Kidderminster Flog It!

This Worcestershire town is the birthplace of a man who came up

with one of the nation's greatest inventions - the postage stamp.

Today, Flog It is in Kidderminster.

The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive stamp

and it was introduced in 1840, as a result of reforms

by Sir Rowland Hill,

to create an affordable standardised way of posting a letter from A to B.

It was the birth of the modern postal system as we know it.

And his statue stands right at the heart

of the busy town of Kidderminster,

right in front of the town hall,

which is the venue for today's valuations.

And looking to put their stamp on today's programme are our experts,

Philip Serrell and Kate Bliss, and judging by this crowd,

they're bound to find plenty to write home about.

So let's get them inside, and get the parcels unpacked.

Coming up, Maureen is keen to sell her husband's gold fob.

I think it's a load of junk.

-You think it's a load of junk?

-That's what I says to him, "What do you want that for?"

Philip has found a mug that tickles his taste buds.

If ever an artist is flavour of the month,

it's Dame Laura Knight, and I think it's a real collector's piece.

-That's where our money is.

-Yes.

I meet Stan, whose autograph book could be music to the ears.

You've three names here which any pop memorabilia fanatics would love

to get their hands on, and now you're thinking of selling them.

And Annalise thinks it's time to move on her Troika vase.

I take it you don't particularly like it?

Well, I do like it, and I do have an interest in ceramics,

but if I'm going to keep it in the cupboard that long

I might as well see whether it's worth selling.

With a packed hall we've got dozens of items to get through today,

and keen to catch the first post,

Kate's immediately intrigued by an item she spotted in the queue.

Maureen, you've produced a little black box, and I'm dying to see inside. What have you got?

It's my husband's.

-Mm-hm.

-It's a little fob.

-Ah, I see, and not the right box for it, is it?

-No.

-Did you just pop it in this box to bring it here?

-Yes.

Well, let's put the box aside and have a look at this,

cos this is much more interesting.

So it's your husband's, where did he get it from?

He brought it second hand from the jewellers. It's a load of junk.

-You think it's a load of junk?

-That's what I said, "What do you want that for?"

So why did your husband like it?

He just likes unusual things, he's always picking little bits up

and then he gets fed up and throws them in a drawer and then goes off and resells them

to the jeweller,

and says, "How much will you give me that on something else?"

So he likes a bit of buying and selling?

Mm-hmm. Never makes a profit though!

-Oh, well that's no good!

-No.

So why have you rescued this from him then?

Well, I watch the programme every day

and I thought, "I'm going to watch it being made."

So he says, "Take my little fob with you."

I says, "No, it's a load of junk, I'm not taking that,

"they'll laugh at me." So I was surprised...

-When I pounced on it!

-Yeah!

This is a sweet thing because not only have we a little compass

built into the fob, but if you turn it over,

on this side you've got what's known as a rock crystal,

-sometimes they're called Essex crystals.

-Oh, right.

And what we have here is a little cabochon, which is a domed piece

of rock crystal, and on the flat side it's been carved

with a little image in what we call intaglio,

so it's carved into the rock crystal.

-Oh, right! I wondered how that got in there.

-That's right.

So the image is this horse, with rider, galloping over the fence,

a racing horse, beautifully captured,

and then once that has been carved out in minute detail

-it's then been hand-painted.

-Oh, right.

To produce all the different colours, and the detail of the picture.

Now once the image was carved out and painted, the flat side was covered

with a very thin slice of mother of pearl, sometimes gold,

-but usually mother of pearl, which gives it that lovely sheen.

-Yes.

Do you see, when you look at it?

-Now the actual rock crystal itself is slightly damaged.

-Right.

-Which makes the image look a little bit blurred and unclear, can you see that?

-It looks smoky, doesn't it?

-It does a bit. But you can see why it lends itself to carving.

-Yeah.

And depicting things like this. This would have been worn on a chain,

it probably would have jangled around with other objects,

or it would have got worn.

-Yes.

-It's also set in nine-carat gold, which is marked here,

and also dated for 1892.

So that tells me that it's a Victorian piece.

So what did he pay Maureen? Let's come to the important question.

Well, he wanted £100, but being my husband he wouldn't pay it,

so he got it for £75.

Well, I don't think that's too bad, to be honest with you.

Won't pay full price for anything.

At auction today I'm going to be a little bit conservative about this,

because of the slight damage to the rock crystal,

so I'm going to put it at £60 to £80.

-Right.

-I hope that it would make a little bit more than that,

in fact it might well make towards the £100,

which is what the jeweller originally asked

-but I think that damage will maybe put off a few collectors.

-Yeah.

But still I think it would be nice

if he could make a profit for once, wouldn't it?

Yeah, for once. I shall be very surprised if he does.

Well, are you happy to sell it at that?

Yes, yes, no problem.

Well, I think if we said £60 to £80.

-Yeah, yeah.

