Sunderland Flog It!

Today I'm in the Northeast, in a city celebrated for its shipbuilding,

coal mining and glass making heritage and it's also very proud about its footballing history.

Welcome to Flog It! from Sunderland.

We're at the Stadium Of Light, home to the mighty Sunderland Football Club, also known as the Black Cats.

This magnificent stadium is situated on the banks of the River Wear

and it first opened its doors in 1997.

It's the seventh home ground the club have had

and come match day, there's room for a whopping 49,000 fans.

And by the look of the queue, we've got a pretty good turn-out on our hands this morning.

Battling it out here at the stadium are experts Anita Manning and Adam Partridge,

looking for the best items, but remember,

it's all about the final score and we won't know that until the auction...

when we might be up for a few surprising results from our star players.

Basically, an 1881 Doulton Lambeth jardiniere or planter.

Let's hope Clarice does the business one more time. Please, one more time!

-You can just about see the R Lalique, France...

-I've never noticed that.

And it looks like Anita is going to kick off with an early star of the BBC's.

Kath, welcome to Flog It!

and thank you for bringing along good old Muffin the Mule.

Tell me, where did you get him?

Well, I bought him in the 1970s from a jumble sale.

He only cost me a few pence, but I love him!

What drew you to him?

I remember him,

you know, in the 1950s when I was a little girl,

and it's one of the few children's television programmes that I actually remember.

Seeing Muffin on top of the piano

and Annette Mills, who was the presenter, was singing away,

-and the tune, I can still remember it in my head.

-I remember it too.

Do you think we could give it a verse?

# I love Muffin, Muffin the Mule... #

Takes us back

and probably dates us.

Unfortunately.

Have you had him on display?

Initially, yes, but I downsized a couple of years ago,

as people do and now I haven't got any...any need for him now and I think we should let go.

-Yeah. I mean, he's not in the best of condition, Kath.

-Poor thing.

But if you look at him - I love the articulated legs and neck

-and he is capable of quite a lot of movement.

-Yes, he is.

He was made by Moko and again, made in the 1950s.

In fact, when we look at him, although the body,

or the material is still in good condition,

there's a lot of loss on the paintwork and that will make

a big difference to the price.

-Yes.

-So he has been played with...

-A lot, I think.

-And that's lovely. I like that.

He wasn't rare.

Every little child watched...

I think we had Muffin the Mule...

-Yes.

-We had Andy Pandy, we had The Woodentops,

so it will take grown-ups back to the days when you had

these fairly simple programmes for children.

So, um, quite a nice item.

Not a lot of money.

Perhaps £20-£30,

-if you're lucky.

-That's fine by me.

I'd like him to have a new home.

And if you want to...

You know, if on a bad day there's no great interest,

we could perhaps safeguard him with a reserve of maybe about £15.

-That sounds OK.

-Really just in case there isn't a great deal...

-He may go back home with you, but we have had fun looking at him.

-Oh, good. I'm glad.

# Everybody sing

# We want Muffin the Mule. #

Lillian, welcome to Flog It! Thanks for coming along.

-You're welcome.

-So, three copper pots.

Firstly, where did you get them from?

From San Mateo, California, which is just up the peninsula from San Francisco.

When?

-In the early '70s.

-In the early '70s?

-Yes.

-What were you doing out there?

-I was a cook-housekeeper.

Right. And you bought these at a flea market, an auction...

It was an auction. On my days off, I had nothing to do,

so I would go to antique shops

just for something to fill time in.

-OK. Now, it was a long time ago, but do you remember what they cost?

-Roughly 20.

-20.

Actually, it was roughly about 2 to the pound at that time.

Right. Well, we, as auctioneers, see lots of copper and brass every day.

-Yes.

-And unfortunately nowadays the market has gone for a lot of your traditional copper and brass,

like your kettle and even this little one, which is quite cute, but not worth a great deal.

-No, no. Course.

-So we'll move those...

-It's all minimalist now.

Right. People don't want to clean them. They say - I've brought this

-cos I don't want to clean it.

-That's true.

But this is different. This one's much more interesting.

-It looks Japanese, doesn't it?

-It's oriental style, yes.

-Very much so.

It dates from the late 19th century, and this is an American-manufactured...

-Yes.

-..piece by Gorham, marked on the bottom for Gorham.

