Bodmin Flog It!

Today I feel like I've come back home because we're in Cornwall, good old Kernow,

and how about this for a fabulous location?

This Grade I-listed church is known as St Petroc's Church and it's here in Bodmin.

And just look at this fantastic queue, which means we're here to Flog It!

ALL: Yeah!

So why is this church called St Petroc's?

Well, he is the official patron saint of Cornwall and he's credited

with all kinds of miracles including ridding the county of their last dragon. He's definitely got my vote!

St Petroc is also supposed to have turned water into nectar.

Sadly our own antiques dragons Mark Stacey and Catherine Southon don't have such powers,

but we're relying on their sharp eyes, instincts and knowledge

to pick up the best pieces to take off to auction

where hopefully we'll have some of our own minor miracles.

Well, it is now 9.30 by my watch.

It's time to get the doors open and get the show on the road.

Let's go inside and Flog It. Yeah!

And as our owners pull up a pew, we're praying for some rich pickings.

In fact, Mark has already found something of a mini marvel,

a rare piece from the Cornish pottery Troika.

-Hello, Pam.

-Hello, Mark.

Now, come on, tell us, what's your love affair with Troika?

Oh, back in the 70s I had a gift shop in Mevagissey,

and I used to sell Troika and lots of other different Cornish potteries,

and at the moment it's been on my wall in the kitchen for about 10 years,

and I keep looking at it and decided, well...

-Enough is enough.

-Yeah, that's it.

And what sort of prices did you used to sell it for back in the 70s?

Ah, well, it was quite expensive then.

-I suppose a small piece would sell for about £3.99.

-Gosh, yes.

And some of the big pieces would be about £20, £30.

Which was a lot of money, actually, 40 years ago, wasn't it?

Yeah, it was. It sold very well then.

A lot of people say to me, Pam, why Troika? It's quite simple, isn't it?

It was founded by three friends, Benny Sirota, Leslie Illsley and Jan Thomson,

and it's the Russian word for a three horsed vehicle or a three wheeled vehicle.

It's quite a rare shape.

-It's not the usual vase or ornament you see, being a wall pocket like this.

-That's right, yes.

I mean, did you ever sell these in the shop?

Well, you used to have the standard vases, ashtrays, the lamps,

but there was always one or two pieces which you didn't sell a lot of,

but you had to have them as a centrepiece.

This used to go in the centre, and I used to have dried grasses coming out of it.

-Oh, wonderful.

-And people would see it and think, well, that would fit on that wall quite nice, you know?

-And they'd come in and be frightened by the price.

-Yes.

But then they'd buy a smaller piece. It's a marketing ploy. Very clever!

But it had to be a particular piece for a particular spot, you know?

-Yes.

-And this used to...

Completely different for a vase hanging on the wall rather than just standing on a table.

On the table or on the sideboard.

I mean, I think it is tricky because the Troika market...

Like the Whitefriars market I think it has probably peaked a bit at the moment,

but of course when rarities come on the market there are still collectors out there,

and I certainly haven't seen one of these come up for sale.

I've talked today with some of the other experts here

and we've come up with a figure of around about £800 to £1,200.

Does that fit in with what you think?

I would have thought about the thousand, so that's in the middle isn't it? So...

It is a bit. I think if we put it in at 800 to 1,200 with an 800 reserve.

-Yeah.

-Well, if you're happy with that, Pam, I'm absolutely convinced

if we're going to get the best price it's going to be here in Cornwall.

-Howard, welcome to Flog It.

-Thank you.

Thank you very much for coming along today.

Now, this is a rather impressive glass jug you've brought here with a nice bit of weight to it.

-Tell me, where did you get this from?

-It was from my aunt.

Some 40 years ago she gave to us as a wedding present, I believe.

Oh, did she? Right, so it's... But she's had it before then?

-Oh, yes, she had a long time before then, yeah.

-Right, OK, but she gave it to you.

-Yes.

-And you no longer use it?

-Well, we've never used it.

-Oh, right.

-It's just too heavy.

-It is, actually.

You try and pour your juice or something out there, I mean...

If you filled it up with wine or whatever you'd never lift it.

Why did you bring it along today?

Purely by accident. I was working here doing a few jobs and behind the shop and that...

-You work at the church?

-Yeah.

-Fantastic.

-Doing odds of things.

-Fantastic place to work.

And I was watching you lot all working and I thought, oh.

My wife said go and get the jug, so here it is.

-So you nipped back home and thought, why not?

-Get the jug, yeah.

Well, thank you very much for nipping back home and bringing this

because I think you've brought along a rather nice thing.

-Have you any idea of date on this?

-No idea at all.

Well, this pattern here makes me think it's Georgian,

but then coming down here this pattern around here,

these arch patterns, make me think that it's more Victorian,

-so I'd probably date it to around 1860s, that period.

-Right.

So your aunt must have had it in her family for quite some time.

Probably, yes. They did collect bits and pieces.