-We'll put a reserve at £60, which I think it should reach

no problem at all, and hope that it surpasses that, and you've got a nice surprise for him. What do you think?

Right, OK then, thank you, yeah.

-Sally, how are you my love, all right?

-Fine, thank you.

-How long have you owned these?

-About ten years.

-Why?

My uncle died about ten years ago, and when we cleared the house those three were in, so...

-Did you like them?

-I do like them, very much.

-What appeals to you?

The pattern on that one is really nice,

and that one, because it's so old.

-I vowed never, ever, ever to do this commemorative ware on Flog It.

-Oh, right.

-Never ever ever.

-Why?

-I don't really like them, they don't have great value.

-No.

-They're just mass-produced little trinkets really.

-Right.

But having said that, there's a reason why I've done these,

-and what I think's lovely is that this one is Edward VIII.

-Yes.

May the 12th 1937, he never made it.

-No.

-But what's fun is that on the back it's got "Long may he reign".

-I think it's a bit of a Freudian slip there, isn't it?

-It is really, yes.

And, you know, this was produced in Radford's in Stoke,

-and people think this stuff is valuable...

-Yes.

-..because Edward VIII never went to the throne.

-That's what I thought.

-But of course it's the next one that's valuable.

-Oh, right.

Cos no-one knew that he wasn't going to make it, so they still produced tons of it,

but they only had about six months to get ready for the next lot, the Queen's father, George.

so his commemorative ware is, in a way, more collectable.

I'm going to sell these as one lot, and this one appeals to me, as I say,

because it's King Edward VIII, and "Long may he reign",

that appeals to my sense of humour.

-Yes.

-This one I think is terrific. VR as you know is Victoria.

-Victoria.

-It is 1897.

Now she came to the throne in 1837,

so this was the 60th anniversary of her ascension to the throne.

-Oh, I see.

-And what I love about this one is we've got Victoria, Queen and Empress.

-Yes.

-Cos in those days we had the British Empire, didn't we?

And this one here, and I love this one,

again this is for Edward VIII,

-but a great visitor to Malvern in the '30s era was Dame Laura Knight.

-Yes.

And if ever an artist is flavour of the month at the moment

it's Dame Laura Knight, and we've got the unicorn there.

-That's right.

-And on the bottom we can see that this is designed

and modelled by Dame Laura Knight.

So I'm going to suggest that you put an estimate on these of £20 to £40.

-Right.

-And we'll put a fixed reserve of £15.

-Yes.

-I have seen this mug alone priced at between £40 and £60.

-Right.

And it's a real collectors' piece, and that's where our money is.

-Yes.

-So it's buy one...

-Get two free.

-Get two free, you've got it in one.

-Why do you want to sell?

-They've been in the cupboard for ten years,

I don't ever look at them,

so I think somebody might get some enjoyment out of them.

-So you inherited them ten years ago and now it's time to go?

-Time to go.

-Well, let's hope they'll do well for you.

-I hope so!

I couldn't resist this autograph book,

which contained some truly top of the bill signatures.

Stan, I envy you.

-Do you?

-I really do.

You've actually seen The Beatles.

What were they like, and where did you see them?

Birmingham Town Hall in June 1963.

They were on a pop concert alongside the Rolling Stones,

it was a double bill, which was incredible when you think about it.

-Did you work there?

-I worked as a steward.

It wasn't my job, we weren't paid for it, we just got complementary tickets.

So I had a chance to go backstage and talk to quite a few people,

and I was able to nip into the dressing rooms and get them to sign.

Wow, wow! What was it like meeting all four Beatles?

I bet you didn't know what to say, did you?

I didn't have a lot of time cos there were two houses and as soon

-as you got rid of the one house you had to pack the next lot in.

-Right.

Were you lost for words? I would be!

I suppose I was, in a way, yes.

They were just a bunch of young lads, you know, and the Stones,

the Stones weren't quite so approachable for some reason,

but the Beatles were very friendly, and...

You were either a Stones or a Beatles fan, which were you?

More of a Beatles person.

And of course you've mentioned the Rolling Stones, and on the same bill

-you were able to nab...

-Yes, all five, yes.

..their autographs as well, and this was with Brian Jones in the band, in the early days.

Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.

Roy Orbison's in there, he was a sort of a strange character, but...

-Was he on the same bill?

-No, he came later on.

You've got three names here which any pop memorabilia fanatics

would love to get their hands on.

-And now you're thinking of selling them.

-I am, yes.

-There's a few other autographs in here.

-Mainly jazz musicians as well,

Acker Bilk, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Springfields, quite a few.

But it's those three big names really, The Beatles, Roy Orbison,

the Big O, and of course you've got all the Rolling Stones.

I think this little autograph book is worth around £3,000 to £4,000.

-I hope so.

-We've seen the Beatles' autographs before on the show

and they've always managed to do around £2,000,

so that's a good price guide for The Beatles.