Gorham - a quality firm, still going...

Started in 1831 and mainly known to people nowadays for their silver -

cutlery and glassware as well.

Again, it doesn't hold a lot of value,

but if you think that those are worth £5 between them

and this is worth £30-£50, then it's a big difference.

And I think this is silver that it's decorated with.

I think they probably are, yeah.

They would certainly polish up, so it would look a bit smarter.

I hope it would make £50 plus.

-They're not going to add to this, so those are going home with you now.

-That's right, yes. OK.

-This one we'll put in the auction...

-Lovely.

-30-50.

-That's fine.

-30 reserve.

-Yes.

-If it doesn't make 30...

I take it home as well. Right, that's lovely.

I think it'll do a bit better. I hope it does.

-Why are you selling them, Lillian?

-To go in my travel fund.

-You're a keen traveller?

-I'm going to Barcelona in September.

-Are you? Excellent.

So when I can, I go.

-I hope you have a good time.

-Oh, I shall.

Val, some people like Clarice Cliff, some people hate Clarice Cliff.

I personally like it.

I love the colours and I love the vigour

and I love the patterns of Clarice's work.

-How do you feel about it?

-It's exactly the same for me.

I love the vibrant colours and it's different

and it just shows really well in the cabinet where it sits.

-Tell me, where did you get this piece?

-I bought it from the internet about four or five years ago.

-What did you pay for it?

-About £100.

-Uh-huh.

Do you collect Clarice Cliff?

I do, yes. I've got quite a few pieces.

And why are you selling this piece?

My son, when anything ever happens to me in the future,

will probably throw this

and everything else that's in that cabinet, in the bin,

because he doesn't, A - like it or B - know the value of it.

Uh-huh. Maybe you should tell him the value and he'd start to appreciate it a wee bit more!

So, Val, let's have a look at this wee pot.

We have this wonderful - and I love this -

these oranges and lemons in that really vibrant Clarice Cliff colour.

And if we turn it round, we're looking again at this,

it's almost like a streaky pattern there, which is repeated in the inside.

I find that quite an interesting combination,

and I like that.

If we look at the back stamp here,

we have the typical Clarice Cliff back stamp,

and the pattern is Delecia, so we have all the information there.

Now, you paid £100 for that and it was only a short time ago.

Five, six years. It wouldn't have increased in value.

-We can certainly put it into auction at, say, £100-£150...

-Right.

..try to get your money back.

Now, would you like to put a reserve price on it?

I think £100 reserve.

100. Have we any discretion?

Oh, yes, because the money I get from it, it's not for me.

I'm going to give it to a small charity that I'm involved with.

Ah, that's excellent.

Hopefully, there are Clarice buyers on the day,

-and they will be competing for that.

-Thank you.

Alice and Denise,

you've brought in this rather nice Doulton Lambeth jardiniere, or planter.

-Whose is it?

-Mine.

-Right.

-Where did you get it from?

-It was a present.

-From?

-From a lady I worked for. When she died, I could pick what I wanted.

-OK.

I've always liked it.

So, in what capacity did you work for this lady?

-Housekeeper.

-Right and was that for a long time?

-25 years.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-So, you chose this because you always liked it.

-I've always liked it and I like the colours.

So, why are you here now?

-Because she doesn't like it and if anything happens, it'll go to her.

-Denise, you don't like it?

I do like it, but I would rather my mum had the money.

-If she can get money for it, I'd rather her have it.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-It's not especially valuable.

-I know.

-I think that's a bit of a cop-out, Denise!

-I'd rather me mum had the money.

-Yes, that's saying it the nice way.

-Instead of hurting her feelings.

-"I don't want to say I don't like it."

It's not to everyone's taste.

Some people watching will like it, a lot of people won't.

-Modern tastes change.

-That's right.

So you've decided to put it up for Flog It?

-Yes.

-It's Doulton Lambeth. Doulton's a big name.

A pottery body with this incised design all around

and they're fairly typical with these applied mouldings.

You see them quite often. This is quite a nice example.

I'm going to just whip it over now and show you the marks.

There's the Doulton Lambeth mark and there's some initials under there as well.

-Is that KD?

-KD.

-That would need us to look it up because there were over 100 artists and assistants,

but that's the artist's or the decorator's mark.

-Yes.

