Any idea of value?

-None at all.

When it comes to market value,

-they aren't the easiest things to place.

-No.

Who would want a solid bronze plaque of Queen Victoria

that would actually probably cause incredible damage

to any piece of furniture it was put on and wouldn't be able to be hung on a wall, either?

-No.

-Gladstone is probably a little bit easier to sell

because of course there's the political history with Gladstone.

He was one of the most popular prime ministers of the 19th century

and actually was Prime Minister for four terms,

starting in 1868 and eventually out of office in 1894.

And this plaque is dated 1888 on the back there, as I'm sure you've seen.

I reckon we ought to put an estimate of £120 to £160 on them

and if they don't make that, then you might as well keep them.

-Yes.

-They've got to be worth that for scrap.

-That's right, yeah.

-Yeah? How do you feel?

-That's fine, yes.

-Brilliant.

-Hello, John.

-Hello there.

You've brought this long-case clock.

Can you give us a little bit of the history?

Well, I got it about just under 30 years ago,

when I was rather enthusiastic about clocks

-and one of my ambitions was to have a long-case clock.

-Yes.

I saw this in a local furniture shop and decided to buy it.

Can you remember what you paid for it all those years ago?

-Quite a lot of money, actually.

-Oh, really?

-Yes, yes, for the time.

-For the time, yes.

Well, obviously retail prices are retail prices, aren't they? But you've chosen a nice clock.

-It's a very simple clock, a typical weight-driven eight-day long-case clock.

-Yes.

It has the nice maker's mark up there, Richard Smith, Newport,

-which we settled on Newport, Isle of Wight, I think.

-That's right.

The circular dial with Roman numerals, the seconds dial

and then the little date aperture

and it's a standard inside, a standard weight-driven.

Yes, eight-day.

Eight-day, which is good, rather than 30-hour.

So over 30 years, you've obviously acquired some more long-case clocks.

I've got a lantern clock, which is actually a Victorian reproduction...

Of a 17th century one.

Yes, that's quite a small clock, but it fits in with what I've got.

We've done some changes to our house which means this clock no longer fits in anywhere.

-Where has it been living?

-It's been living in a bedroom.

-Not your bedroom?

-Not the bedroom I sleep in, no.

Because the ticking would keep you awake all night.

I had one in the hallway once and even that, in the dead of night, you could hear the ticking,

and of course we had to turn the bonging off because you'd be up all night with it.

If you look at the case itself, we've got this nice domed hood here,

this nice simple trunk, an outswept base with a plinth foot on it.

All in all, a nice country piece.

The case is in oak, of course.

Quite a nice colour to it.

When it comes to valuing something like this, the maker is known but isn't a major maker.

It's a nice case but it's not walnut,

it's not mahogany, it's not got any inlay in it,

so it's a typical country clock and the market is realistic at the moment.

-Yes.

-Whereas retail I suppose you'd pay upwards of £1,000, £1,200 or so,

at auction I think we're looking nearer £400 to £600 with a 400 reserve.

I would hope, mind you, it'll go towards the top estimate,

and if we're lucky we might get a bit more for it,

because it is, it's not too big, either.

It's got a nice proportion to it.

-Yes.

-Are you happy to put it in?

-Yes, yes, that will be fine.

-Wonderful.

Will it go towards another long-case clock or something different?

Maybe something different, a different sort of clock.

-Oh, right, OK. Keeping your options open?

-Yes, yes, yes.

Time will tell, as they say.

-I look forward to seeing you at the auction and let's hope it chimes up a huge success.

-Thank you very much.

Well, let's take another quick look at what our experts have found to take to Market Harborough.

Only 20p for an upmarket table-top sale.

Let's hope that Anita's blue and white butter boat

is the creme de la creme in the sale room.

The money is on these bronze plaques winning gold

and not turning out to be a dead weight.

And it's time for the long-case clock to face the bidders.

Let's hope all hands are raised before the hammer strikes.

Next up, John's long-case clock and I've been looking forward to this. I love my clocks.

This is a good eight-day clock, 18th century, country oak clock

and the movement's good, it's got a really nice bell to it.

Yes. Well, I like long-case clocks.

These days you switch them off because they wake you up in the middle of the night.