And the Rolling Stones,

as a complete set, normally fetch around £800 to £1,200.

And I would imagine Roy Orbison

would be worth in the region of £80 to £120 as well.

I'd like to put this to auction with a valuation of £2,500 to £3,500.

Yes.

With a fixed reserve at £2,500. How do you feel about that?

Yes, I'll go with that.

If we get that top end, what will you do with the money?

Well, I'm a philatelist, I collect stamps. I also run a stamp auction.

-Oh, right, oh, OK.

-So I'd possibly buy some decent stamps.

-A Penny Black or two.

-I've got one or two of those.

Have you? They've gone down in value, haven't they?

As an investment, and maybe make a bit more money on top.

Oh, good for you. Quality always sells, doesn't it?

And that's why this little book of autographs is definitely going to sell.

-Hopefully.

-Yeah.

Annalisa, this is obviously a very distinctive form of pottery,

where did you buy it?

Actually this piece was in my father's house

when I was clearing it out, and my sisters didn't want it,

so I took it home and it's been in my cupboard ever since.

-So I take it you don't particularly like it then?

-Well, I do like it, I do have an interest in ceramics,

I went on a ceramic course,

but if I'm going to keep it in the cupboard that long

I might as well bring it here for a valuation

-and see whether it's worth selling.

-OK.

-What do you know about Troika pottery? That's exactly what we've got.

-Yes.

Not a vast deal really, apart from obviously being handmade,

I like the piece cos it is quite tactile

and it's still modern today, really.

It is, absolutely, yeah.

-Yeah.

-Well, this is not a rare piece of Troika,

in fact this coffin shape is quite a usual form that the factory produced.

It all comes down to three men who got together,

named Illsley, Sirota and Thomson.

And Illsley in particular had a background as a sculptor,

together they bought what was called the Wells Pottery,

in St Ives in Cornwall, and they renamed it the Troika Factory.

And instead of just producing tiles,

which is what the Wells Pottery had done, they started making vases

and decorative objects, and really exploring techniques in texture,

and in the type of glazes that they used.

And the Troika Factory actually opened in 1963, and some of the more

avant garde techniques they used were such things as melted broken glass,

or emulsion paints.

They took their inspiration from the landscapes around St Ives,

but also the Swiss artist Paul Klee was a huge influence, and his works.

And I think what you can see here are motifs that we see on Troika pottery.

-Yes, yes.

-From the '60s through to the early part of the 1980s,

before the factory closed.

But the thing I like about Troika is that some of the motifs you see

-could almost be a shape or a very recognised design.

-Yes.

That almost looks like a fish, that almost looks like a mask,

-and you can look at it and take your own version of it.

-Yes, you can.

Now if we look on the bottom,

most Troika was marked, and we see here the distinctive name there,

but we also see a monogram, who was the modeller or designer,

and this one is an H and a J, for Holly Jackson.

And that also dates it to between 1977 and '78.

So what's it worth, Annalisa?

I was given a quote of £60 to £80.

Right, well I think that is pretty much spot on.

You might make a little bit more at auction if two people really want it,

but I think that's a realistic auction estimate for today.

-Yes, that would be nice.

-Yes.

So now we have four lots ready to go under the hammer.

There's the gold fob compass,

so let's hope the bids go north when it reaches the sale.

Will the bidders see a bargain and potential

in Sylvia's commemorative mugs?

-That's where our money is.

-Yes.

-So it's buy one...

-Get two free.

You've got it in one!

Next there's Stan's autograph book.

The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Roy Orbision,

three big A-listers are bound to attract a lot of attention.

And lastly we have the firm favourite, Annalisa's Troika vase.

Today's auction comes from Fielding's Auctioneers in Stourbridge.

The sale is already underway, so let's see how the first item fares.

Well, now's your chance to buy a bit of Dame Laura Knight

for just £20 or £30. What's the deal?

Well, the three commemorative mugs, and they belong to Sally.

Now, a lovely lot.

-For me, Paul, the one that stands out is the Laura Knight mug.

-Yes.

Cos she's such an icon.

Her work is so collectable at the moment, you can go to an antique fair

and see those at £65, so we have hopes.

Why are we selling them, because they were in a cupboard?

-They're in a cupboard I'm afraid, yes.

-For ten years I gather.

-Yes!

-Well, they're going to find a new home, for sure.

-I hope so.

Here we go, Sally.

The coronation mug, and the Dame Laura Knight example, three in the lot.

Where do we see the nice coronation ware, £15 for it all? £15 anywhere?

No interest at £15?

£15, I've got you, £18 anywhere else, £15, and £18, and £20,

and £25, £28, and £30, and two, £35, £38, and £40, and two.

-Yes!

-So that's no, and thank you madam.

£40, the gentleman's bid at £40,

are we all sure?

The coronation ware at £40, all done.

Top end, well done Philip, £40 for you Sally.