-And also you've got a number there - 1881.

Now, a lot of people bring us things with numbers on the bottom and they think that's when they were made.

In fact, they're a shape number.

But this one is actually the date when it was made, so this was made in 1881.

So it's basically an 1881 Doulton Lambeth stoneware jardiniere or planter. Any idea what it's worth?

I'm reckoning up to 100. I know it's not really valuable.

-Yeah. If it made over 100, I think that would be good going.

-Oh, that would, uh-huh.

-My estimate would be 50-80.

-Yes, I know it's not...

-Is that about what you thought?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-And I think we should put a reserve of £50 on it.

-Uh-huh.

So, if it doesn't make £50...

-Yes, I still have it.

-We get to keep it.

Denise will have to start liking it!

We're halfway through our day. We've been working flat out and the room is still packed full of people,

so there's more valuations to come later on. But right now,

let's put our theories to the test. Let's get into the auction room

and here's a quick recap of all the items we're taking with us.

Let's hope that Muffin holds on stubbornly to the £20-£30 estimate

by jogging memories, as he did to Anita and Kath.

-Do you think we could give it a verse?

-# I love Muffin, Muffin the Mule! #

This Gorham teapot has travelled all the way from California.

Lillian now wants to sell it so she can continue on her travels.

Clarice Cliff is always popular, so this vase should attract the bidders, who will appreciate it

much more than Val's son.

Alice picked out this planter as a gift from her former employer,

but her daughter doesn't like it, so now it's up for grabs.

-I do like it, but I would rather my mum had the money...

-Really?

-Yeah.

I think that's a bit of a cop-out, Denise, isn't it?

Today's sale comes from the Boldon Auction Galleries

and in charge of the proceedings in auctioneer Giles Hodges.

Just before the sale starts, I'm going to have a quick chat with him, so I'd best get inside.

I keep saying it wouldn't be Flog It! without Clarice Cliff, but it wouldn't be an auction

-without Clarice Cliff, would it?

-Very true. I have a piece in just about every single sale.

This belongs to Val.

We've got a value of £100-£150 on this, but it does have a little hairline crack.

It does indeed and that's the one thing that might

-just detract from it reaching its full market potential.

-Oh, really?

-I think so.

-I thought it might be worth that with the little crack.

I'm not sure. The way the market is,

-people want things in as good a condition as they can get.

-So this just might struggle.

-It might.

-For once, Clarice just might...

We don't want to put any dampeners on it, but it might let us down.

I'm joined by Val and Anita and next up it's the Clarice Cliff pot.

-We keep saying Clarice never lets us down, but is this the moment it goes wrong?

-Hopefully not.

-Oh, I hope not as well,

but I did have a chat to Giles before the sale started.

He pointed out a hairline crack.

Right, I didn't notice that, Paul.

And he said, "I suspect that wasn't noticed because the value was £100-£150."

Because of the hairline crack, he would put sort of £80-£100 on it, so we still might get the lower end

or someone might not notice the hairline crack and pay top end for it!

-Well, I didn't notice it.

-Yeah, there was a tiny one.

He pointed it out. Right now, it's about to go under the hammer.

Let's hope Clarice does the business one more time. Please, one more time! Here we go.

Am I bid 50 to start it?

At £50. 5, anybody?

At £50, is there 5?

-Yes.

-55, 60...

5, 70...

£70 with me. £70... 75. 80?

-85. On the net at £85. 90.

-One more.

We've done it.

-95.

-95.

-We've done it.

-100.

-Yes! Yes, yes, yes!

105.

-110...

-Oh, brilliant.

..110 on the internet.

At £110, are we all done?

At £110, we're away.

-Good. Good.

-Brilliant! It didn't let us down, did it?

-£110.

-That wasn't a worry, though.

I've had the pleasure of displaying it for four or five years and, um...

-Yeah, and having the joy from it.

-Yes, yes, and it does display well,

so the money's going to go to the Spinal Injuries Association,

-which is a charity that I'm involved with.

-Brilliant. And that's based where?

-In Milton Keynes.

-Good plug for them - great cause.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Next up, the Doulton Lambeth planter. I've been joined by Denise, but Mum is on her hols, isn't she?

-She is, yes.

-Where to?

-She's gone to Benidorm.

-Oh, does she go there every year?

