Herne Bay Flog It!

Just look at this, the bracing sea air

and boats bobbing up and down on the shimmering water.

Today, we're in the seaside resort of Herne Bay on the Kent coastline.

Welcome to Flog It!

This shingle beach conceals a lot of its own treasures.

Since its Victorian heyday as a seaside resort,

Herne Bay has been a popular place to collect sharks' teeth and fossils.

But our experts won't be hunting for fossils today. Oh, no.

They'll be hunting through all these bags and boxes brought along by this massive, great big queue

to our wonderful venue today, the Kings Hall in Herne Bay.

Stay tuned and you'll see lots of treasures.

And joining us in our hunt for all those special pieces are our experts...

Kate Bateman, a second-generation auctioneer,

and Mark Stacey who has more than 20 years' experience in antiques

and a particular interest in the decorative arts.

Kate originally trained as ballerina but now it's antiques that put her in a spin.

-Not a real painting.

-No?

Sadly. If only it was.

Mark learnt the tricks of the trade through years

as a dealer and consultant, so we know we're in safe hands.

So you haven't actually assembled it all?

Well, once upon a time we did.

Now, don't do that at home!

And coming up in today's programme, Mark puts in a bid for one of our items...

-I'll double your money for you. How about that?

-No!

And even finds something to dance about.

Shake those hips!

And I get to see how this area so inspired one of our greatest writers, Charles Dickens.

The hall's filling up and I'm pleased to see people of all ages.

Mum's come here to ask a very important question, hasn't she? And what's that question?

What's it worth?

Well, let's get started. And also wanting to know "what's it worth?" is Joan and her son-in-law Chris,

who have brought in some intriguing books to show Mark.

Before television, before things like that,

when you had long, lonely nights and you wanted to play with things,

you'd get one of these little books,

and you'd teach yourself how to play golf the Bobby Jones way

by flicking and seeing how he does his strokes and things.

They're wonderful.

Where did you get them from?

They belonged to my aunt. I found them when I cleared her house after she died.

I've looked at them occasionally,

but they've stayed in the drawer in my bedroom.

That's a shame, isn't it?

They wouldn't be in that condition if I'd let the children have them.

That's true. The staple has rusted there, but that's an unfortunate sign of age.

What connection to these are you, Chris?

-I've just come along today to assist my mother-in-law.

-Oh, right, OK.

Just moral support.

-Absolutely. And chauffeur!

-Chauffeur.

-Chauffeur! We all need a chauffeur!

I particularly like this one, the dance lesson from the good old days.

If you flick it this way, you get a sort of...

almost a sort of Charleston-type dance.

I'm not quite sure how old they are.

I would've thought they're going back to the sort of 20s, really.

That sort of period, you know,

when kids wanted something to do in the evenings.

We had the wireless but we didn't have much else entertain us,

not like today when they've all got their computers.

I don't think they'd be very popular now.

Quite mundane, quite slow-paced for today,

-but hopefully a collector out there will want them.

-I hope so.

I've had a word with a colleague

because this is a real collectors' field.

It's not the usual antiques we see which makes them quite a joy.

We see lots of china and silver and furniture,

but it's quite nice to see these ephemera-type items.

And, of course, not a lot of them would have survived.

They would've been thrown away, broken and then just discarded.

I would've thought we're probably looking at £50 to £80,

something like that. Would you be happy to sell them for that?

Oh, yes, there's not much point in keeping them any longer

and knowing my son everything will probably go in a skip.

Oh, dear. Well, we want to save them from skip,

and they might dance off and make a bit more. You never know.

-You never can tell. Oh, dear, bless you!

-Excuse me. I didn't mean to do that.

It must be all the excitement, Mark, or perhaps a little dust.

Next, I'm going to have a chat with Peter, if I can get to him.

Well, there are so many people in the main hall,

the queue goes through the reception area, through the cafeteria where everyone's getting refreshments,

back out on the seafront and back up the hill,

and I've just come here to meet up with Peter

because he's brought in this most wonderful campaign writing slope to show me,

and hopefully put through to auction, make lots of money.

Thank you for bringing in some wood for me to get my hands on. How did you come across this?

I bought this at a prestigious boot fair about three years ago.

Local landowners near Rolvenden in Kent have a clear-out every two years or so...

What did you pay for it?

-250. 250.

-£250.

Sensible money. You paid sensible money.

You didn't steal it and you didn't pay over the top.

-It is a lovely thing.

-It certainly is.

I would say this is the last third of the Victorian period, 1860, 1870, 1880, around there.