-Yes, good.

-There is commission to pay, don't forget.

-I know that, yes.

Any other things you're going to get out of the cupboard?

Yes, quite a few things I'd bring.

You're going to bring them along to another Flog It?

-Find a bit more by Laura Knight!

-Yes.

-Bring us a painting next time!

I haven't got any paintings I'm afraid, not any good ones!

I think the paintings would be a keeper.

Well, I hope Nick the auctioneer is going to do a proper job

on our next lot, and there's a clue to what's going under the hammer,

a bit of Cornish Troika, and it belongs to Annalisa here,

and it got a valuation by Kate of about £60 to £80.

I like this, Holly Jackson, it's nice,

so fingers crossed it's been picked up, it's been handled

-and viewed, and people want to go home with it.

-Yes, exactly.

We'll find out right now.

Nice little bit of Troika again, Holly Jackson example.

There are bids and interest again,

popular thing here, and we open at £90 I believe.

-Yes!

-Oh, wow!

-That's good.

At £90, do I see five bid in the room anywhere? £95, £100.

You're out, £95 in the room standing, £100 anywhere else?

£100 - I've got you.

£110, £120, £130...

-This is it, this is good!

-Yeah, it's really good!

£120, £130 anywhere else?

At £120 for the Troika, all done then at £120, all done?

Yes! Well, done, top end of the estimate at £120.

You could say that was a proper job, Cornish pottery sells well anywhere!

I think that's a great price, must be your lucky day.

Yes, I'm really pleased.

I've been waiting for this moment, I've just been joined by Stan,

we've got the autograph collection, not just The Beatles,

the Rolling Stones and Roy Orbison and a few others.

One or two others, yeah.

Been in a drawer for 47 years nearly.

We'll find out exactly what it's worth now.

The Beatles autographs with Roy Orbison and the Rolling Stones.

These were consigned by the man who was actually a steward

at the Town Hall in 1963.

Can I open this one just below estimate at £2,400,

anybody coming in at £2,400?

-And they're bringing a couple of phones now.

-£2,400, £2,400 or not?

-£2,450, £2,450. £2,500...

-Come on!

Says no, I'll go to Clare then, £2,500, would you like to bid?

£2,550.

-This is a tense moment, isn't it?

-It is indeed!

-£2,600. Clare?

It's two phones, that's why it's taking such a long time.

Can't actually see what's going on.

£2,800.

Says no, at £2,700 on Adrianne's phone, at £2,700.

Last chance in the room at £2,800, we all done at £2,700?

-Hammer's gone down. We've sold at £2,700.

-That's OK.

-We'll settle for that, won't we?

-Thank you very much.

Gosh, that was a big moment, wasn't it?

You were really frightened, you were adamant, £2,500 reserve.

That auctioneer wasn't too optimistic when I spoke to him,

but with the telephone bids, I thought he wouldn't have sold in the room.

-It's gone.

-It's gone.

Well, time is definitely up to put that nine carat gold fob and compass

under the hammer, we've got that, but we don't have its owner Maureen.

But we do have Sally, Maureen's daughter.

-I know mum's on holiday, isn't she?

-Yes, in Benidorm.

-She told us at the valuation day.

-She did. Is she having a nice time?

-Yes.

-Hang on! She's still there? That means she's been there for four or five weeks!

About five weeks, yeah. She comes back today.

-But the weather's not been very good to them.

-Oh!

That's a shame. But has she had a good time?

Yes. She's had a very good time.

-Right.

-She's very disappointed she's not here today.

-Oh, you can tell her the good news hopefully, straight away.

-I can.

-Or are you going to let her watch the show?

-I am, yes.

I like it. Give her a surprise.

-That'll be fabulous.

-Hi, Maureen! Here we are!

Well, it's a good time to sell gold, precious metals are right up,

people are investing in that, so I hope they're here today. Here we go.

The lovely Essex crystal, detail of a horse rider,

the little fob, nice example, this one, and I'm going to open this

at £50, and I look for five in the room.

£55, £60, and five, £65 it's with you sir.

£70, the lady, and five, £80, and five,

£90, and five, £100, £110, £120?

-£120.

-They love it! They love it.

£130 standing, £140 anywhere else?

At £130 for the fob, are we all sure and done? At £130, all done.

They loved that, Kate!

-That's great!

-Great!

-Well done!

I was just a little bit concerned about it which is maybe why I kept the estimate conservative

cos the image of the horse jumping

wasn't as clear as it could have been,

but anyway, they liked it!

-Obviously.

-Jumping the gate.

-It didn't fall at the fence, did it?

-No, it certainly didn't.

-OK, unfortunately you can't ring mum up and say!

-No, not going to phone.

So I hope you're enjoying this right now, Maureen!

Well, what a result. The sun might not be shining on Maureen in Benidorm,

but it certainly is here in the auction room.

It just goes to show her husband did know a bargain when he saw it.

