Dover Flog It!

Today we're in a port town whose white cliffs have been immortalised in art, literature and song.

Welcome to Flog It from Dover in Kent.

The most famous song to feature Dover's white cliffs

was the popular World War II tune

"The White Cliffs of Dover", sung most memorably by Vera Lynn.

The song was written to lift spirits during the Blitz,

and the lyrics look forward to peace ruling over the iconic white cliffs.

Dover had such a strong strategic position, and it played a major part in World War II.

In fact, the military command centre was based under Dover, in a series of secret military tunnels.

And I'll be taking a closer look at these later on in the show,

and finding out how they became the nerve centre for the Allied forces' evacuation of Dunkirk.

But first, it's time to head back above ground, and get over to the valuation day.

And this is where we're hoping to unearth a few relics today,

Dover Town Hall, where we've got a fabulous queue, and already probing all the bags and boxes that have been

brought along are our two experts, Catherine Southon and Mark Stacey.

So have you found anything of interest yet?

-Yes, well I've got several things for the programme.

-Oh, he always has. And what about you, Catherine?

Yes, I had a couple of beauties.

Well, you'll have to keep looking inside, cos it's now 9.30,

it's time to get the doors open and get everybody inside.

Are you ready?

-Yes!

-Yes! Let's go!

Well, it's certainly a packed house today, in the very grand Dover Town Hall.

And it looks as if Mark has found something incredibly eye-catching to get the ball rolling.

-Hello, Margaret.

-Hello!

-Now, I love you in your feline leopard print top there.

-Thank you.

And I love this even more, I have to say.

I spotted it in the queue, and it's such a wonderful-looking object,

and it's coupled with an equally wonderful inscription, it's to a relative of yours.

-Yes.

-Ex-inspector Cornelius Sexton, CID no less.

-Yes.

On his retirement on the 27th of June 1909.

How can you bear to part with it?

Um, well, now I have two sons and neither, neither of them really want it.

-None of the rotters are interested?

-No, no.

-Well, they don't want all of it now, do they?

No, this is to travel. Yes, yeah.

And one of them I believe is even a copper.

-Yes, indeed!

-And he doesn't want it?

-No.

-Well, I think it's a crying shame in some ways,

-but I think you're going to make somebody very, very happy.

-Good.

Cos what we're actually looking at is a silver-plated tea kettle,

very much actually in the 18th-century style, in the sort of rococo style.

Something like this, because it's so over the top.

I mean everywhere you look is decorated with flowers

and a lovely little Gothic mask here,

-these wonderful legs that look as if it wants to sort of try walking away at all different angles.

-True.

This wonderful bird of prey is the the little lid that opens up like that.

So if that wasn't enough, we've got a little matching tea caddy

or sugar box, I suppose you could say.

-Well, whichever.

-One or the other, which is equally impressive, with Cornelius Sexton's initials on it.

-Yes.

-And if we get a good, a really good price for you,

are you going to treat the family or the grandchildren?

Probably the grandchildren. My eldest grandson is 16, and he's saving up for a car, so...

-Oh, what a lovely age to be, 16 again.

-Yes, oh, too true.

Now, what are we going to put on it as an estimate?

I, I've no idea really of the value.

I think, sadly, I would love to say it was worth £500,

but I just don't think it is, I think if it was in silver we would have been looking, you know...

Oh, well, I can well imagine.

Lots and lots of money. But I think we've got to be realistic, I love it, I think it will find a home,

but I think we've got to be looking at an estimate of maybe, and I think

-I might be being a bit mean here, but maybe £150 to £200.

-Yeah, yeah.

-What do you think of that?

-Yeah, yeah, that sounds reasonable to me.

Could we put a reserve on that?

I think we should put a reserve on,

and I would maybe suggest a reserve of £130, just to protect it at that.

-My fingers are crossed.

-Yeah.

My gut feeling tells me that there will be a lot of interest, and I would love it to make over £200.

-Lovely.

-You know, because I think, to excuse the pun, I think it's such an arresting item.

Lee, it's great to see a snare drum here at the valuation day.

-I've played drums all my life.

-Ah, hence the interest.

I am a big fan of drumming.

Now, tell me a little bit about its history and how you've come by this Ludwig snare drum.

Well, in about 1986 I was playing in a skiffle band, '85, '86, and we just wanted a snare, we'd been using

a washboard and we just wanted to broaden the type of music we were playing, so we bought a snare.

I went into a second-hand shop, and I said, "How much do you want for it?" He said 35 quid.

-Did you know what you'd got at that stage?

-No, I didn't. It was just, it was something to bang.

Something to bang, something to hit down the pub, basically, and just sort of play away.

Well, what you've actually bought is something quite rare,

and does come under the vintage and rare category of musical instruments.