Let's just start with the outside.

Looking at this flamed-cut Cuban mahogany, an exotic hardwood

first introduced into this country in the early 1700s.

An officer and a gentleman would have owned this

and because we're talking about the portable British Empire,

taking luxuries away with you on campaign...

that's what it was all about.

-He wouldn't have carried this, though, would he?

-Oh, no.

He would've had his back man.

And in a pack on a donkey probably. Who knows?

Things like this could've been used in the Crimean. Think of the history.

Opening it up, you can see there's a wonderful Moroccan leather, tooled slope for writing on.

A little feature I do like, because I noticed, when I opened it...

look at this. This is a good touch.

You've got a good eye.

This little arm comes up,

it goes into one of the retaining holes here...

-Yeah.

-That slots in there...

And there you are, there's your wonderful reading slope.

You can read by candle light outside the tent,

-fighting off all the midges.

-Yeah, that's right.

Isn't that lovely?

That's decadence, isn't it?

Oh, yeah.

Rather than have the book on your lap, getting neckache, stick it up there.

Oh, I love it.

Absolutely love it. So it's all there.

It's all there, isn't it? Some of these have secret compartments.

-This one does as well.

-Does it? I'm getting excited.

This is the fun part, because...

I need to flip this out there,

and another little well for putting correspondence under,

but if I use this retaining pin...

This is quite clever. Watch this.

A little secret compartment.

Did you like that? Isn't that cute?

Look, it's spring-loaded.

And there it reveals three fitted little drawers.

That's where the money went and anything else that was valuable, maybe the watch.

Isn't that cute?

And that just springs back in there like so.

As I said earlier, I think you paid sensible money for this.

I'm quite excited about it because it looks good from the outside,

it looks fabulous from the inside.

I think we put this into auction with a reasonable valuation

of £200 to £300, fixed reserve of £200

so you don't lose too much money.

On a good day this is going to do £300

so by the time you've paid your commission,

you'd end up with your £250 back.

Why do you want to sell this?

Cos I love wood, and I actually want to go on a restoration,

wood restoration course.

-Oh, fabulous.

-Yeah.

I've got a couple of bits and pieces that I want to do up professionally.

I can appreciate you're really good with your hands.

Hopefully you can do a few things up,

turn them around, make some money.

Yeah, well, give it a try.

What a lovely thing, just up my street.

Also up my street are the albums of postcards which Jane has brought in to show Kate.

Hello, Jane. You've brought quite an interesting collection here. What have we got?

These are a collection of postcards which came from my grandmother,

and most of them date from either before the First World War

-or during the First World War.

-Right.

A large number were sent by my father and his brothers when they were fighting during the war.

-Right. And did he survive? Presumably he did.

-My father did.

One of the brothers died in what is now Iraq, but two of them survived.

Persia as they would've called it, I suppose.

OK, well, let's have a quick look. This is an album she's collected.

These are First World War ones.

We've got Royal Army Medical Corps, and these are the sewn silk ones.

We see these quite often at auction but they're still quite collectible.

You're talking £3 or £4, £5 each,

a bit more for the more collectible ones.

And you've got a whole book, by the look if it, of others.

What have we got here? Various Victorian ones.

Oh, right, OK, this is cool.

This is the Christmas box and what have we got?

Oh, it pulls out. Oh, look at that. That's great fun, like a concertina.

Close it up again.

There. That's quite a novelty one.

Lots of collectors like the slightly unusual ones.

-Yes.

-That's great fun. Let's have a look.

Oh, wow, a burning Zeppelin

brought down at Potter's Bar in 1916,

so a bit of local interest there.

OK, that's quite interesting there,

-you've got these loose cards as well.

-Yes.

-They're not just military, some local interest, topographical...

-That's right.

-And a few photographic cards of soldiers.

Do you know who these people are in this photo?

Yes, it's my father's regiment in the First World War,

and he's the one in the glasses just there.

OK, the only one wearing glasses.

Yes, he was blind in his left eye.

-What, when he went into the Army?

-Yes, he cheated the medical.

He made it up, reading the numbers?

Yes, covered the same eye both times, and he was only 17 when he did it.

-Oh, my goodness. But he got in and survived.

-Yes, survived.

Brilliant. What a good story. A few here are interesting, social history.

You've got Boy Scouts here, and where was that?

I think that...

-Is that the New Romney? Yes, Lydd and New Romney.

-OK, Romney.

A local street scene here, again Romney,

with a car and vintage advertising, lots of people, a really animated scene.