-Every single year.

Will she come back completely tanned?

-No, she'll come back exactly the same colour.

-Will she?!

-Definitely.

Well, we've got £50-£80 riding on this, but it's something you didn't like anyway.

-Not really.

-You twisted Mum's arm to sell it.

-That's right.

-She had the pick of a few things in that house, but she picked something you didn't like.

-That's right, yeah.

-It's always the way, isn't it? Always the way!

-Typical.

Well, let's see what it does anyway. It's now down to the bidders,

but hopefully we'll get a bit more than Adam's top end estimate.

We've got the Doulton Lambeth stoneware jardiniere.

I've got one, two, three,

four commission bids,

and 120 starts me.

-120!

-At 120, 140, 160.

At 160... At 160...

I'll take 70.

At £160, are we all done?

170. To my left at 170.

170, for the last chance.

On my left at 170.

-Yes, we're going to take that!

-That was a good price.

You've got to be happy with that.

Yeah, definitely.

-I think you should get on the phone to Mum and give her a surprise.

-I'll send a text message and let her know.

Lillian's about to sell her 19th-century

copper Gorham mounted with silver, because you want to travel.

Yes, well...

-You want to go travelling again, and you got this in California.

-That's right.

We've got something from the '70s here in California and I'm pretty sure this should do well.

It's very nice. It's Gorham, second only to Tiffany in manufacturers in America.

-I think we're going to do all right.

-Good luck, it's up now.

..Copper pot

with the applied oriental emblems.

I've got two commission bids

-and 60 starts me.

-Oh, I say!

-£60.

65, anybody?

65, 70, 5, 80...

Oh, brilliant.

..5, 100, 10, 20.

With me at 120 on commission.

-Now to the net.

-Maybe it's going back to America.

-Oh, might be.

-Are we all done at £120?

And we're away at 120.

-That's fantastic, isn't it?

-Surprising.

-It's travelled well.

-I got it in a job lot.

-Did you?

-I got three...

Yeah, the other ones were rubbish, if I may say.

-One wasn't, but we didn't know where it came from.

-Right.

That's a very good price, £120 and I agree with you, Adam.

-That's going back to the States.

-I think it probably is.

-Yeah.

-Right.

Now, we're about to turn three pence into £20. Well, fingers crossed, that's what we're going to do

and how are we going to do it? Well, Kath's going to tell us.

Well, I bought Muffin the Mule for just a few pence 30 years ago from a jumble sale.

And we've got a valuation put on by Anita of 20-30. I hope it does that.

I know the condition is really poor, it's got no box but...

Hey, it's been played with and that's what it is meant to do, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-I think this is a little star, don't you?

-It's a piece of nostalgia, so the collectors will love it.

-Good.

-Fingers crossed.

-Not for a lot of money, right enough!

-No.

-Well, it's down to this lot now - the bidders. Good luck.

-Thank you.

-Lot 40, the one we've all been waiting for...

-Aw.

-..it's the tin-plate Muffin the Mule puppet.

-He needs a new home.

Bit of interest, and I'm bid 10 to start.

At 10, 15, 20. At £20...

Brilliant.

..5, front row. At £25...

Come on, Muffin!

30, 35, 40, 45...?

£45 front.

£45 anybody to the net?

£45, we're away at 45.

-£45!

-Oh!

-That's a good price.

That's fantastic.

The condition was so bad on that!

So that's 3p turned into £45.

-That's marvellous.

-That's good profit, don't you think?

-Thanks a lot.

-Gosh!

Are you going back to the jumble sales 30 years later?

I think I will. You never know, do you?

That's a great result for Kath and we'll be coming back later to the Boldon Auction Galleries

to see Giles generate some more excitement.

He doesn't muck about, does he?

The Durham coastline's beautiful, isn't it?

It looks so rural it's hard to believe that, until recently,

this was an industrial landscape dominated by coal mines.

Now, I'm not the only outsider to explore this part of the Northeast.

Photographer, Chris Steele-Perkins has spent three years photographing this landscape,

focusing on the people and their rural pursuits and he's captured a unique record

of the place and the people, for his book Northern Exposures,

and I'm going to meet up with him to find out more.

And here's the man himself.

-Hi, how are you?

-Thanks for meeting up with us today.

You're not from the Northeast, are you?