It is one of the pioneering Ludwig snare drums.

It's got a brass shell, made in one piece, which has obviously been chromed.

Cast hoops, eight lugs, tensioning lugs, that's something that Ludwig

pioneered in the very early - we're talking sort of 1908, 1910.

This drum is one of the first they ever made with a brass shell.

This was available from 1920s to 1930s.

After that it was superseded by the Ludwig 400,

which was a very popular snare drum, again, 14 inches by five-inch depth,

so it's called a 14 by five.

John Bonham of Led Zeppelin used one of these, the drummer Ian Paice in Deep Purple, in fact every rock

band you can think of used a Ludwig Super Sensitive, or the Ludwig 400,

and this was prior to that 400.

-Cor blimey.

-This was so early, and look how primitive the snare strainer is, nowadays you get these

wonderful pieces of almost over-engineered apparatus stuck to the side...

-It's quite simple.

-Which takes the snare off, releases the tension,

so you have a batter head that doesn't buzz, it sounds like this.

Put the snare tension on, and

all of a sudden you have that crisp snare sound, which is...

-Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

-Are you sure you want to sell this, because this is very collectable?

I'd need it to go to a good owner, because I don't play it any more.

I'd like someone to benefit from it.

What would you put the money towards, more percussion instruments, or...

Possibly, I've got a pretty poorly car at the moment, so unfortunately

-it may have to go to something I don't want it to go to.

-OK. Let's talk about the price first.

-More than £35, hopefully.

-How about we stick a nought in, £350?

-That'd be good!

I'd like to put it into auction with a value of £300 to £400.

That'd be great.

-With a, with a reserve, with a bit of discretion at the £300, if that's OK.

-Yeah, that'd be fine.

So Trevor, welcome to Flog It.

-Thank you.

-You've brought along this rather charming ormolu garniture,

comprising a lovely clock here, and the matching candlesticks. Now tell me, where did you get this from?

It's been handed down through my family from my grandmother.

It was over her mantelpiece in her living room.

-So you remember it.

-Yes, yes, as a child, yes.

Then my uncle inherited it, and then my mother, and down to me.

-That's rather nice, cos, cos it's French, I don't know if you know that.

-Yes, that's right, yes.

And it's quite sort of classical in style. We've got these lovely acanthus leaves on there.

What I really like about it is the actual enamel work in this,

I actually think I prefer that more than the clock itself, actually.

The clock face, the enamel dial in particular is absolutely beautiful.

It's really quite exquisite.

-I know, it's lovely.

-The detail here in the centre of the dial,

you can see a telescope that's been painted, and some books, and I think that's probably a sword, there.

-Unfortunately, there is a little bit of damage there.

-I know, yes.

I don't know if you know but one of these panels here at the front has actually cracked, which is a shame.

Also on this one here,

if you can see there I would have thought there would have been

a matching sort of scroll on this side, cos there is one on this candlestick here.

-Yes.

-Nevertheless, it's a very striking piece.

-Yes, that's right.

-Very nice piece. I have taken it apart, and I notice it has got the name of the maker

on there, which is J Ferrer, which is really nice that we've got the name stamped on the back there.

-As you can see I tried to clean the upper bit, and I...

-Right.

I probably shouldn't have done, but do you think it's worth cleaning up

at all, getting the movement going?

No. You could do more harm than good. I think leave it in this sort of state,

I think leave it to the professionals, leave it to somebody that's going to buy it.

-Now...it's been in your family quite some time.

-Yes.

-You're happy to sell it?

Certainly. I just feel that it, in this day and age I would prefer it to go to somebody

who would appreciate it, probably restore it back to its...

-Absolutely.

-As it was, you know, maybe a hundred, over a hundred years ago.

Do you have any idea of how much that it's worth?

-I've got a rough idea.

-Right.

Can we expand on that?

It's, it runs into the low thousands.

I don't think it's quite worth that amount of money, the reason being

this maker you do see coming up time and time again at auction.

I don't think it quite makes the thousand pound mark.

And also, although it is a very nice piece there is a bit of damage.

I would be happier with an estimate of about £400 to £600.

-We'll put a £400 reserve on, if that's OK with you.

-OK, yes, fine.

-OK?

-Yeah, great!

-I'll see you at the auction.

-Thank you.

And I hope I'm proved wrong.

-Hello, Aileen.

-Hello.

-Nice to meet you.

-You too.

What are you doing with such a lot of boys' toys?

They were my brother's, and I've brought them on his behalf.

Oh, that's... And he had these in his childhood, did he?

-He has, yes.

-And have you helped him play with them?

-We used to play together, yes.

Well, they're in remarkably good condition, you must have been very careful children.