What I like about it is it's got a little bit, you can see there,

it's got a few numbers etched there

which looks like an inventory number,

something like that, so it's nice to have that little added extra.

Looking through it and feeling through it there does seem to be a little bit of damage there,

there's a nasty chip. Is that something that's happened whilst you've had it or...

I don't think so because it's as it is, really.

-It is as it is.

-Yeah.

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

Not really, no.

-I think it would probably be worth about £60 to £80 at auction and put a £40 reserve on that.

-OK.

Would you be happy to sell at that?

-Yeah.

-Shall we put it in £60 to £80?

-Please do.

-Let it go.

-Thank you.

This is what I love doing, dipping in and out of the queue, finding all the little items

before the experts do and, of course, meeting a few local characters. Hello.

-Hello, Paul.

-Can I ask you what you've brought in today?

-Yes, it's some artefacts from a Civil War blockade runner that sunk off Lundy Island.

-Really?

-Yes.

-And how did you come by these?

Well, a friend of mine used to run a salvage company and he was after

looking for a wreck of the Robert which is sunk off Lundy Island

and while searching for that he found the wreck of the Iona,

which was almost alongside it, a pure fluke.

-Wow. And do you dive yourself?

-Yes.

I guess it's something you do being a Cornish lad.

You either surf or you dive or you have a fishing boat because we are surrounded by water here

and it's really nice to have a few artefacts from let's say the bottom of the ocean!

-1864.

-This is lovely, isn't it?

Captain's inkwell, desk well in pewter,

and its little glass flask as well.

Wow. Good luck!

Next Mark's found a set of four bowls that were produced to advertise porridge.

-Leslie, do you know why I like doing Flog It?

-Why?

Because you just never know what's going to turn up...

-You don't.

-You know? We all want, you know, bits of silver, the Troika

and the Clarice Cliff, and then out of the blue something like this turns up

that you brought with you today with the most fabulous story, which we'll get into in a minute.

Now, how have you kept them so well?

-I just kept them in the box. That's...

-And they were your...

-They were my gran's.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

And then they went to my auntie, then from my auntie, who passed away,

to my cousin, from my cousin to me.

What I particularly like is the box.

-Yeah.

-You've got obviously the standard merchandising there,

but I love the fact that all this old-fashioned writing, "deliver at once".

-You know, carriage paid for. And the Dartford line here.

-Yeah.

Which now of course is the...

-The Channel Tunnel.

-The Channel Tunnel line.

And the bowls themselves look...

-They're mint condition, really.

-Absolutely untouched.

There's no maker's mark or anything on them.

-No, just a cross on the bottom.

-Just a cross.

-That's really a potter's mark.

-Oh, I see.

-They're transfer printed...

-Yeah.

-And they're coloured over so the actual quality of them is not brilliant.

-Oh.

But that wasn't enough information,

we have a letter here dated 1984 from Quaker Oats explaining how this came about.

Effectively in 1906 they, on their packaging, gave presentational tokens.

You collected 35 tokens, sent them off and you got four bowls in the post.

There's quite a lot of these still existing,

-not in this original condition.

-No.

And they offered in 1984 £30 to have them for their reference collection.

Well, they want them for their own museum.

-That's right.

-Yeah.

-Which I think is wonderful.

When you think of what we save up for today from packaging,

-it's mobile phones or cheap little plastic toys, you know?

-Oh, I know.

Which of course everybody's going to keep in their original boxes,

but they won't be worth anything, because everybody will keep them.

The whole reason there's any interest in this at all is because of the packaging.

And why have you brought them along today?

Well, they're underneath my bed and I thought, well, why should I just leave them? Why not...

Somebody might want them.

Of course, now the tricky part, Leslie.

-Yes.

-What on earth do we put on them as an estimate?

Oh, thousands, I would think!

-What, of Turkish lira?

-Yes.

I just don't know where to start because...

we've got so many people who might like them.

We've got people who collect early advertising work.

I think they're probably worth £20 a bowl,

and if you add on another £20 for the packaging that's £100 to £150.

-Yeah.

-But it might make more, I just don't know.

-Yeah.

-Would you be happy to put them in with a reserve at 100?

-Yeah.

Because I just don't know. I might be completely wrong.

-Fair enough.

-I look forward to seeing you at the auction.

-And let's hope we get our just oats.

-Thank you very much.

-Anne, welcome to Flog It.

-Thank you.

Thank you very much for coming along today

and bringing along this delightful silver fruit basket.

Can you tell me where you got it from?

-It belonged to my late husband's family.

-Right.

That's really all I can tell you about it, you know?

-It's been in the family a long time.

-So something that you've had...

Had in your home for a while?

Yes, but not liking cleaning any more, it's been in the loft for a long time.

-I know, they're a bit of a pain to clean. But you've had lots of fruit in it?

-Yeah, I have had.

-It's been well used?

-It was.

My mother-in-law used to use it quite a lot when she was alive,

but when it came to me I'm afraid it got put in the loft and I didn't use it.

-Not quite your taste?