No. No, I was brought up in Somerset, I now live in London,

but I did spend four years as a student here,

-so I have a knowledge of the area and an affection for the place.

-You've certainly moved about a bit.

I guess because you were a student here, that's what brought you back. Is this where it all started?

-Well, certainly with this place. I mean, this is Haswell Plough Mart.

-Right.

It took place in an old barn and you could buy literally anything,

from a bag of rusty nails to a chicken, to a car, to a horse,

or a rather battered door. And it was an institution.

Every weekend they'd have this thing, and all the local farmers and characters would turn up.

In fact, this is where I met a number of my sort of contacts,

who were able to take me out into different parts of country life that I was really unfamiliar with.

-What did that door sell for, in the end?

-I don't know, but I can't imagine it was a lot.

But it's clearly a door of great interest to many people there.

-Can we move on inside and look at the rest of exhibition?

-Sure.

From the mart, I met all these people. I met this guy Wayne who had a couple of lurchers.

I took his picture and we got talking,

and I said, "What do you do with the lurchers?" and he says, "Oh, I go hunting rabbits."

I said, "OK, can I come along with you?"

And here he is with some ferrets and one of the lurchers, and they...

I can see the nets they've put over the escape holes.

That's right, and they put the ferret or a polecat down one of the holes,

-and chased the rabbits out into the net.

-What did they do with all the rabbits?

They eat some of them, and they told me they give the rest away to old-age pensioners and stuff.

-Well, that's good.

-It's recycled.

Yeah. The images are wonderful quality.

What camera do you use, or do you vary cameras?

Well, I vary, but for this project I used what's called a Mamiya 7

which looks like a very old-fashioned camera.

It's really simple, but the great thing about it is that

it's got a negative about that big...

-Yeah.

-..and that gives you fantastic richness of detail and tonality.

You know, I wanted a kind of... surface, if you like, and the detail in all the information,

-like the pieces of grass, the cross of the nets and so on.

-Yeah.

It's quite, you know...

-If I do it again, I'd do it digitally...

-Would you really?

Oh, yeah, but when I started this project,

there weren't digital cameras of the quality that I wanted. There's plenty of them now.

There are, and it's more like point and shoot, but it's real art to capture work like that.

You've still got to work at it with a digital camera, to do it properly.

See, I've noticed that a lot of your work does feature animals.

-Why is that?

-Yeah, well, that was never my intention,

but it soon became apparent to me, you know, cos I was working in the Durham coalfields,

and the mining villages were just there because there was coal, not because of any other reason,

and very often they were just on either side of a road, and then it's open country.

So the miners had this relationship with the countryside right from the beginning,

and almost everybody I met still seemed to have two or three animals,

whether it's cats, ferrets, horses, dogs, chickens, you know.

But they had this sort of intimate relationship with animals.

Chris chose to include poems by local poet Katrina Porteous in his book,

because he felt they complemented the photographs.

Here she is, reading an extract of The Pigeon Men.

"Small doors, cobbled from sleepers and iron sheeting

"Hauled up from underground It was pit-work

"That made them ache to be out here in the sunshine

"Among the birds

"See yon green fields? Yonder's where Horden pit was -

"The biggest pit in Europe, that. Nowt there now. Gone.

"John bites his tab, says nothing, glares into the distance

"Then he throws up his white dove like a flag - come on!"

Pigeons are the miner's pet.

Pigeons and, I guess, whippets.

I mean, OK, people haven't been miners for a long time up here now, but, you know,

the tradition remains, but it actually remains for the older guys.

-Pigeons don't attract a lot of young kids.

-No.

They want to play Nintendo or whatever.

And, er, it's a source of some regret to the old fellas.

-Where's this?

-Well, this is Horden and it's the Whippet Club.

Again, whippets were very much the family dog of the miners,

certainly up in this area.

And this whippet club used to have 30, 40 members not so long ago,

but it's more or less reduced down.

Just like pigeons, you know,

the younger kids don't seem to be that interested in it. And what they used to do was...

This is the football pitches, you know,

and along the edge of it, they'd set up a race track

with a machine that wound in a rag on the end of a rope - you know, zzzz!

And the whippets would go after it.

-Ah, it's great, they made their own entertainment, didn't they, really?

-Yeah, yeah.