Yes, he was especially.

We've got quite a few more, but we haven't brought every one out.

We've brought a little random selection of the better ones, like this rather wonderful horse box

-which you could hire from British Railways there, which is rather nice.

-Yes.

And this Dinky delivery service transport vehicle.

And my favourite is this rather weird helicopter.

Which one was your favourite?

-This one.

-Oh, was it?

Did you use to fill it with the little cars as well?

-I did.

-And pretend you were...

-But I don't know where the little cars are now unfortunately.

They've been in a loft for the last 20 years or so, have they?

My parents had them in their house till they died six years ago, and we cleared out their possessions,

and my brother asked me to look after them, so I've had them in the loft ever since, yes.

And I guess that's the reason why you've decided actually they will

-go to someone who will appreciate them more now.

-That's right.

With them just gathering dust in the loft.

It seemed pointless just sitting up there, and we saw Flog It was coming, so...

There's a big market for these now, there's a lot of collectors for them,

-and we're off to a good sale room that'll catalogue them well.

-Yes.

And I would put them in as a little mixed lot,

so put them all together, as some of the boxes are a little bit broken.

-Yes.

-Generally, it's always good to have the boxes.

Obviously the better condition, the better the value of them.

-Yes.

-But I think looking at it as a whole, we're probably looking

-at somewhere in the region of sort of £200 to £300.

-That's very good.

Would you be, you and your brother be happy with that?

-We would, yes.

-Oh, fantastic. And I think they might just fly.

-Or take off, in the case of the helicopter.

-Let's hope so.

Well, we're now halfway through our day, which means it's time for our first visit to the auction room.

We've found some cracking items so far, but will we get top prices?

Well, we're just about to find out. While we make our way over to Canterbury to the sale room,

we're going to leave you with a quick reminder of all the items going under the hammer.

We're selling Margaret's impressive inherited silver-plated tea kettle

and stand with sugar box, and Mark is flabbergasted that Margaret's sons don't want to keep it in the family.

-And none of the rotters are interested?

-No, no.

They don't want all of it now, do they?

Trevor has had a go at cleaning up his late 19th-century French clock

and candlesticks, tut tut.

Let's hope his attempts won't put the bidders off.

And I'm not 100% sure that Lee's Ludwig brass shell snare drum

will sell at a fine art auction in Canterbury.

But regardless, I'm still glad he brought it in as it's certainly brightened up my day.

And finally, Aileen brought in her brother's collection of Dinky toys,

which she can remember playing with as a child.

Let's hope they will now provide a new owner with some great memories.

For today's sale we've left Dover and we've headed inland to the Canterbury Auction Galleries.

And I think we've brought a couple of seagulls along with us, squawking up there.

The sale is just about to start.

On the rostrum is auctioneer Cliona Kilroy, so let's get inside before we miss all the action.

And Cliona is already in full swing, and the first of our items

under the spotlight is Trevor's mantel clock and candlesticks.

Trevor, this is a great looking clock. I'm in love with this clock.

What I want to know is, Trevor, why are you selling this?

We thought that if we sold it off that we'd be able to put the money to, I'd be able

to sort of buy some cigarette cards and pass those down to my grandsons.

Is that what you want to do?

-Well, I've got a small little collection at home.

-It's going under the hammer now.

-Lovely.

Lot number 469 is a 19th-century

French gilt, brass and porcelain mounted mantle clock.

The clock by Jacques Ferrer, and the garniture.

For 469, who'll start me at £200?

£200, there's someone, £200 I'm bid.

-Who's in at £210? £210, £220, £230, £240, £250, £260.

-Climbing.

-Yes.

-£270.

-Who's in at £270?

-Come on.

£270, £280, £290. £300, and 20?

£340, £360...

-£380, £400.

-Come on, come on!

-Yes.

-Bidding war.

-Anybody at £400? £400, and 20. £440. £460.

£480. Anybody at £480? No.

-The phone's out.

-The bid is standing at £460 then, and selling at £460,

if we're all done at £460.

-Yes.

-That's it, yes.

That's good, that's good.

-I'm happy with that.

-I thought it wasn't going to sell for a minute.

-No.

-And there is commission to pay, don't forget.

-Yes, yes, I know about that.

-But there you go, you've got some spending money.

-I certainly have.

-Lovely.

-Thank you.

-It's been wonderful. Thanks, Paul.

-Go and buy those cigarette cards!

-I will.

Well, it certainly is good to see you again, Margaret, and this item

was a bit of fun. We're talking about the police memorabilia.

-Well, kind of, isn't it, really?

-Well, it is, yeah.

The tea kettle and stand. Lovely, absolutely lovely.

I just adore it, I just fell in love with that name, Cornelius Sexton.