-No. Well, yes, I do like it, but it was just...

It's very difficult to clean.

Yes. Right. Well, let's just have a little look at it.

I do like this lovely pierced...

The pierced decoration, the wonderful scroll patterns here,

and we can see here the flower buds just coming out here in this lovely flower pattern.

What I like about it is this decoration is actually echoed on the handle really beautifully.

-And we've got the initials JH here. Who's JH?

-She was Jane Horton, that was my late husband's grandmother.

Right, OK. So we're going back quite...

-Going back quite a way, yes.

-Quite a few generations here.

-Yeah.

-It probably does date it to around I would say 1890s.

Where's the hallmark?

It's on the edge somewhere, it goes in with the flowers.

-Can we see the hallmark? Ah, there we are.

-Yeah.

Yeah. Ah, right, so London and the letter A.

So that dates it to 1896. 1896.

-Gosh, older than I thought, yes.

-So that works in quite well.

But it really is a lovely piece.

Now, have you any idea of value of this?

Not really, no, you know?

I had it valued about seven years ago, you know, but I think it was overvalued then, really.

-Right.

-They said about 400, but I don't, you know...

-400.

I think that it was overvalued.

I think you're right. I think you're right on that.

£400 is really too high for something like this.

If I could put this in auction I would really like to see this with a value of about £200 to £300.

-That's fine.

-Is that OK to you?

-Yeah, fine, yes.

-With a 180 reserve, how does that sound to you?

Can we say 200 reserve? No?

No problem. We'll say £200.

-A fixed reserve then of £200.

-That would be fine.

200 to 300. So, you're a bit reluctant to let it go then.

Well, it looks so nice now, doesn't it, now it's clean!

-Are you having second thoughts?

-Yeah.

-So you have cleaned it to bring it along?

Yes. Oh, yes, definitely.

-I'll see you at the auction.

-OK.

And this is where our antiques have ended up.

Jefferys Auction Rooms And Valuers in Lostwithiel.

It's about this time of the day, just before the sale gets underway,

that our owners are going to feel really nervous or very excited, so I'm going to catch up with them

and while I do that here's a quick recap of all the items that are going under the hammer.

Howard's never used this glass vase because it's too heavy, but I'm sure

someone will be more than happy to take it off his hands.

Leslie's Quaker Oats bowls are in mint condition,

but Mark felt his expectations were still a little optimistic.

What on earth do we put on them as an estimate?

Oh, thousands I would think!

-What of Turkish lira?

-Yes!

Will Anne's hard work polishing up her silver fruit basket pay off?

And Pam had a flourishing business selling Troika in her shop back in

the 1970s, but will this rare wall plaque fare well in today's market?

I'm absolutely convinced if we're going to get the best price,

it's going to be here in Cornwall.

Well, it won't be long before we find out whether Mark's right,

but I thought I'd run it by a man who knows the local market inside out, today's auctioneer Ian Morris.

Well, we couldn't come to Cornwall without seeing a little bit of Troika could we, let's face it?

Ian, I'm so pleased it's popped up.

We do see it all over the country, it does travel well,

and it's been selling so well for us right up until the last couple of years,

where I think it's reached its peak now and maybe the prices are starting to drop.

This belongs to Pam. Now, I know she bought this in the early part of the 1970s from the Troika factory,

and we've put a valuation of it £800 to £1,200 on this.

It's a very unusual piece and the wall pocket vase

is one of the few things that don't come up very often at all.

However, as you say, Troika probably in the last couple of years

has reached a peak and I've found probably the top-end pieces probably have come down a bit in price.

The collectors aren't out there say to push on the higher price items.

Have the overcooked this at £800 to £1,200?

I think you could have. Certainly if it came in through the door,

I'd be looking at, say, £400 to £600, maybe £500 to £700,

but 800 to 1,200...

Yeah, but that's like an auctioneer's trick in a way,

you get things in low so it gets people excited.

I hope people do get excited about this.

I think it's really rare. It's the first one I've seen in the flesh.

I've seen them obviously documented in books and catalogues, but...

It's the first one I've handled as well, so who knows?

-You never know.

-I could be wrong.

-This is what auctions are all about. OK, this is why we're here.

This is going to be exciting, just keep watching because we'll find out exactly what this does.

Well, we'll just have to wait and see because right now first up are Howard's porridge bowls.

I absolutely loved this next lot. It puts a smile on my face.

Four Quaker Oats bowls with their original package.

They belong to Leslie, who's standing right next to me,

and they've been in your family for a long time, grans, aunts.

-Over 100 years.

-Why have you decided to sell them now?

-I've decided to feed my wife. She's getting a bit thin!

-Cheeky.

I'll take her out for a meal.

You are cheeky, aren't you? And you don't sound Cornish either.

-No, Kentish.

-Kentish. So when did you come to Cornwall?

-Three years ago.

-Yeah? Retired now?

-Yeah.

-Good move?

-Yeah.

-This is your lot.

-We have a set of four Quaker advertising bowls.