There'll be more surprises coming up later in the show.

Philip's hoping to set a new Flog It record.

I think we're going to go in for an award, right, so probably the

cheapest thing that's ever been sold on Flog It, but I admire your cheek.

And Kate can't believe what this little vase has been used for in the past.

-She used it as a doorstop.

-Did she?

-Yeah.

-It's not that heavy.

It's not really, no, no.

I'm constantly surprised by the items we find on Flog It.

It's amazing just what can be hiding right under your nose.

In this vibrant and busy part of Birmingham city centre, tucked away

between all the restaurants and bars, there's a real historical gem.

Now it's not just a reminder of this city's past, but of the country's heritage as a whole.

Now at first glance this might look like any other ordinary set of terraced houses,

but it's not - in fact, this is incredibly rare, because it's the last remaining example

of a style of living which has more or less been forgotten about.

Yet at one point in our history, most people that lived and worked

in industrial towns and cities in England lived in accommodation like this, the back-to-back.

Now I know what you're thinking, but our understanding of the term back- to-back has changed over the years.

It's now applied to Coronation Street-style houses.

But it actually refers to something very specific.

These houses weren't just attached to their neighbours on either side, the back walls were also shared.

One house was built literally onto the back of another.

They sprung up in their tens of thousands at the end of the 18th and throughout the 19th century.

They were as much a part of the industrial revolution as anything that was manufactured

in the factories and workshops,

and when thousands of people flocked to the towns and cities looking for work,

property speculators saw an opportunity and a building frenzy began.

By 1850, two-thirds of Birmingham's population lived in courts just like this one.

Today this is all that remains of this once-common type of housing.

It was fully restored by the Birmingham Conservation Trust and the National Trust back in 2000.

Chris Upton was the historian involved in the project.

So is this typical of most back-to-back courts?

-Yes, sure, in that they're clustered around a yard.

-Yeah.

There's one entrance and one exit, which could be tricky in a fire.

-Yeah.

-They're real fire hazards.

I mean, there's 11 houses here. Some of them had half a dozen, some of them 20, 30 houses,

depending on the plot of land the developer had, how many houses he could squeeze in on it.

-I guess...

-And there'd be another court next door and another one beyond that.

They weren't everywhere - you don't find them in London or in the north-east.

It's that middle bit of the country,

Manchester, Liverpool, Hull, Leeds, down to Birmingham was back-to-back living.

It's tenements if you get further north and further south.

Right. What would it have been like in its day?

It was described as living at the bottom of a well

sometimes, cos not much light gets in, the walls are high.

No. If there was light it'd be full of smog up there probably.

-That's right.

-Industrial England.

-Yeah.

In this particular court, how many people lived?

At most 65 is the highest I've found.

65. But obviously there's no loos inside, so there's only three outside loos for 60-odd people.

Yeah, yeah. They could be death traps because

-the water supply and the toilets were worryingly close to each other.

-Sure.

And so people did pick things up.

-And once an epidemic got into a court...

-It was rife.

-It ran round fast.

So they were thought of as very unhealthy places, even though the people enjoyed living in them.

-Can we go inside and have a look?

-Yes, sure. This way.

Hey, do you know what, it feels like we've landed right in the middle of the Victorian era.

And we have, in about 1870.

How many people would live in this particular house?

Well, this was the home of the Oldfield family,

and there was Mr and Mrs Oldfield and their eight children.

-Wow.

-And a lodger, and the lodger's girlfriend, so two bedrooms.

That's a lot of people! Yeah, I was just going to say, there's only two bedrooms.

-Yeah.

-Where did most of the people come from, to rent these places?

All over the country and abroad, so there was a Jewish community, there were quite a few Italians,

a lot of Irish, Scots, but the majority from the surrounding countryside.

-The countryside, coming in and wanting to work in the factories.

-Yeah.

People were lured to the towns by better wages and guaranteed work,

but the effect on their health was undeniable.

So what was the average life expectancy?

-It's difficult to answer that, Paul - it depends very much which street you lived in.

-Right.

And which area you lived in.

If you lived in what we'd now call the suburbs of Birmingham,

you know, only a mile or two out, your life expectancy was double what it would be right in the centre.

There were streets in central Birmingham where half the children would die before the age of five.

National legislation had banned the building of new courts

way back in 1870, and local authorities were encouraged to demolish them.

For cities like Birmingham, it would prove a monumental challenge.

By the end of the First World War, the city still had more than 43,000 back-to-backs.

In fact, some people still lived in them right up to the 1970s, a whole 100 years after the ban.

Why did it take such a long time to knock them all down then?

Just the sheer number of them. There were 10,000 courts, so you

-couldn't put that many people onto the housing market at the same time.

-You couldn't rehouse them.

Well, thank goodness this one survived. What was it about this one?

Really I think it was accident - it's mostly a commercial street,

Hurst Street, and I think that eventually people forgot what they were.