This is about how real people live in the real world,

and it's a kind of tough old world, you know.

It is. It's not posed. That's what I love about it.

-It's not cliched, it's not people posing.

-No, no.

It's them going through their lives

and I am fortunate enough to be allowed to kind of witness it.

What I really liked about this project was that, you know,

it's something that I didn't know about,

and these people sort of let you into their little universe of things that they really care about,

and you were able to participate in that, you know, which is great.

A lot of the people, your subject matter,

must have come in and checked it out. What do they say to you?

-What's their opinion?

-Well, the feedback that I've had is, you know, they...

like the idea that somebody's paying attention to them, you know.

And, I mean, I haven't been here to make fun of them, you know.

I wasn't here to sort of glorify them either, these sort of working-class heroes.

I really wanted to be honest about my feelings,

and I think they can respect that.

Thank you so much, Chris, for giving me a brief insight

into rural life up here, which I would never have glimpsed.

You're welcome. I was very happy that I had my eyes opened too.

Let's look at some more, and while we do that,

we'll listen to one of Katrina's powerful, evocative poems about The Pigeon Men.

The Pigeon Men, yeah.

"And Clifton, Coxon, Cuba Streets

"The vanished homes of vanished men, who never dreamed

"How much of themselves they nailed in the crees and gardens

"Home the birds stream

"While John, on the stock-loft roof, waves the frantic fantail

"'Come on!' he yells to the open sky. 'Howway!'

"And the white wings beat at the end of his outstretched fingers

"As if he too was ready to fly away."

Back at the valuation day, Anita has stumbled on something rather spectacular.

Sandra, what a wonderful piece of silver.

Tell me, where did you get it?

It came to me from my husband because it was his grandmother's.

-Do you have it on display?

-I have. It's on the sideboard.

-Uh-huh.

-And do you like it?

-Very, very much. It's very much a talking point.

-Oh, it's a conversation piece?

-It is.

Well, you wouldn't be able to use it, Sandra,

because originally it would've had a bowl...

-Yeah.

-..probably quite an extravagant and cut crystal bowl

which would've held fruit or sweetmeats or whatever.

-And it's very sort of over-the-top, isn't it?

-Yes.

-High Victoriana.

Let's have a closer look at it.

On this wonderfully intricate base,

we have a sleeping child,

sitting under a tree.

Now, this child appears to be being protected

by this little dog,

from the serpent here.

So it's a rather sentimental... it tells us a sentimental story,

-and the Victorians loved that type of story.

-I see.

It's intricately made, it's beautifully made, it's finely finished.

Let's have a look at the back stamp.

Now, we have a lion mark which tells us that it's silver.

-Right.

-We have a leopard which tells us it's the London hallmark,

and it's dated for 1854, so high Victoriana.

We have the maker's name of Stephen Smith and William Nicholson,

so all the information is there.

They were good silversmiths, good London hallmark,

-so this piece has everything going for it.

-Right.

Auction estimate, I would say between £250 and £350.

Very good.

-Now, would you be happy to sell it at that?

-Oh, yes, yes.

-We'll put a reserve of, say, £250, with a wee bitty of discretion.

-OK. Yes, fine.

-Why are you selling it?

-Well, my daughter, she's going to be moving down to Cheshire.

She's going to start off a new life and we really want to just give her that bit of help along the way.

You're a wonderful mum, and young people need money.

They do. They do, always!

-Let's flog it!

-Thank you.

-June...

-Hello.

-It's a lovely piece of Lalique.

-Thank you.

-The Poisson bowl - that's the name of the pattern, obviously because it's got fish on it.

-Yes.

-Where did you come to get this from?

My husband bought it from the auctions.

-He was an addict to auctions.

-Right.

-He loved the auctions.

He would come home with things I never knew he had,

he would hide them in the cupboards, in the drawers, top of wardrobes, you name it.

-I do that sort of thing too!

-I would find things all over, but I did know about the plate.

Yeah. But, unfortunately, I don't really like it.

And were you pretty appalled when he came home with it and said, "Look what I bought"?

Well, no, not really. I knew Lalique was nice and collectable, not like some of the things he came home with.

Did he come home with some junk as well?

-Yeah.

-Did you say, "That's nice, dear," or did you tell him off?

No, "What's that, more rubbish you've bought?"

It's by Lalique, of course.