Very interesting. It's the 1906 box, or circa round there.

Original letter as well. A letter from 1984 to say that they would...

Quaker would buy them back at £30.

Let's see how they get on now at £80. £80? £50 I've got here.

-At £50. The bids with me.

-Come on.

At £50. 60. 70.

80. 90. At £90 the bids with me.

Is it 100 anywhere? At £90. 100. At £100 on the phone.

At £100. 110 now.

At £100. 110 or not? Are we done?

On the phone at £100.

-The hammer's gone down. That's OK.

-We're happy with that.

Yeah, fine. Yeah, that's fine.

A nice bit of social history there.

-Yeah.

-Really is.

-Yeah.

-So, that's a slap-up meal for you and your wife.

Oh, yeah. I chop a bit of toast.

You're going to be in trouble when she sees this, you know that?

I've just been joined by Howard and we've got a crystal glass jug.

-It's quite big, isn't it?

-It's very heavy.

I can see why you want to get rid of this.

It's not practical, is it?

-No, not really.

-I know, Catherine, you said that, as well.

Well, I mean, it's a nice piece, but I mean you can't really use it, can you?

It's decorative and that's all.

It's not really functional, is it?

-But let's not talk down too much because we need to sell this, we need to find a buyer.

-Oh, right.

-And we've got a £40 reserve, so it's bound to go for that.

-I think so.

It's bound to go for more than that.

-Hope.

-Hope. Yeah, fingers crossed, we're going to find out. This is it.

OK, on we go, lot 96 there, Georgian heavy cut glass hexagonal water jug.

£40 away? £30 away? £20 I'm bid.

-Come on.

-At £20. At £20. I'll take 5 to get on. At £20 I'm bid.

25. 28. £30? £30. 32.

-Come on.

-35. 38.

-We've done it.

-£40. £40. At £40 I'm out.

At £40 right there. At £40 I'm bid.

Two or not? We're done at the £40.

-Just. We're happy, aren't we?

-Yes.

Because Howard didn't want to take that home, did you?

-It's too heavy...

-No, is too heavy.

-To put on the bus.

The put back underneath the kitchen sink.

Well, yeah, in a cupboard.

This is fabulous because we've got Troika on the show.

We can't come to Cornwall without seeing some Troika.

-Now, I know you were selling this in the 70s.

-Yes.

My mum and dad moved down here in the early part of the 70s.

I was brought up in Cornwall and I know they may have bought some from you possibly.

More than likely because Troika used to be sold in one area at a time,

and if they came to Mevagissey I was the only person selling it, so...

-And mum and dad were always around there.

-Yes.

I had a chat to Ian, the auctioneer, earlier.

He said he thinks it's a little top-heavy.

-If you walked into the saleroom with it he would have put possibly 500 to 700 on.

-OK.

It might struggle, but you never know.

This is an auction, people get carried away, two people want something

and they'll push that price up.

This is it.

The rare Troika pottery wall pocket vase there.

Possibly the work of Louise Jinks.

What do you say for that very quickly?

I've got a bit of interest on the books and I'll start at £300.

At £300 I'm bid. At £300. 320 now.

At 300. 320. 350. 380.

400. 420. 450.

At 450. At 450. 480 now. At 450.

At 450. 480 now. At 450 I'm bid.

At 450. 480 or not?

-Are we done at £450?

-Not quite, no.

He was right, I think, Paul.

It would have got at five to seven with discretion.

-I think it would have done.

-It's going home.

It's going back on the wall.

-Aww.

-Well, you were having second thoughts, weren't you?

-Oh, yes, I was now. Well, I haven't put anything up there, so it'll go back.

-You were tempting fate.

-Yeah, thank you very much.

-Oh, that's OK. We tried.

Right, next up, fingers crossed we get the top end of the estimate.

£200 to £300 is riding on this wonderful silver fruit bowl, but unfortunately Anne, the owner,

can't be with us today, but we do have Catherine.

-You do. Well...

-It's useful, let's big it up.

It is. A nice little bit of silver.

-Yes.

-Functional. It's got a purpose.

-Silver's up in value.

-It's over £9 an ounce scrap value.

-Really? As much as...

-Yes, yes.

And quite a lot of the silver dealers I think are here, so we should be all right.

Also this is a useful piece of silver because you can actually practically use it.

-You can put fruit in it.

-In the middle of your dining room table.

-Yes. Here we go.

A silver fruit basket with a pierced flora and foliate decoration

with swing handle on a circular stemmed support.

What do you say to the fruit basket there?

£200 to start? 150 away please.

150 I am bid. At 150. 160. 170.

170? 170. 180. 190.

-190. 200. 210.

-Yes.

-210. 210.

220. 210 at the back there. 220.

220. 230. 230. 240. 240.

250. 250. 260. 260. 270.

-Good.

-At 260 seated. At 260.

-Yes, 270. 270.

-Yes.

-280.

-Brilliant.

-That's good.

-280. 280. 290. 290. 300.