-Have you actually chatted to people that lived here? What do they say?

-It's very different.

If you had a happy family life, you liked the back-to-backs.

If you had an unhappy family life, you didn't.

So if the last tenants moved out in the 1960s, you would have known them and spoken to them.

-Yes, interviewed them.

-And what were their recollections of the place?

They leave with excitement, and then very quickly realise they've lost something in the process,

they've lost that sense of community, of knowing your neighbours.

So it was a trade-off. But the last couple to move out said "It was like a little palace to us."

Gosh, that's like stepping back in tune.

Thank goodness this court has survived demolition, because without it,

a very important part of our social history would have disappeared, along with the bricks and mortar.

And thankfully it now remains a living testament to how thousands of people would have lived

in industrial towns and cities all over the country.

And it's just as valuable to our heritage as those big stately homes.

Welcome back to the Town Hall here in Kidderminster.

As you can see it's still full of people, which means

hundreds of antiques to look at, so let's catch up with our experts.

Philip's quite taken aback by what Graham has brought in.

Well, Graham, have you seen Flog It?

-Yes.

-It's sort of an antiques-based programme where people bring along

-antiques, and we take them to auction and sell them.

-Yes, that's correct.

-And you've brought along some hair clippers, hair brushes, a police whistle and a penknife.

-Yes.

-Why?

-Why?

-Clearly you don't use them much.

Actually, you like any Teasy Weasy here?

-Well, in fact that's what my dad did.

-Your dad was a...

-He went to college with Teasy Weasy Raymond.

-Did he?

-Yeah.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Tell you what, that makes us old, doesn't it?

-I know.

-Teasy Weasy Raymond.

-Yeah, god.

So your dad was born in about 1926.

Something like that, yeah.

And all this stuff really came to light when my daughter rung me up that she was doing a family tree,

and she asked if I'd got any information on my mum and dad and stuff, and...

-He dug this out.

-Yeah.

-So we've got all this hairdressing stuff.

-Yeah.

-Just... this just intrigues me.

-Why a police whistle?

-That was my granddad's.

Cos in his shop he used to get all the drunks in Whitechapel coming in.

-Yeah.

-And he'd blow the whistle and they'd sort of run away.

-So your, your granddad had this barber's stuff in Whitechapel.

-Yeah,

-Any trouble, he'd just blow the whistle and that was that sorted.

-Yeah.

-Now listen, you've brought along two pairs of scissors, two clippers, a penknife and a police whistle.

-Yeah.

I think you need to get out more. Right, I really do.

I think we're going to go here for an award, right, for probably the

-cheapest thing that's ever been sold on Flog It, but I admire your cheek.

-OK, why not?

-I think we're going to put a £5 to £15 estimate on that.

-Right.

We're not going to put any reserve, we'll tell the auctioneer we do not

want to see them at any price ever again.

-Right, good man, we'll get them sold. I hope.

-OK.

-Carol, this is an intriguing little vase.

-It is.

What can you tell me about it?

I acquired it by being a carer.

Right.

The lady I was looking after moved into a flat, which this little vase

-was in, and when she moved in she used it as a doorstop.

-Did she?

-Yeah.

-It's not that heavy, is it?

-It's not really, no, no, she just

didn't like the lounge door shut so she used this as a doorstop to keep the lounge door open.

-OK.

-When she passed away, her granddaughter says to me,

pick a piece of whatever Nanna got that you like and you can have it.

-So...

-That's what you picked.

-That's what I picked.

How interesting. So do you like it as a vase?

-It's not something I would go out and buy.

-Right, so it was more something to remember your friend.

-It was to remember Nan by, yeah,. Yeah.

-Do you know what sort of pottery it is?

All that I know is that it's Ruskin.

That's right, it's marked on the bottom, isn't it, but you have to have quite a sharp eye to see it.

-But on the bottom, can you see?

-Oh, just about, yeah.

-Ruskin.

-Yeah.

Well, as Ruskin pottery goes, it's quite a nice example.

I'd just prefer it if it was a bit bigger, but still, I'm sure, it made a great doorstop.

Yeah.

Well, this kind of pottery is very collectable in an art pottery market,

and it all comes down to two gentlemen who founded the factory, and it was a father and a son,

a chap called Edward Taylor, and his son William Howson Taylor founded the

Birmingham Tile and Pottery Works, which then became subsequently known as the Ruskin Pottery.

Now why the name Ruskin?

-Well, Edward Taylor was head of the Birmingham School of Art at the time...

-Right.

And was hugely influenced by John Ruskin, who was the most important art critic of the 19th century.

-Right.

-His respect for Ruskin led him to call his pottery after him, and what

they produced in the Ruskin Pottery was something very much following the Arts And Crafts movement,

and indeed a lot of their pieces were launched and exhibited at the Arts And Crafts Exhibition of 1903.