Think about what that would look like today.

Nothing like that. That's really good fun.

You're not tempted to keep them cos they're family history?

No, I've got several others that have got more sentimental value.

OK, so we need to find somebody that's interested in Boy Scouts,

social history and military all at once.

Pricewise, probably £80 to £120. Is that the sort of figure you'd be happy with?

-That's fine, yes.

-You should put some kind of reserve on.

I would probably suggest like a £50 or £60 reserve.

-Shall we try it in a sale?

-Yes, do.

Are you going to be here to see them sell?

Unfortunately not. We'll be on a cruise.

-Oh, right. Well, you'll have to send us a postcard, clearly!

-I will.

Thank you very much.

What fabulous snapshots of bygone days.

It's a shame Jane won't be able to join us in the saleroom.

Well, we're now halfway through our day and you know what that means, don't you?

Yes, it's my favourite part of the show.

This is where we put the valuations to the test.

You've just seen our experts' choices,

you're probably got your own favourites,

but let's see how they fare over at Canterbury Auction Rooms.

And we're taking with us the unusual flicker books from the 1920s,

the campaign writing slope that I loved so much,

and the fascinating and historical collection of postcards.

Well, I'm getting excited,

especially seeing this massive, big crowd, a room full of bidders,

and this is where they're putting our valuations to the test, the Canterbury Auction Galleries.

Don't go away because it's auction time.

There'll be commission to pay, it varies between auction houses.

Here it's 20% plus VAT, and first up we have Jane's postcard album.

She can't be here so her friend and neighbour Irena is standing in.

We have seen these do really well,

especially if all the social history

is about the area we're selling it in,

and I know a bit is about Kent, isn't it?

-Yes, yes.

-So fingers crossed.

There's a few military bits. A bit for everybody, all sorts of collectors, hopefully it'll go.

-Yes, fingers crossed.

-It's a good trade lot this. They like this kind of thing.

Individually, some can sell for maybe £8.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

Some of them £2, some of them 50p.

They'll have to take the rubbish with the better ones. That's why we grouped it together.

Let's find out what the bidders think. They're going under the hammer right now.

Lot number 389 is the early 20th-century postcard album,

et cetera. Lot number 389.

Two bids, starting at £160...

-Straight in.

-Fantastic.

160, I'm looking for 170.

Any further bid? If not, I'm selling at £160. If we're all done at 160...

Yes, straight in! Two bids, both at 160.

Short and sweet, but that was great.

Are you going to get on the phone and tell her?

I shall get on the phone and tell her, yes.

Where is she holidaying? We want to know.

-St Petersburg.

-Oh, is she?

-Yes.

-They're on a Baltic cruise, tonight she's in St Petersburg.

-That sounds really romantic.

She'll need a nice warm jacket or a hat when she's in St Petersburg!

Yes. She'll be very excited.

What a good result, and I'm sure Jane will be thrilled.

Next up it's Peter and that lovely wooden writing slope.

-£250 you paid for this.

-Yeah, I did.

-We've put two to three on it.

-It's a nice box.

It's quality and I enjoyed talking about that as well.

We've got a packed room here, it's coming up right now. Good luck.

That's all I can say.

It's been a long wait and I'm a bit nervous. Here we go.

Lot number 277 is the late George III

mahogany and brass-bound writing box.

Who'll start me at £100?

£100, lot 277, the writing box there.

Any bids in the room, at £100, lot 277, the writing box.

-On the phone, anywhere else, online? No bids?

-It's not selling.

-No.

The writing box, no bids? Pass it, then.

It's not that it's too expensive.

-It's definitely worth £200 to £300 as you know.

-That's right.

Oh, well, I'm really, really sorry.

No, that's fine. I mean...

Take it home, enjoy.

Oh, yes, I shall enjoy.

-That's life.

-These things happen.

These things happen.

That's a shame. I really thought that writing case was worth the money.

Let's hope we have more luck with Joan's flicker books.

Your flicker books put a smile on Mark's face.

Well, they're very ancient.

Yes, something like me!

These are good. I like them.

They're great fun. There's a golfing one.

-Yes, and the dancing one. The dancing's good.

-The Charleston.

-Yes. We like the dancing.

-Can you do the Charleston?

-No, not unless I've had a drink.

-Oh.

-We'll try later.

-Wonderful.

I'll look forward to it.

We'll watch that later on, but right now this is going under the hammer. Here we go.

Lot number 309 are the four early 20th century flicker books.