300. 320? At 300 seated.

At 300. Going at £300.

Yeah, it's good to get the top end, isn't it? Well done.

-Fantastic.

-But that was something so practical.

-Absolutely.

And there was a lot of silver. Are you giving her a call?

I think we will. We've got to go and give her the good news.

80? 80. 85.

Well, so far so good.

That concludes our first visit to the auction room today.

We are coming back later on in the programme so stay tuned,

because hopefully there'll be one or two surprises,

but after all that excitement I'm going to treat myself to a bit of Cornish hospitality.

Well, this is more like it, isn't it?

When you're in this part of the world what could be better than a cream tea?

Soft scones, strawberry jam, clotted cream

and of course a cup of the nation's favourite tipple.

Now, what makes this the ultimate cream tea is the fact that everything you see

right here in front of me has been produced locally,

and I'm even talking about the tea.

Unbelievably, the tea leaves were grown right here in Cornwall...

A million miles from its roots which were far, far away.

The tea plant, camellia sinensis, originates in south east Asia,

and legend has it that some 4,500 years ago the Chinese emperor

was one day sitting underneath a wild tea plant tree boiling up some water,

when accidentally some leaves from the tea plant just fluttered down into the water,

and he was so intrigued by the aroma that he took a sip.

It wasn't until 1661 that the practice of drinking tea made it as far as England,

and that's thanks to the marriage of King Charles II to Catherine of Braganza.

She brought the custom with her from her native Portugal.

But whilst the British took to tea like ducks to water, it was never planted here.

Instead it was grown in far off parts of the British Empire, like India and Ceylon.

Tea became associated with Britishness, but also colonialism.

By the Second World War tea had become such a British institution

that Winston Churchill declared it as important as ammunition to the war effort.

Afraid that rations would run out he made plans to grow it here, but never went ahead with them.

In fact, nobody had ever attempted to grow tea commercially in Britain before

until the owners of the huge Tregothnan estate near Truro came along

and decided to create the UK's first tea plantation,

and it all started here in this walled garden.

And Jonathan Jones is the director of gardens here. It's great to meet you.

Thanks so much for talking to me today.

This is absolutely miraculous, isn't it? A tea plantation in Cornwall!

Putting the English into English tea.

It is quite eccentric, I've got to say.

-Whose idea was this?

-It grew out of the soil.

-The family have always been passionate about new cultivars and species coming into the UK...

-Yeah.

-This is just one more camellia.

-You talk about the family, who owns the estate here?

Lord Falmouth and the Honourable Evelyn Boscawen have, since 1335,

been cultivating the garden and the estate.

Why has nobody ever attempted to grow tea commercially in the UK before?

Umm, interesting. But it's never really been in short supply, has it?

-Tea's always been widely available coming in from the old Empire, if you like.

-And it's very affordable.

Most people would assume the climate's not right.

It's not right for high-volume tea like we buy from Kenya and India,

but great for high-quality tea, more like Darjeeling style...

-Sure.

-Suited to... You know, these climate conditions.

And what about the pH formula in the soil, does that have to be pretty good?

Really important. It has to be very low pH.

In fact, this is the old walled garden which was producing vegetables for the last 200 years.

Now the underlying pH is really acid, but because of all the liming for the veggies,

it became a little bit too high, so we've had to bring back down again.

Does this shelter help the tea at all?

It does, and this was the first site chosen on the estate for tea because it is such a sheltered microclimate.

-And the walls all face south-south-east.

-And you're in a dip in the valley here.

Obviously we're out of season. When is the season for plucking?

Well, generally we find over the last 10 years about April through to October,

but we have even plucked tea in December, which is off season.

-What are you looking for?

-Top two leaves in the bud.

-Yeah.

-That's these chaps here.

-And the hairier the better. If you've nice hairy tips...

-Why is that?

-That's a good sign.

-Why?

Because it's a sign of good quality, good cultivar of tea anyway.

And you simply snap them off.

Not using your nails, just simply pulling them off like that.

-Quite crudely.

-Quite crude, but you've to get quite quick.

That's very slow! THEY LAUGH

How much tea will you actually get from this little plantation?

There's a few hundred bushes here and if each one gave you a kilo or so,

-probably 300 kilos, something like that.

-That's not bad, is it?

-Not bad.

Could somebody at home plant up one of these?

Yes, in fact we sell tea bushes like this all over the UK,

up as far as Aberdeen and Wales, all over the place.

How many bushes are there here in total?

-Oh, about 30,000 probably... Have been planted over the last 10 years or so.

-That's a lot, isn't it?

Do you know what, though? I think talking about tea, I think we should turn this into a cuppa, don't you?

Good idea.

-So how long will it take to dry these out now?

-Well, the first step...

You can't just dry it because you'd end up with dried camellia leaves

that didn't taste a lot of tea, so we give this a little while

-just to soften and basically go rubbery and withered.

-Yeah.

Once that's happened you can pick them up and they're starting to turn rubbery now.

-You can feel these bigger leaves.