It's going under the hammer right now.

Number 201 is the early 20th-century tea kettle and stand, lot 201.

Who'll start me at £100, lot 201.

-Oh, come on, it must do.

-£100 I'm bid.

£110, anybody at £110 now.

-Come on.

-£110 I'm looking for. No? £110 I have. £120, £130,

£140, £150, £160, £170, £180.

Who's in at £180?

Interest at £180? The bid stands at £170 now, any further offer,

if not I'm selling at £170.

-That's OK.

-It's over the reserve.

-Yes, yes.

-It's over the reserve.

Yes, yes. Which is super. Just, just, just right.

OK, now I am feeling nervous because it's my turn to be the expert.

Can you remember that lovely Ludwig snare drum, the one I valued earlier?

Well, it's just about to go under the hammer, and I've been joined by Lee, who used to own this, hopefully!

-Yes.

-Used to own it. Now I'm feeling positive, I still believe it's worth £300 and all the rest.

-Yes, please.

The question is, will it sell here today in a fine art auction room?

Lot number 409 is the Ludwig snare drum with the chromium-plated body,

lot 409. Who'll start me at £200?

-Lot 409, £200.

-Come on, online.

-Any interest at £200?

-No, she's going to, she's going to pass this.

Any interest at £200? Let's start it at £150 then, let's get it going

-at £150, lot 409, the drum.

-Oh, no!

Any interest at £150? Any bids? At £150, no bids?

-No.

-No bid I'm afraid, we have to pass it.

-Oh!

At the end of the day I didn't actually bring it down to sell it.

I brought it down to, for a valuation, and...

-And I talked you into getting it on TV!

-So I'm not disappointed at all.

Right, something for the boys now, boys' toys.

We've got a big collection, we've got Triang, we've got some Hornby,

we've got Dinky cars, soldiers, we've got the lot.

And I'm joined by Aileen, but this is not your kind of stuff, is it, but it's your brother's?

-That's right, yes.

-So you're selling them on his behalf.

-I am, yes.

All right. Happy with the valuation?

-Yes, very.

-I thought it was spot on as well. Well done, Mark.

-Should be all right.

-There's a lot there.

-It appeals across the board to the collectors, hopefully.

-You've done the right thing not splitting them.

-Yes.

-Well, good luck, there's lots of family memories here, it's going under the hammer now.

As per your catalogue, lot 350.

Who'll start me at £100?

£100 I'm bid, who's in at £110?

£110? £110.

£120, £130, £140...

-That's more like it.

-£150.

-We're on the right track now.

-£150?

£160. £170. £180. £190.

£200, £210. £220, £230. £240, £250.

-Halfway there.

-£260, £270.

-£280, £290.

-Oh, this is great!

£290...

£300, £320.

£340, £360.

£380. £400.

£420, £440. £460.

£460!

-£480.

-Wow.

£500, £520.

£540, £560.

No? It's on my left at £540 now, any further offer, if not I'm selling at

£540, on my left at £540, no, selling at £540.

Yes, that's what we like to see, we were on the right track at the end.

-£540. So is he going to treat you for this errand?

-I hope so!

-Well, they should go halves though, Paul, because they've doubled the estimate.

-You never know.

Well, the Dinky toy collectors were definitely here today.

And when we return to the auction later on in the programme we're going to be in for some strong emotions.

Oh, my life!

But are these tears of joy or despair?

I'm back in Dover now, and I'm at this impressive fortification,

which looks down on the port town.

It's the location of Dover Castle which has secured its place in military history.

It's always been a very important defence point for Britain, because

it's the closest point to mainland Europe, which is over there.

In fact I can just see France.

Now that brings home how close it is.

And that's in part why I think this castle has seen unbroken active service for nine centuries.

That's from the time of the Norman Conquest right up to the Second World War.

The history of Dover Castle dates back to 1066,

when William the Conqueror built it following the Battle of Hastings.

Since its origins, Dover Castle has been rebuilt

and extended by successive kings,

transforming it into what we see now.

However it's not the history of the ancient castle I'm interested in today.

It's more let's say what's within living memory, and that's

the role the castle played during the Second World War.

It became a crucial command centre, which in turn led to being

the nerve centre of the Dunkirk evacuations in the spring of 1940.

Now these strategic plottings to rescue thousands of British and Allied troops from mainland France

didn't take place on ground level,

but instead they took place in a series of secret tunnels underneath the castle.

And the man who's going to take me underground is James Blencoe.

-Hi, James.

-Hello, Paul.

-Good to see you, thank you for taking me on a tour today.

Before we start, can you just explain a little bit how the tunnels came to be under the castle?