60 I'm bid. 70, 80,

90, 100, 110, 120,

130, 140. Who's in at 140?

140 online. 150, 160...

This is great!

180, 190, 200...

Come and buy me!

It's on the internet at £200 now.

If you're all done in the room, I'll sell at £200.

Yes, the hammer's gone down.

I think that deserves a little dance from Mark.

Shake those hips!

-Hey, £200, Joan!

-Fantastic.

-Your first auction as well.

-Yes. I'll try again.

You're going to go home really happy.

What a good result, enough to make us all feel like dancing.

There'll be more fun at the auction house later,

but first I'm going to explore the life and times of one of the area's most famous residents.

Charles Dickens's links with Kent go back to his early childhood

where his father worked as a clerk in the naval dockyard at Chatham.

In his early 40s at the height of his fame, just after the break-up of his marriage,

Charles Dickens returned here to Kent where he lived for the rest of his life.

He settled just outside the town of Rochester where you can still see Dickens's influence today.

Dickens loved walking.

He'd walk just about anywhere. You couldn't stop him.

He even walked back from a night out at the theatre in London, and that's a good 30 miles.

Rochester hasn't changed much since Dickens' day.

These are the buildings and streets that inspired him,

and many of them have ended up in his novels.

And it's not just the buildings and the streets that gave Dickens his inspiration.

I bet when he was walking past this churchyard

looking at that tombstone with the name Dorrett inscribed on it,

that's where the inspiration for the character Little Dorrit came from.

This magnificent red-brick Elizabethan mansion house

I'm standing in front of is known as Eastgate House,

and it appears in Dickens' first novel, Pickwick Papers, as Westgate House.

It also reappears in his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood,

as Miss Twinkleton's Seminary for Young Ladies.

This beautiful building behind me is called Restoration House,

so called because Charles II stayed here the night before

he was restored to the throne in 1660 as the King of England.

It's also Miss Havisham's house in Great Expectations,

where young Pip goes to visit and falls in love with Estella.

Isn't that magnificent?

You can imagine Charles Dickens peering through these very gates

I'm looking through right now,

just staring at this wonderful house,

conjuring up all those wonderful scenes in Great Expectations...

Miss Havisham in her wedding dress,

the wedding banquet covered in cobwebs,

and then the whole thing just going up in smoke.

And my journey today has taken me here to Gad's Hill Place, the home Dickens bought in 1856.

He first set eyes on Gad's Hill as a young lad whilst out walking one day with his father.

In a letter to a friend, he wrote, "I thought it the most beautiful house ever seen,

"and my poor father used to bring me here to look at it and used to say

"that if I ever grew up to be a clever man, perhaps I might own that house."

Gad's Hill has been a school for the past 80 years and Dickens' study is now the headmaster's office,

and I must say it's been quite a few years since I was last summoned to see the headmaster.

-Sarah, pleased to meet you.

-And you.

I know you're not the headmaster. You're head of PR at the school.

I'm not the headmaster, no.

Thank you for letting us film here today. It's a real honour just being in Dickens' study.

I've been here for four years and that honour never goes away.

-Has it changed much?

-It really is pretty much as it would've been when Dickens was here,

with the exception of a few sort of pieces of furniture.

His desk would have looked out towards his front lawn,

and the desk obviously isn't there now. We don't own that desk.

Probably the most interesting thing we have here are the book ends on the back of the door.

-That's a nice touch, isn't it?

-It is. I think it's fantastic touch.

That's just the spines.

It is, and it gives us a bit of an insight into the character of Dickens, I think.

The book ends you've got on there, Cat's Lives in nine volumes.

-So it goes up to nine?

-It does.

-He had a sense of humour.

Yeah, a real sense of humour, quite an interesting feature in the room.

Although this was Dickens's study, it's not where he wrote.

Each day, he would walk through a tunnel at the bottom of his garden to a Swiss chalet.

It was given to him in kit form by a friend

and built on a patch of land known as The Wilderness.

The historic chalet was moved to the centre of Rochester in 1961.

There are plans to open it to the public,

but the exterior can already be viewed by anyone who visits the town.

What's interesting about the tunnel is there are two masks, stone masks,

-on the tunnel at either end.

-Really?

The one at this side, this is what I like to think,

the one at this side is the mask of comedy

and on the other side is the mask of tragedy,

so I think when he was going over to do his writing,

he saw that mask of comedy.

When he wanted to come back into the real world through the portal, it was the mask of tragedy,

so he was coming back into the real world,

back to perhaps where he didn't 100% want to be.