Now what William Howson, the son, was particularly interested in, which really made the pottery develop,

was the glazes that they used as well as the shapes.

Now they produced utilitarian ware, domestic wares as well as decorative wares like this vase,

but it was the glazes really that William was interested in, and the effects that could be produced.

And it wasn't really until the 1920s to the later Art Deco period really that they looked at bolder,

-heavier Art Deco forms, and they developed this matte glaze, which is exactly what we've got here.

-Right.

So this dates from about the 1920s, and this lovely blue, it almost looks as though it's sponged on.

-Sponged, yeah.

-But it's very mottled, isn't it, it's that lovely mottled effect, and so what you've

got here is a classic piece of Ruskin really from the 1920s.

It is perhaps the more dramatic glazes, like the pearly lustre

kingfisher blue glaze, which is quite dramatic, that fetch the highest prices in Ruskin pottery,

but we're going to the right auction house, because Fielding Auctioneers specialise in decorative arts,

of which Ruskin falls quite nicely into that category.

And so I think in the current market a little Ruskin vase

like this is going to fetch somewhere between £40 and £60.

So how does that sound?

Fine.

Will you be sad to get rid of it, with all the memories that it conjures up for you?

Yes, I will be sad, but I need to de-clutter, and my grandchildren will enjoy the money.

That's a good way of looking at it.

-Ian, how are you doing?

-All right, thank you, Phil.

I have used my considerable antique knowledge to work out that this

is a set of scales. What's so funny about that?

Well, that's about my knowledge of it as well, it's a set of scales, that's all I know.

-What else do you know about it?

-It's made by Avery, they've got a factory in Smethwick.

W & T Avery, Birmingham Limited.

-That was the clue.

-That's the clue.

-That was the clue.

We've got to use a few more clues to work out what it is.

From looking at the construction, the style, I would think it dates from somewhere between 1910 and 1920.

-That old?

-I would think so. Might be a little bit later, but I would guess that's how old it is.

-Yeah.

-If you mention scales in this country, they're Avery scales, aren't they?

-Yeah.

They did everything from the scales you find in butchers',

-in greengrocers', in doctors' surgeries, right up to weigh bridges...

-Yeah.

-That would have weighed lorries at ten, 15, 20 tons, wouldn't they?

-Yes.

So Avery were the premier scale makers in this country.

Now all this unscrews, and I mean these lift off, don't they?

-Yeah.

-Like that,

-so the whole thing unscrews, and that includes this column.

-Yes.

-The pans, the beam, the whole lot, it all fits in this drawer here.

-Yeah.

-And so it's a travelling example, isn't it?

-Yeah..

I wonder whether this was an example that

Avery's salesmen might have travelled around with, to sell their scales?

Yeah, possibly, you could see it as like a rep's...

But I mean these are already on the deck, aren't they, and so you put your weight on there,

and then you just pull that down, and the scales go up.

And if they were level,

this little fulcrum there would meet just there, wouldn't it?

-Yeah.

-And as it is, I haven't got the weights right.

Is that right?

-No. We'll get there in a minute.

-That's it.

-That's not far off, is it?

-No, that's not far off.

I'm going to put it down and settle for that.

We haven't told you what you didn't already know.

Truthfully, I think these will make somewhere between £100 and £200.

-Yeah.

-I think you should put an estimate on them of £80 to £120 and a reserve of £60.

-Yeah, that's fine.

That's what I think. Why do you want to sell them?

Well, they were a gift to my wife from an ex-boyfriend

before I met her, so they basically stayed in the loft.

-So you're happy to get them sold.

-Yes, yeah.

Right, yeah. Well, thank you for bringing it along.

Thank you very much.

We're now about to find out what the bidders make of our final items,

which we've brought to our auction room in Stourbridge.

Here's a quick reminder of what's going under the hammer.

There's Graham's hairdressing bits and pieces which includes, confusingly, a policeman's whistle.

Philip has such high hopes for these.

I think we're going to put a £5 to £15 estimate on them.

-Right.

-We're not going to put any reserve.

We'll say we do not want to see them at any price ever again.

Ian's hoping to get rid of his wife's ex-boyfriend's scales..

and Carol's Ruskin vase - thank goodness it's not still being used as a doorstop.

I managed to catch up with auctioneer Nick Davies

before the sale started to see what he thought of the Ruskin vase.

Now this is something you will absolutely love, a bit of Ruskin.

Personally I love it, it's great.

I mean it's from Smethwick, it's local, I was born and bred in Birmingham so

it's a favourite, and we see quite a lot of it round here cos it's so close to the factory.

Yeah. Believe it or not - I've got to tell you - it belongs to Carol.

-Before she inherited it, it was used as a doorstop.

-A doorstop?

-Well, it must have been a small door.

It must have been a light door. It's not a heavy vase.

-I mean you see Ruskins...

-Ruskins up there.

-Three-foot vases, etc.

They're the ones, they're the ones.