-Yeah, you can, can't you?

-If you then take them between your hand and roll them.

-Right.

This is called the rolling process.

Very small scale obviously for a few cups of tea.

-And then...

-Are you pushing quite hard?

-Yeah.

You need to rupture those cells and the harder the better, really.

And then put them back on here for a little while to...

-I've gone too hard.

-No, that's good. That's very good.

And then you need to wait a while for the oxidation process to happen.

-Yeah.

-And then you've got tea.

This is the stages for black tea. For green tea it doesn't really need to oxidise, I guess, does it?

Yes. If you want to skip a phase of oxidation you go straight to drying, that gives you green tea.

-Exactly.

-People don't realise but all the different teas come from the same leaf,

it's just how you process it.

So, the proof's in the pudding, isn't it?

The next stage drying, which is a bit like watching paint dry, I'm afraid. You have to wait.

This is what they call orthodox black tea.

-OK. It's brittle now it's dry.

-Very brittle and it will make tea, but it takes about 36 hours from bush

to cup, so even with a good fire it's still quite a slow process.

-Yeah. We've got one that we prepared earlier, so to speak.

-Here we are.

-Hand-rolled.

-Hand-rolled tea.

-Into Truro.

-It's been infused for a few minutes there.

Ah, do you know, green tea and Earl Grey is my tipple, though? So here we go. Cheers.

-God, that's delicious.

-It's quite sweet, isn't it?

Yes, it is. It is. It's very sweet, actually.

Do you know, you can't beat that, drinking tea

grown in Truro out of china clay mug from St Austell.

To tell you the truth, I never knew tea was grown in Cornwall.

Well, it's now time to get back to work because people are still

filing into our valuation day at Bodmin, where Catherine has found a tiny little kettle.

Roy, welcome to Flog It. Thank you for coming along today.

Tell me a little bit about it, where did you get it from?

Right, it belonged to my wife's mother, and when she died,

my wife had a few bits and pieces left to her and that was one of them and it's been sitting around at home

in different places and we thought, right, well, Flog It's here,

so let's see if we can flog it, you know?

And see if we can flog it, I like it.

Now I am amazed by the condition of this. Let's just have a little look at this.

First of all we've got a lot of piece of treen, first and foremost.

Looks possibly like it's made from rosewood.

It's actually a pincushion.

-Oh, right.

-A pincushion which is in the form of a kettle.

But what I think is amazing is that this has kept intact and it hasn't

-broken off because it's so thin, so delicate.

-Delicate, isn't it? Yeah.

You can see here this little bit of velvet, slightly worn,

but you can see there where it's got the little pricks from the pins.

Oh, yeah, I hadn't noticed that before.

And the ivory handle along the top.

I rather like it. A nice little novelty piece.

Obviously something that you don't use in your family.

-No, it's just been sitting in a cabinet.

-Something that you like?

I quite like it. I mean, it's an unusual looking little thing.

I quite like it, but on the other hand,

we need the money to get a laptop for my wife, so it had to go.

It's got to go. I'm so pleased that this has been preserved and kept in

a cabinet away from little child's fingers because it's something that

a little child could easily pick up and play with and make her little dollies a cup of tea or something.

Now moving on to this second item here, this looks to me like a little boxwood, perhaps a tourist piece.

I can see here that it's got

Hastings, a little transfer of Hastings on the side.

-Yeah.

-I mean, it's a needle case, it's not something that's in fantastic condition,

but it links rather nicely with this other item and I would probably sell the two together.

Have you any idea of value on these?

Not a clue.

This is really the star item and this is something that I would just link in with that.

Value-wise, how does £60 to £80 sound?

-It sounds good to me.

-You'd be happy with that?

-Yeah, that's fine.

I'd suggest probably putting a reserve on of £50, a fixed reserve.

That is a superb piece of treen.

-A lovely piece of rosewood.

-Pretty, isn't it?

-Well, I'll see you at the auction.

-Lovely.

I hope that it makes top estimate and let's keep our fingers crossed.

-Thanks very much.

-Thanks, Roy.

-Hello, Karen.

-Hello, Mark.

Now, you've brought a nice little oriental pot in to show us.

-What do you know about it?

-Yes.

Well, not a great deal. A friend of mine told me it was a Cantonese pot years ago, but she wasn't exactly

an expert herself, but I got it 25 years ago from my auntie who died.

But she kept everything forever, so I don't know how old it is even.

OK, OK. Well, you're quite right, it is Cantonese.

It's... We generally refer to this type of ware as famille rose.

That's because of the little delicate pink colours you can see in the design.

-Yes.

-It's Cantonese because all of this type of ware was

exported from the port at Canton, so it's all known as Cantonese ware.

This is late 19th century, 1890, 1900, maybe just over the century.

It was produced for a long period of time.

By this stage they were producing a lot of export ware to fill Victorian houses

-and that could have just been a little vase for short-stemmed flowers.

-I see.

But whatever it is, it's very typical of design.