Yeah, absolutely. Well, what we're going to be looking at today is nearly a four-mile tunnel complex

that starts out nearly 200 years ago, so they started work in 1797

on the barracks down here, used throughout the Napoleonic Wars, and then during the Second World War,

the original level was reopened, and then they added two new levels, hospital level up at the top

and an extension to command HQ right down at the bottom.

-Four miles.

-Four miles, yeah.

-That is incredible, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Shall we head off? I can't wait actually.

-Yes, absolutely.

-Yeah, come with me.

-I'm looking forward to this.

So what was this room used for?

Well, this room's the anti-aircraft operations room, so on the tables

behind us here they plot the movements of all the aircraft coming through this area.

Information would've come from the brand new piece of technology behind the castle, the radar station.

They would have given them roughly ten minutes' warning of any aircraft approaching Dover.

From this room they would have been controlling the anti-aircraft guns,

but also from the telephones down here been liaising with the RAF to try and shoot down enemy aircraft.

What other rooms here have played a strategic part in the Second World War?

Well, we're right next to the coastal artillery operations room, so that room would have

been monitoring all the ships coming through this part of the Straits of Dover, but

importantly, controlling the guns located along the coastline here,

obviously the threat of invasion was very high from 1940,

so having a good coastal defence was highly important.

This was Vice Admiral Ramsay's headquarters for the Navy around the

Dover area, as well as having a large communication network.

In fact the GPO set up a major repeater station,

a large part of the telephone network down here,

just so, to make sure the command headquarters

-always had good communications with the outside world.

-Yes.

And of course the biggest operation to happen from these tunnels was the evacuation from Dunkirk.

It was a huge operation, codenamed Operation Dynamo.

Eventually in the early part of May and June of 1940

338,000 men of the British Army had to be rescued from the port of Dunkirk on the French coast.

It all started around the 10th of May when German forces pushed through Belgium and Holland,

and displaced British forces and their French and Belgian allies

from the border between France and Belgium.

So over two weeks or so they were pushed back to the port of Dunkirk and in desperate need of rescue.

So here in the tunnels Vice Admiral Ramsay, working from the next room along from where we are here

put together this rescue operation. And originally when they planned it,

it was planned to be a four-day operation, and in those four days,

they were hoping to rescue 45,000 men, they really thought that was all they would ever get out.

But they had perfect conditions over the Channel at the time

and that meant they could send every single vessel across...

All the small fishing boats.

Anything that would get across to the coast of France, and 693 vessels in the end.

And also the German army didn't advance with the speed they thought they would in the first place,

so in the end it was a nine-day operation instead of four days, and 338,000 men instead of 45, so...

-That's just mind-blowing isn't it, really?

-Well, you can see why they called it the miracle of Dunkirk.

Yeah. So who was the most important visitor down these tunnels?

-Well, I think you've got to say...

-It's got to be!

It's got to be Winston Churchill, and we've got several photographs of Winston Churchill

out on the balcony with Vice Admiral Ramsay looking over to the coast of mainland France.

We've also got some photos of members of the German high command

stood on the cliffs over at Calais, and as you know yourself, you can see across the Straits of Dover

here fairly easily, so I always have this mental image of these two great forces looking across

20 miles of water, wondering what each one's going to do next.

Yeah. So what other roles did the tunnels play in the Second World War?

Well, as well as being a major command headquarters there was

also an underground hospital set up here in the war. Shall I show you?

I'll take you and we can have a look at the operating table.

OK. Well, here we are, James. It looks like time has stood still down here as well in the theatre.

It looks fully operational, did any operations get carried out here?

Oh, yes, certainly. I mean generally these would have been more emergency operations.

This place was designated as a dressing station, so ideally the best situation was that they would

get casualties in here, sort out their wounds, their immediate problems and then preferably

move them inland to safety and to one of the larger hospitals, usually around Canterbury or Ashford.

-Yeah, not too far to travel.

-Yeah.

What were the major drawbacks if you had to do an operation down here?

Well, one of the problems was that during the whole of WWII,

up to till just after the Normandy invasions, Dover was being heavily bombed and shelled,

-and the problem was interruptions to the power supply.

-Right, the whole thing would be going like...

Yeah, once you get bombs dropping nearby or near the sub-stations

there in town you could quite easily lose the lighting in here.

And even though you've got back-up power supplies, it would always take a few moments to kick in,

or if they had to get generators working, it's not like today

where they start up automatically, somebody would have had to head outside and crank the handle.

There were a lot of staff working here in that period,

not just in hospital wards, but obviously in the command centre.

What were the general conditions like for them at the time?

Well, generally the facilities here were very good.

In fact I can take you down and show you the mess hall.

# When all the skies are grey

# And it's a rainy day... #

Well, this is obviously where everybody came to eat,

the mess room. What other areas were down here?