Rene Lalique. It dates to about 1935.

I don't know if you've noticed, but if you hold it up to the light,

-you can just about see the R Lalique, France.

-Yeah!

-No, I've never noticed that before.

-Have you not?

-I've had it 12 years and never noticed.

-Really? Well, now you know.

-Yeah.

And it's got this lovely opalescence to it.

-Holding it up to the light really shows it off to its best, doesn't it?

-Yes, it does.

Do you know what he paid for anything or did he keep that a secret too?

-No, no, he paid round about £400 because he got in a pricing war.

-A bidding war.

-As you do in the auctions.

-Yeah. I'm not letting him have it!

-That was what he said.

He was determined the other person was not going to get it.

Well, that's the top end of its value, really.

Usually, you'd make £250-£350 on this, at auction.

-Right.

-And that would be the estimate I'd suggest. We could put a reserve on it of 250...

-Yes.

-..and that would be fixed so it doesn't go for less, and it should make somewhere round there,

-ideally the top end or towards your money back would be nice.

-That would be good.

-Don't think there's going to be a profit.

-Right, OK.

But he enjoyed it and he enjoyed the sport.

And he would love this. He would love me doing this.

-Oh, good.

-Yes.

-So he'd be pleased that you brought it back to auction.

-I think so, yes.

-And let's hope there's another bidding war and then two people...

-That would be super.

-You never know. Thanks for coming.

-Thank you very much.

Heidi, welcome to Flog It!

I love brooches, and I think this is a lovely item.

Tell me, where did you get it?

I bought it from a charity shop in the Lake District.

-Ah. How much did you pay for it?

-Two pounds.

-Two quid?!

That is absolutely wonderful.

Well, let's have a wee look at it, first of all.

It's nine-carat gold and it is hallmarked.

It's from, I would say, from the design, from the 1930s or 1940s.

And we have this delightful array of aquamarine stones.

Absolutely lovely, and for £2!

You really do have a good eye.

Do you make a habit of frequenting the charity shops and so on?

Yeah, I do enjoy the charity shops and car-boot sales. I do it weekly.

-Weekly? Uh-huh. What type of things are you drawn to?

-Handbags and costume jewellery.

-Did you think this was costume jewellery?

-That was with costume jewellery,

but it was sparkling a bit, so it looked more than the different costume jewellery in the box.

You've got a wonderful eye.

So did you get your glass out and have a look?

-I haven't got one of those yet!

-Oh, you need to get a glass. You need to get a look.

Anyway, it's a lovely wee piece,

and I think that it will be well-fancied at auction.

Value - I would put £60-£80 on it, and I think I might be being a wee bit conservative there.

We'll put a reserve price on it, and I think maybe £55.

-Yeah, I would be happy at that.

-Would you be happy at that?

-Yeah.

In selling this, is there anything special that you would put the money to?

Me and my boyfriend are saving for a house at the moment, so every little counts.

Every penny counts. Well, let's hope that we can get a good return on that,

and I think that it's a wonderful hobby -

to get out there, to search in the car-boot sales,

to search in the charity shops, make a couple of bob and have a great time.

-So well done, Heidi.

-Thank you.

That's it for our experts' valuations

and now it's time to put them to the test with Giles at the auction house.

OK, Sandra's silver centrepiece.

This is very, very showy.

Missing the bowl, obviously.

We've got a value of £250-£350 on this. I think it's absolutely stunning.

I love the quality,

but it looks more like nickel than silver, doesn't it?

Well, it does, because it's been so well cleaned and so well looked after,

it's practically jumping off the table.

You've said the one thing against it is the fact it hasn't got a bowl.

But that's why it's that value, isn't it?

Well, exactly, cos the bowl's going to cost probably £200, £300, maybe, to get fitted.

Oh, it is lovely. What do you think that'll do? Will that do the top end?

Well, the estimate we've got is...?

-£250-£350, top end.

-I think you can go well above the top end.

-Good.

-In fact, I think we'll go for, if you doubled the bottom end of estimate...

500? Giles has sold it.

-I think, yeah... I think we...yeah.

-Lots of excitement! Don't go away.

Well, that's fantastic news for Sandra.

It sounds like her silver centrepiece should really do well. I can't wait for the final result.

We also have June's lovely Lalique plate.