What I quite like about it, which is slightly unusual,

is that the figures are raised up so the body is moulded and then painted...

-Yes.

-With the figures, and then you've got these wonderful typical borders

of flowers and leaves and butterflies,

and there's a lot going on there in a very small piece, isn't it?

It is. It's what makes it so pretty, lots of little detail, isn't it?

That's right. Well, you've had a while now, Karen, why have you decided to flog it today?

Well, I moved house about a year ago and where I've got this,

I can see that one day it could go flying and then that will be the end of it,

and it is a pretty pot, so I may as well sell it while it's still in one piece.

In terms of the value, do you have any ideas on what you think it might be worth?

Not really, but I was once offered £70 for it,

which I declined because the person I was with said it wasn't enough.

OK. Was that recently or was it a number of years ago?

-About three years ago.

-Right, so it's a fair while ago really, isn't it?

-Yes.

-I mean, in my opinion it is a nice little piece, it should do quite well.

I would really have put the estimate at something like 60 to 100, so 70 is... Is in amongst there, really.

And obviously with a reserve of 60. Would you be happy to do that?

-Yes, I would.

-And it'll be a fun day out anyway, won't it?

Well, it would, wouldn't it?

Anthea, I'm getting rather excited

because I think underneath this canvas case there is a leather case.

-Yes.

-One of great virtue and expense.

Are we ready?

Look at that, crocodile skin.

-Lovely, isn't it?

-And it's in mint condition.

Absolutely mint condition. Who's AD, the initials?

That's a lady called Amalia Demetriadi.

And did you know her?

-Yes.

-OK.

-Her father was leader of the Chamber Of Commerce back in the 19...

Early 1900s.

She didn't have any children and she very kindly gave me this.

-Did she?

-Yes.

-This thing would have been around in the 1920s.

The age of the motor car, the golden age.

-Yes.

-Cars were first introduced in the early 1900s.

-Yes.

Out went the canvas baskets, out went the wicker baskets because everything was horse-drawn then.

In came the leather travel ware.

You had to be quite wealthy to have something like this.

I'm sure you did, yes.

Well, let's have a look inside and see the fitted interior. Here we go.

-Isn't it gorgeous?

-It is.

Brushes, clothes brushes, hairbrushes.

Here is a tiny little wallet.

Oh, no, it's a clock. It's a travelling clock.

-That really I think makes it, that clock.

-Wow!

This is nice.

Yes.

Little manicure set with a pen knife.

And a sewing... A little sewing kit.

I suspect the tweezers are missing.

I would think so, yes.

-What's this one?

-That's a writing case.

Oh, my gosh, look at this.

And it's all stamped Finnegan's of Manchester and Liverpool and London.

-Yes.

-And that's obviously the maker's name.

-Yes.

-There is another maker's label there.

-Finnegan's of London.

-Yes.

And looking here at the silver hallmarks,

there's a leopard head which tells us it's London and there's an O, OK?

And a little lion passant which tells up it's sterling silver.

The O is the date letter for 1929.

-My word.

-And...

-Little hand mirror.

-There's a secret, as well.

-That whole thing lifts off, doesn't it?

That lifts off.

-Ah, look at that! This is where...

-If you go in here...

-The diamond necklace goes.

-Well...

-Oh, come on, is there one?

-One would think. Oh, I wish there was.

Oh, look at it. It's exquisite. Absolutely exquisite.

-It's all silk lined.

-Unfortunately, there are no diamonds in there.

Oh, there's no diamond necklace.

Well, it's faultless. It's absolutely faultless, it really is.

It's a shame we don't have things like this today.

Why do you want to sell this?

How do you display something like this?

-It's very difficult, isn't it?

-Yes.

It's been in its canvas case for a long time,

which is the right thing to do, the leather hasn't faded,

but what do you do, you're right, how do you display it at home?

I think if you want to sell this we should put this into auction...

-And give it a price tag of around £250 to £350.

-Yes.

-I'd like to see it do 400...

-Yeah.

On a good day.

-There are collectors for this particular type of item...

-Yeah.

And some interior designers that will know how to display properly,

possibly for props, you know, in a shop window.

-Yes.

-Fixed reserve at 250.

-Yeah, OK. Thank you.

Oh, I'm very excited about this. Very excited!

'Well, it's crunch time again as we're off to auction

'with our last set of items, and here's a reminder of what we've got.

'Karen is hoping to sell this Cantonese brush pot

'whilst it's still in one piece.

'Will these novelty treen items earn Roy enough money

'to buy his wife a laptop?

'And last but not least,

'Anthea had to prise this beautiful suitcase out of my hands!'

Oh, look at it, it's exquisite!

Absolutely exquisite!

'Hopefully someone else in this packed auction room will love it as much as I do.'

'Well, it's now time for our first item to go under the hammer

'and first to be put out of their misery is Roy.'

Roy, why are you selling these bits of treen?

-Well, my wife is into photography and she needs a laptop.

-She needs...

Oh, right, to download on... Right.