They had a full range of facilities, in fact they were probably

better kitted out down here than most people in the outside world.

They'd have been provided with hot meals, this mess room they could take their breaks in,

eaten their meals, they've got hot and cold running water, even showers down at the far end.

And a lot of people who were working in the hospital and

also working down on the lower level that we saw earlier would

-have come and slept in the hospital here, in one of the dormitories.

-What about the lack of sunlight?

Well, even as early as the WWII they were well aware of the problems

of lack of sunlight, and in fact we know that some of the ATS girls down on the lower level

at times were sent out for ultraviolet treatments, so sent

to go and stand around sun lamps to kind of boost their sunlight levels.

Yeah, I can kind of believe it. I've only been down here a couple of hours

this morning with you, and already I'm starting to feel sort of hemmed in, lack of air, lack of sunlight.

-Gosh, it's nice, isn't it?

-Isn't it nice to be in the fresh air again!

And what happened to the tunnels after the Second World War?

The tunnels were decommissioned at the end of the war, but the story doesn't end there,

because in the early 1960s they reopened this, the lower level,

-as a regional seat of government, a local nuclear shelter.

-Really?

And the government were here, the last department didn't move out until 1984,

and then English Heritage opened these tunnels to the public in 1990.

And thank goodness they did as well.

Time has stood still down there and you're preserving a bit of our heritage, which is great.

-Absolutely, yes.

-Thank you so much for showing me around.

-You're welcome, Paul.

Welcome back to a busy valuation day here at the Town Hall in Dover.

As you can see, the room is still jam-packed full of people, all hoping they are the lucky

ones to go off to auction, and turn their unwanted antiques into cash.

Let's now join up with our experts, and find out who the lucky ones are.

Peter, it's lovely to meet you, and I do like these graduated Shelley jugs.

-Yes.

-Now tell me a little bit about them, where did you get them from?

Well, my father saw them, I think it was before I was born.

He and my mother went into town in Darlington in County Durham,

and there was a sweet shop that was closing down, and he saw them, he was a very tall man,

and he saw them on a tall shelf, and asked the lady how much they were, and she said that she'd even

forgotten that they were up there, and if he could reach them he could have them for a pound each.

-Oh, fantastic.

-And he promptly bought them.

-So he didn't buy any sweets.

-No.

-He just bought the jugs.

-He just bought the jugs.

-Wonderful, what a lovely story.

And they've been on a shelf at home until a year ago when my mother

wanted me to have them, but I've nowhere to put them and I don't want them to go on a shelf,

so they should go to somebody who values this sort of thing.

Well, what I like about it is that, is that there's three, and they're graduated.

I really like the shape of them as well, this lovely octagonal shape,

which is, is based on the Mason's style.

And this lovely hydra figure as well, you see.

Ah, I thought it was a cat!

No, it does look a little bit, a bit like a cat.

But a sort of hydra figure that we find at the beginning of each handle.

I mean the pattern is quite, dare I say,

a little bit boring.

-Yes.

-But it's, I mean it appeals to me, this sort of chintzy,

chintzy feel, it's got the dragons on it, and a butterfly.

They have actually been transfer printed, a sheet pattern

which is what's been sort of wrapped around.

And we have got a bit of wear to them, you can see with the gilt rim,

it has been tarnished, a bit of wear there.

But nevertheless there's no chips, I can't really see any real chips or damage, which is lovely.

Shelley collectors often want real typical pieces of Shelley, like real art deco.

-You think of tea cups when you think of Shelley.

-Exactly, these don't match that, but might be something

-that a Shelley collector might be after.

-Right.

Shall we sort of put it, it's a cliche estimate I know, but shall we say £80 to £120?

-Sounds good.

-Happy with that?

-Very happy.

-£70 reserve?

Very good.

-Hello, Liz.

-Hi.

-You've brought a Flog It favourite,

haven't you, Moorcroft pottery. Now tell me all about them.

These were a gift to my grandmother, my mum thinks that they could have been wedding presents.

-And when were they married, do you know?

-I think they were probably married up in London, it would

-have been around early 1900s when they got married.

-Oh, that would fit in actually with the date.

Yeah. And then she happened to see this piece and because it matched she bought that as well.

And can you remember what she paid for this piece?

-No.

-But it was some time ago?

-Yeah, I was very young when my grandmother died, so...

Oh, right, OK, so how have you ended up with them?

Because my mum gave them to me.

Oh, right.

And they're in pride of place in your sitting room, are they?

They were until my husband and I got married a couple of years ago, and we got a gift of some large

-modern vases from our best friend Andy.

-Oh.

-And so unfortunately these have been relegated to the cellar.

-To the cellar!

-To the cellar.