Oh, I leave them on. I leave them on.

You get used to it after a while, you don't notice it.

It's quite therapeutic, tick tock.

And you can wake up dead on the hour.

-Yes.

-8 o'clock, 7 o'clock in the morning.

If the clock is well balanced, it sounds beautiful.

There's something very traditional about a long-case clock in the home.

Right, well, we've got a value of £400 to £600.

-Yes, we have.

-I'd like to see it do the top end.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

-Under the hammer.

430 is a longcase clock, the dial sign Richard Smith of Newport,

and bids start with me.

I have to start at £330.

330, at 330?

340, 350, 360, 370, 380, 390.

£400 bid, at 400.

-We've got 400.

-Yeah.

-£400, 420.

440.

This is better.

440, 460, 480,

500, 520,

540, 540 in the room, at 540,

560 now, 560 on the telephone.

-This might find its way back to the Isle of Wight.

-580.

£600 now, £600.

All out in the room, 600, selling at £600.

Yes! The hammer's gone down. £600.

Top end of the estimate.

-That's good.

-It's very good. Happy?

Yes, yes, yes.

Christopher, it's going to be interesting to see

what the bidders think of these two bronze plaques.

They're going under the hammer right now.

We had a chat to the auctioneer earlier. Let me bring James in.

We agreed with your valuation, it's going to do around about that

but what do you do with them?

Do you melt them down, put them in the garden as a bit of garden art?

It's a shame to melt them down, isn't it?

But I have to say there's such weight in them, it's possible.

People are buying copper kettles and things now and scrapping them.

Yeah. Will the new buyer buy them and put them back in the garage?

That's where they end up, in the garden shed again, isn't it?

So these were Grandad's.

-That's right, yes.

-What did your father think of them?

He doesn't think a great deal of them.

That's why he put them in the garage.

I don't blame you for getting them out because they do need a new home,

so hopefully they'll find one and they won't get melted down.

They're going under the hammer.

140 is a Victorian cast bronze portrait plaque of Gladstone,

marked cast by D Smith and a similar portrait plaque of Queen Victoria.

Bids here £55, 55 bid, 65, 75, £80 in the room,

at £80 at the back, at £80, 85, 90, 95, 100.

That's OK.

Your turn, 110, 110, at 110, 120, if you like it.

110, 110, selling at £110.

Yes, the hammer's gone down. £110.

We were thinking along the lines at the lower end, £40 per plaque,

we'll get them away, so 110 is a bonus.

Good for you! You found them, hopefully all the money's going to you and not Dad, then?

No, it's going to my children.

Oh, great!

How do you turn 20p into £200?

Well, just watch this, because Anita here has just brought along

that lovely little Bow cream jug, we've got £200 to £300 on it.

You bought it for 20p!

-Amazing, isn't it?

-I've never had bargains like that.

-Have you?

-No, I haven't. I normally spend £200 and it's worth 20p!

THEY LAUGH

I tried to be fair and double our money and offer her 40p for it but she wouldn't take it!

Have you had any other good finds like that?

-Not really.

-No.

No. Because I collect things.

-A bit of a one-off, is it?

-Yes, really, yes.

Let's see what we can do for you, shall we? 20p into 200, here we go.

185 is an 18th-century porcelain leaf moulded butter boat,

plain leaf handle, unmarked but possibly Bow.

I have to start on commission here at £120. 120, I'm bid here at 120.

-120, 120...

-Come on.

-120, 130, 140 now, at £140, 140 bid,

150, 160, 170 on the telephone, 180, new bidder.

-At 180, 190 now. £200.

-Yes.

-At 200.

-210.

-It's going on a bit!

220, at 220 now, at 220, 230, at 230 on the telephone.

Don't you love auctions?

The telephone wins, £230, all out in the room, selling at £230.

Yes, made estimate, that's good.

-That's excellent, really.

-£230 towards the holiday, Anita.

What place springs to mind?

-Egypt, maybe?

-Egypt.

I haven't decided, really.

That's half the fun, isn't it, looking through the brochures?

Well, that's it.

It's all over, sadly. We've come to the end of the show and the auction is just about to end.

We've had a fantastic day here so join me next time on Flog It! for many more surprises.

Until the next time, it's cheerio.

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