But it's a nice starting point I assume, we get a lot of collectors in here.

-Yes, yes.

-Great place to start collecting. Great example, no damage, no chips, no restoration.

-And at £50...

-Should be fine.

-Nice impressed marks underneath it, it's just the perfect starting point for someone.

-Yeah.

-I think we'll be fine.

-Good.

This'll put a smile on your face cos it's made me laugh all day.

This next lot, it's a real eclectic mix.

We've got some hair clippers, a penknife, a police whistle.

Good to see you, how are you?

-Yes, I'm well thank you.

-Who have your brought along, this is your son, isn't it?

This is my girlfriend's son Will.

Will. Is this your first auction?

-Yeah.

-What do you think?

It's pretty good actually, it's interesting.

Trust Philip to pick something like these.

We've got a valuation of £5 to £15 and there's no reserve.

It might not even make that, might it, it could be our lowest ever lot on Flog It, couldn't it?

Mind you, looking at him, I don't think any of it's had much use, has it?

Oh, dear.

A crime whistle for the Metropolitan Police

with some hair clippers and a barber's scissors and a penknife.

Who knows.

Where shall we start this? Is anyone at £10?

I'm sure they'll, someone can sell at £10, nice period barber, anybody need a quick trim?

£10, anybody going to bid? Must be someone out there

who'll think these are good, police whistle's got to be worth a tenner.

Nobody interested in this? I'm not going to go on and on about this any longer, are you sure?

£10, thank you, madam.

£10, straight in and straight out, he put the hammer down really quickly

so they didn't change their minds.

You could say it was a close shave, couldn't you really?

That's ten quid, less commission.

You owe him a pound!

You could say it's all in the balance, which brings us

to our next lot, it's a set of brass scales that belongs to Ian, and we've got about £60 to £80 on this.

-It's good to see you Ian, hello.

-Hello.

-And who have you brought along with you?

-This is my wife Carol.

-Carol, hello.

-They're actually her scales.

And you're selling them because...

They were given to me by an ex-boyfriend.

Hey, I don't blame you, I tell you what. Get rid, get rid.

Good scales, made in Birmingham, lots of local interest hopefully.

And some weights as well, and I think that's half the attraction.

And they look good on the shelf in the kitchen.

They're decorative as well. Look great as well.

-Happy?

-Yes. Nervous.

-Yeah.

-Let's hope. Nervous?

So am I, always nervous cos you never know what's going

to happen in an auction, but we're about to find out.

Good example of a set of balance scales, W & T Avery Birmingham, made down the road.

Where do you want to start with these? Bid's with me at £50. I'm looking for five in the room.

£50 with me and five, £60 and five?

It's still in the balance.

£65 the gentleman's bid, £70 anywhere else, at £65 I'm selling the scales, all done at £65...

Just, just on the reserve, hammer's gone down.

-I want to know if the ex-boyfriend is watching, is he going to claim half the proceeds?

-I hope not!

I don't think he knows where we live.

He will now!

Well, our next item just about to go under the hammer was used as a doorstop,

believe it or not. What's that all about?

Well, it was a Ruskin vase, belongs to Carol, and I'm pretty sure this is going to sell.

-Hopefully.

-A lot of local interest here, but why a doorstop? It's so small!

Well, because the lady moved into accommodation where it was left

there and thought nothing of it, so she just left it as a doorstop.

Incredible, isn't it, that is survived actually.

Yeah, it's great that it's in one piece, and where better place to sell it, because this auction house is

well known for selling decorative art, so it's the perfect place to put it under the hammer.

A lot of local interest as well, great colourway, blue and tan,

love that - let's hope we have a bit of a surprise, shall we?

-I hope so.

-You never know what happens at an auction.

-No, you don't.

-Well, let's find out, it's going under the hammer now.

Ruskin, there we are, little crystalline shouldered vase, nice little example,

good collector's piece, a lot of interest and we open at £70,

takes all the other bidders out at £70 straight in. £75 in the room...

-That's a good start.

-It is.

-£80, £85, and £90.

£85, the lady's bid £85 in the room, £90 anywhere else, for

£85 you'll take the Ruskin, we all sure we're done at £85, finished.

-£85.

-Brilliant!

Ruskin. That's what it's all about.

-It is.

-Yeah, that's much better than I thought actually, yes, it's really good.

-Thank you.

-As I told you, this is the place to sell it.

It is, isn't it? So there's commission to pay, don't forget.

-Yes.

-17%, but are you going to invest in antiques, do you think?

No. My two little grandchildren are going to invest.

-You're going to invest in them.

-They're going to spend it.

-Oh, are they?

That's it, we've come to the end of our day, our owners have gone home.

As you can see, the auction is still going on.

But what a fabulous day we've had, and I can't wait till the next auction.

If you've not been to one, go and visit your local sale room cos you could get addicted.

So from Stourbridge, until the next time, it's cheerio.

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