-Oh, well that's not very fair is it, some wonderful quality objects like that.

Well, I will, I'll tell you a little bit about them!

They are wonderful examples of William Moorcroft's work.

William Moorcroft was an art nouveau designer who joined a factory called Macintyre in about 1897.

And basically he was given free rein in his department, and he was an artistic director if you like,

and to produce these art nouveau designs, under a brand name called Florian Ware.

-It is Florian.

-Florian Ware.

And he produced that, and then

in the early part of the 20th century he went his own way, but these are from that early period,

so they're not quite the 1890s period, they're more likely

to be 1910, 1915, somewhere around about that period.

And they are blue and red anemones really, the design.

-Right.

-Which are one of Moorcroft's favourite ways of decorating the vases.

But on these particular examples everything marries together very nicely.

We've got a very curvaceous art nouveau shape on the vases here.

-Yeah.

-I love these little minaret tube line decorations that go around

the main cartouche of the flowers,

and the use of these lovely colours, these subtle olive greens

and the dark and light blues, just to really create

that 3D effect, if you like.

And this one obviously, it's more inspired from the oriental designs,

-Right.

-It's almost like a gourd-shaped vase, with this little sort of knot neck there.

They're absolutely charming.

Well, I know you've brought the three items in as one lot,

but I think in fairness, to get the best possible price, we need to sell them in two lots.

The pair of vases, and the single vase. And I would put on these very pretty pair of vases £500 to £800,

and on this one I would put around £400 to £600.

And I would put the reserve at £450 and £350 respectively. Are you pleased with that?

-I am very pleased with that. Thank you.

-Jolly good. Now, the fateful question,

-what are you going to do with the cash?

-Spend it on our sick car.

-On your sick car, poor thing.

-Yes.

-Has it got a name, the sick car?

-He is, I'm afraid he's called Pierre.

-Pierre? Is he a French car?

-He's a Peugeot.

-He's a Peugeot, oh, Pierre the Peugeot, how lovely.

Frances, thank you for bringing along some lovely silverware.

I really love this.

Where did you get it from?

I inherited it from an aunt and uncle.

It had seen very active service until about 20 years ago.

But I've no use for it, we don't use it, just sits in a cupboard.

It's absolutely lovely. Really, I just love

this overlay of the silverware, sort of fretted silverware with this wonderful thistle design.

-I mean probably best to be sold in Scotland.

-Possibly.

With all the whisky drinkers up there, but it's such a nice thing and a really lovely shape as well.

And we can see here it's got the anchor mark on it that tells us

that it's Birmingham, and the letter here, the date letter is J, which dates it to 1933.

On the thistle there you can see that it has been engraved slightly.

And I just think it is quite simple, but I actually think it's a really nice piece of silver.

What's really nice about it as well,

it's got the name of the whisky maker down there, John Haig, which is lovely, really nice little touch.

So it's probably sold perhaps like a promotional decanter or something.

-Maybe, yes.

-Well, I'm just, I don't know,

if it were me I'd be quite reluctant to sell that, because I actually think that's quite a nice piece.

Yes, but we've nobody to pass it onto, it sits in the cabinet.

-Right. Now moving onto these, these are sort of quite, dare I say, run of the mill.

-Yes.

Silver salts and spoons. Again, let's just have a look at the...

again Birmingham, and the date on those is 1904.

I'd probably put those to one side and probably just

-put about £40 to £60 on those.

-Yeah.

So moving on to the decanter.

Shall we say about £60 to £80,

how does that sound?

Well, I'd certainly like to achieve the £80.

We can't put a reserve on higher than the low estimate,

if you get my drift, so I think with that in mind if you want £80 we need to put a fixed reserve

-of £80, and probably an estimate then of £80 - £120.

-That's lovely.

I wouldn't let it go if I was you!

It's now time for our final trip to the auction room, where we are selling Peter's

graduated Shelley jugs, which were rescued from a Darlington sweet shop.

Liz is hoping her grandmother's collection of Moorcroft vases will

fly away, as she needs the money to look after Pierre, her poorly car.

And of course we will also be selling Frances's fabulous John Haig whisky decanter, and pair of salts.

And these are the first items going under the hammer.

Well, things are going so well, and they could go even better right now.

I've been joined by Frances and Catherine, our expert.

We've got a couple of lots for you, one straight after the other, and first is that lovely decanter.

But first of all, who is this?

-Well, this is Reggie.

-Oh, Reggie, that's a great name.

And he's the reason I'm here, because I have an expensive hobby and I want to show him.

Oh, Reggie, oh, look at that.

Oh, he's gorgeous.

-Come on, Reggie.

-Here we go.

Lot number 173 is the silvery metal overlaid dimple Haig whisky bottle,

lot 173, who'll start me at £50?