Download the stuff on to a laptop and take with her.

We're talking about those wonderful two pieces of treen, the little

pincushion like a kettle, and the other item is really lovely as well.

Yeah, it's a nice little bit of treen.

-I'm a big treen fan.

-Yeah, I noticed!

And I know there's lots of collectors out there.

They're tactile. It's something you can pick up and you don't want to put down.

And they know they've been viewed heavily.

I looked and people were touching them and holding them and falling in love with them.

So £60 to £80, hopefully we can turn them into 100.

I like to hear it, yeah.

I hope we do you justice.

-This is it.

-Lots 447, there. Two pieces of treen.

A needlework case showing a Victorian countryside scene

and one other piece there, lot 447.

-Can I say £50 away? £30 to start me. £30. £40. 50? 50. 60.

-Now we're in.

-Sold.

-70. 80? 80. 90? 90. 100?

At £90 in the middle.

-At £90 I'm bid. Take five?

-Come on, round it up.

-Oh, that's good.

-Five or not? We're done at the £90.

-Oh, well, we sold it, £90.

-Smashing, yeah.

-Brilliant.

-That's good news.

-Yeah, smashing. Thank you, my darling.

-Well, done as well.

-Thank you, my friend.

-Thank you.

Right now a touch of the Orient is coming to the West Country.

We've got at famille rose little brush pot, it belongs to Karen.

£60 to £100 is riding on this.

The saleroom's jam-packed, isn't it?

-It is.

-I'm pleased you made it in time.

It's absolutely heaving, isn't it?

-Feeling nervous?

-Yes.

I've think our expert Mark Stacey is. Are you confident?

Of course I'm confident, Paul. It's like little Beijing in here it's so crowded!

But if it's going to do well, it's going to do well here.

We're going to find out right now. This is your lot.

-Good luck.

-Mid 19th century Canton cylindrical brush pot there.

Lot 25.

Can I say £50 away? £30 away?

-Oh, come on.

-£30 I'm bid. At £30. 35. £40. 45. Is it 50?

At £45. 50 now. £50. 55. £60?

-£60. At £60. The bid's in the middle. At £60.

-We're selling.

Are we all done at £60?

Yes, we've just done it. £60.

-Only just.

-Only just, Paul.

I was hoping for the top end there.

I was hoping for 80 to 100, really, but...

-It would have been nice.

-It would have been nice, but are you happy?

Yes, I am. But it... And it's good really because it saves it going back sitting on that wobbly shelf.

You were frightened of breaking it, weren't you?

-I was because it's a pretty little pot and...

-Yeah, it's gorgeous.

It's gone to a collector and it'll be enjoyed.

-That's lovely.

-That's the best thing.

£100 there then.

This is the moment I've been waiting for.

You remember that wonderful crocodile leather skinned suitcase?

It's just about to go under the hammer

and I've been joined by Anthea and it is absolutely stunning.

Ian the auctioneer, I had a quick chat with him before the sale started.

He fell in love with it too and he said it's caused a lot of interest.

-Oh, good.

-A lot of commotion.

-Yes.

Remember what we said back and evaluation day, we said, you know, on a good day 400, didn't we?

-Yes.

-Let's, let's put a cheeky little £350 teaser on this...

-Yes.

-And see what happens.

-Yeah.

-So how are you feeling about this?

I don't know, really. It's quite exciting.

It is, isn't it? Well, this is what auctions are all about.

This is why they're so exciting.

Could be going home with a lot of money. Here we go.

Lot 366 there is the fine crocodile travelling case by Finnegan there

with all the nicely original fittings.

What do you say for that very quickly? Can I say £300 to start?

300 I've got with me. At £300. 320.

350. 380?

380 with two. 400. 420?

420. 450. 480. 500. 520.

-This is good.

-540. 560. 580. 600.

600 right there. 620. 650? 650. 680.

-They love it, don't they?

-700. 720.

750. 780.

-800!

-800. 820. 850. 880. 900.

At £900 in the middle there. 920.

At £900 I'm bid.

At £900. 920 or not? At £900.

£900!

I can't believe that!

£900!

How fabulous is that? That is what auctions are all about.

When you get three or four people wanting something.

I'm gobsmacked. I don't know... I don't know what to say.

-£900! I'm tingling.

-So am I.

-Had a good day?

-Yeah. Very good.

We jolly well have. What a surprise.

Goodness me. I can't believe that.

I really can't believe that.

I mean, I've seen them go for 400 to 500,

-but that is amazing.

-What will you put the money towards?

Well, we're going on holiday in a fortnight, so...

Oh, it's paid for that, hasn't it? Where are you going?

-Lanzarote.

-Oh, well, there you go.

For the sunshine.

We've had so much rain down here.

Have a great time. Well, it's not pouring now, is it?

-The sun is shining.

-Thank you.

I hope you've enjoyed watching the show. We've thoroughly enjoyed being

down here in Cornwall and we can't wait to come back.

But until the next time there's plenty more surprises to come.

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