It's a true classic, so I have no doubt its sale will go swimmingly too.

Heidi's nine-carat gold brooch is our final item.

It only cost her £2, so I have big hopes pinned on it,

and it's obvious that Anita thinks Heidi has spotted a real winner.

-You've got a wonderful eye. Did you get your glass out?

-I haven't got one of those yet.

Oh, you need to get a glass. You need to get a look.

I've been joined by Heidi, whose motto is, "Every penny counts", because you're saving for a house.

-How long have you been saving?

-About a year and a half.

We're selling a nine-carat gold brooch which you bought in a charity shop.

-Yeah.

-For just a couple of pounds?

-£2.

-That was a good spot, wasn't it?

We've got an estimate of £60-£80. Hopefully we'll get the top end. Here we go.

It's stamped nine-carat.

I've got three bids -

sorry, no, two bids and I am 80 to start me.

-That's good.

-Yeah, better than the top end.

90, 5, 100...

110, 120...

-I'm pleased with this.

-130, 140, 150...

On the phone at 150. Anybody left?

At £150, the net is out too.

At £150, we're away at 150.

Heidi, that's fantastic! £150.

-Yes. Thank you very much.

-Excellent result!

You have a great eye.

-You just have a really good eye.

-Are you happy?

-Yes.

-Good.

-Fingers crossed.

-How long before you'll get the house or the flat?

-Probably another year and a half!

June, I can't wait to see what the bidders think of this, cos it is real quality.

It's the Lalique plate up next. £250-£350.

And when we talk about antiques, Adam, we always say invest in quality,

invest in a name that's got good provenance.

-This has got the lot and the condition.

-Good strong name, good pattern, fish are popular.

So why are we selling it? That's what we want to know.

-Because I don't like it.

-You don't like it! That's incredible, isn't it?

I thought everybody liked Lalique. It's beautiful glass. It really is.

If you're going to collect glass, Lalique is up there with the very best.

-Yes, strong.

-Yeah. Hope it sells.

-Will we get the top end, Adam?

-I don't know if we'll get the top end, but I'm pretty sure we'll sell it.

-OK.

-Well, 95.7% sure.

That's good enough for us! We're going to find out what the bidders think. Here we go.

We have the shallow Lalique Poisson opalescent, circular bowl

by Rene Lalique.

-Plenty of interest. I've got two commission bids...

-There you go.

-And 260 starts.

-We're in.

260, 280, 300, 320.

Bid's upstairs at 320. Anybody else?

£320. To my left...

-£320 for the last time...

-I like it.

-We all like it.

-At £320.

-Gone!

-I think June likes it as well.

-I do, yes.

-That's a great price.

-That's fantastic.

What are you going to invest in now, then?

-Another antique or...?

-Maybe some jewellery.

-Jewellery. Something you can wear and enjoy.

-Yes.

-That'd be nice, to turn it into something else, so you've got a memento.

-Yes.

Next up, we've got a bit of quality.

It's Sandra's centrepiece. It's gorgeous, isn't it?

-It is.

-Nice chunk of silver. £250-£350 we've got on this.

Had a chat to the auctioneer, and we both said this has got to do a lot more than that, surely.

If it had the bowl, £1,000.

-You know that, don't you?

-I do.

-You've obviously explained that.

Uh-huh. It's an absolutely wonderful item and it was a pleasure to handle.

Hopefully, this is going to go to a good home for a lot of money!

-Hopefully.

-That's what we want.

-That'd be great.

-Let's find out.

-London 1854...

-It's certainly the centrepiece of the saleroom now!

I've got three commission bids and I'm starting it at £700.

-Wow!

-720, 750, 780, 800, 820.

At 820 to my left. Anybody else?

At 820 for the last time...

At £820, the internet is out too. At £820.

-Yes!

-Lost for words!

-He doesn't muck about, old Giles, does he?!

-Straight in at £820.

-I was a wee bit conservative there.

"Come and buy me," wasn't it? I reckon someone had a spare bowl for that.

-Yeah, maybe!

-Do you know that?

-Two people had a spare bowl!

-Yeah!

-That's marvellous.

-Thank you so much for bringing that in, and to you, Anita.

We've had a brilliant day here.

I hope you've enjoyed the show. There's plenty more surprises to come, but for now, it's cheerio.

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