Lot 173, the whisky bottle, any interest at £50, lot 173.

-£50 I'm bid, who's in at £60 now?

-We're looking at £80.

Anybody at £60? The bid is standing at £50, who's in at £60?

-Oh, come on.

-£60 I'm bid. £70?

-£80.

-We've done it.

£80, £90.

£90, bid at, you're bidding £90, the bid is at £90.

£100, £100 anywhere, it's at £90 now, and selling at £90.

Great, good valuation, and the second is my favourite,

I like the old English style to this, it's good.

Lot number 182 - pair of Edward VII silver ovoid two-handled salts

of Georgian design, lot number 182, who'll start me at £40?

£40 I'm bid, who's in at £50.

£50, £60, £70, £80.

-That's good!

-Anybody at £80? £80, £90, £100, £110, £120, anybody at £120, any interest at £120?

-Oh, Reggie, the price is going up!

-The bid is standing at £110 now, are we all done at £110?

-They deserve that.

-Excellent.

They were quality. That's £200 now for Reg, all for Reg, not for you.

Exactly!

Well, Catherine was on the money with those valuations.

Let's hope she can do just as well now with Peter's Shelley jugs.

-Well, good luck, Peter.

-Thank you.

Now's the moment of truth, just about to go under the hammer are three

graduating octagonal Shelley jugs, and we've got £80 to £120 on them.

Let's see what they do, here we go.

Lot number 22, the set of early 20th century Shelley pottery octagonal jugs, as on your screen, lot 22.

Who'll start me at £50? £50 I'm bid, who's in at £55 now,

any interest at £55...

on the telephone at £55. £60, £65.

£70, £75. £80, £85.

£90, £95.

Yeah, there's somebody in the room bidding.

-Yes.

-A good sign when the telephone comes in.

Looking for £100, if not I'm selling at £95, it's on the phone.

-Well, done, hammer's gone down now.

-Good, excellent.

-Very nice.

-£95. Within estimate.

-Within estimate.

-Very good.

-nice to have a bit more?

-Well, yes, but it'll pay for a very nice meal for mother and I.

-Oh, will it?

-Yes, it will.

-Good, good for you.

Right, now tension really is building.

I've just been joined by Liz, we've got two lots of Moorcroft going under the hammer, one following the other,

-the pair of vases to start with, £500 to £800.

-That's right, Paul.

It's all the money there, and the single vase, £400 to £600.

-That's right.

-Why are you selling these? ..Very good, very good.

-I've had to get a new car.

-Oh, have you?

-Yes.

-So they had to go.

-Yes, it's to finance that, I'm afraid.

Well, I guess it's better than being in too much debt, isn't it?

-Yeah, definitely.

-Let's see what we can do. Here they go.

Lot number 47, the pair of early 20th-century Macintyre Moorcroft pottery vases with the poppy design.

-Can I start at £880?

-Four bids, we're starting at £880.

-Ooh!

-Oh, my God!

-And I'm looking for a £900.

-Straight in.

-Phone at £900.

£920, £940.

-Hey.

-£960, £980.

£1,000, and 50?

-Oh, my life!

-£1,050, £1,100. £1,150.

£1,200, £1,250. £1,300, £1,350.

-£,1400, 1,450.

-Wow.

£1,500, £1,550.

£1,600, anybody at £1,600,

any interest at 1,600 online?

-Well, I never!

-In the room?

-Isn't that wonderful?

Bid is at £1,550 on the telephone, and selling at £1,550.

Yes, that's the first lot, £1,550.

OK, here's the single vase. Ready for this? We're going to add to it.

It's an early 20th-century Macintyre Moorcroft bulbous pottery vase with a poppy pattern.

-I think we might have a few bids.

-Four bids on the books, at £820.

Four bids, we're starting at £820.

-Oh, my God!

-£820 we're bid, who's in at £840, any interest at £840?

£840, £860, anybody at £860.

On the phone at £840 now, anybody at £860, any interest at £860?

-Gosh.

-If not I'm selling at £840, the bid is on the phone at £840.

Gosh, yes, straight in!

-Excellent.

-You were taken by surprise too.

-£840, that's £2,390.

-Excellent.

Has that paid for the car?

-The debts are going, the debts are going.

-They are.

-What a great thing!

-That's done the car, thank you.

-Oh, thank you so much.

-Oh, what a lovely feeling, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is.

Well done Liz, you've had a great day out, she's thoroughly enjoyed herself.

We've certainly, certainly been under a bit of stress here, but what a wonderful day,

and what a wonderful thing to end on as well.

You know, if you've got anything like that we'd love to see you

at a valuation day, so until the next time, from Canterbury, it's cheerio.

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