The more and more I learn about him,

the more interesting he becomes.

A very, very complex character, and he had a very difficult upbringing.

His father went to prison, he went to the work house and I think, because of that,

he was constantly trying to get away from his past, and I think that he...

I think he struggled with life a bit. He had ten children.

Big family man, although, um, slightly scandalous...

his wife didn't live here so he sort of left her behind,

so very complex but still immensely famous today.

And I think that, in order to understand his characters,

you have to be interested in the man,

and I think I've probably grown to love him just a little bit.

Gad's Hill Place was clearly more than a house to Dickens.

It was his family home and the place from where he was inspired to write

some of the most famous books in British literature.

It was also the place where, at the age of 58, he passed away.

It's really nice that he died here,

because he had a great affection for Kent.

As I say, he'd grown up here, he loved walking around Kent,

lots of elements of Kent within his writing, so it was really nice

-he spent his last few years here in Kent.

-He came home.

-He did come home, yes.

Even though the house has been a school for over 80 years, there's still a great sense of Dickens here.

It is a very special place where somebody extraordinary has lived, breathed and imagined

some of the most memorable characters and stories ever written.

Our valuation day is being held at the fabulous Kings Hall in Herne Bay on the north Kent coast.

Mark's obviously been enjoying being by the sea.

He's talking boats with Terry and Marilyn.

The story starts a few months back. My auntie came to visit us and I don't know what it was...

-She was getting something out of the back of the car, and there was this box with these in it.

-Oh, right.

I said, "What are you doing with those?"

She said, "Throw them away."

And I said, "No, no, don't do that.

"Leave them with me and I'll dispose of them

"and, if it's all right with you, whatever we get for them

"we'll donate to our local branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society."

Oh, what a lovely idea. What a lovely idea.

So somebody said, "Oh, they're doing a Flog It! at Herne Bay,"

so we thought, "Right, go for the adventure."

I'm glad you did. They've obviously been played with a bit

and they're not in their boxes or in pristine condition,

but generally speaking Tri-ang are very well known

for the quality of their manufacture.

They're very tiny but the detail is quite exquisite.

Well, when we unpacked them from this box from my auntie's,

I was really impressed with the amount of detail.

Just such small items, you know, the guns on the battleships

and some of the rigging on some of the other boats,

and how on earth they did that in the model-making process

I don't quite know.

They specialised in all sorts of toy-making, of course, Tri-ang,

and if we look at this boat, which of course looks quite stupendous,

and it should do because it's actually the Queen Mary.

The detail of the funnels and all the decking, the lifeboats,

and even the little windows punched out

and the detail of the stud work...

And they're so small as well.

I know. It's really good fun, actually.

We've got it marked underneath,

Queen Mary, and we've got the mark for Tri-ang as well.

-I think they were based in Margate...

-Which is just up the road.

-I think they were part of Hornby Hobbies at one time.

-Oh, right.

I'm sure, in the saleroom, people are going to find them interesting,

but at what level is difficult to predict,

because collectors of this type of thing

are quite specific about having the box, being in mint condition and that kind of thing,

but we've got to be quite sensible.

Obviously, we've got to try and raise as much money as we can for the charity.

We're probably looking at about £60 to £100 for the lot.

-Right.

-So you're happy with that?

-Yes, we're very happy.

Fantastic. Let's do it. They might even sail past our estimate.

I'll let you get away with that pun, Mark.

Right now, I'm heading outside to see how the queue's doing.

Who owns this? Let me shake your hand.

I think, apart from you, only one other gentleman today has brought some furniture along,

so good on you, because we do need more furniture on the show.

If you've got some, bring it along to one of our valuation days because we don't see enough of it.

We have stewards to help you unload it from the car

and carry it into the venue, so please bring it along.

We do get an awful lot of smalls and it looks so great to have these big things on TV.

-So hopefully you'll be selling this later on, will you?

-Hope so.

Fingers crossed.

We might not get a lot of big items, but we do get a lot of Clarice Cliff and we're always happy to see it.

Anne and her son Spencer have brought in a piece to show Kate.

I was bored one day

and I was reading the local paper,

and I saw for sale a Clarice Cliff bowl.

-In a private advert?

-Yes.

-OK.

-£65 was the asking price.

-Right.

I paid it happily.

-And how long ago was this?

-20 years ago, wasn't it?

-20 years.

That was a lot of money back then, wasn't it? 65.

Yeah, I love Art Deco.

So do you know anything more about this particular pattern?

I did have a Clarice Cliff book that I looked through

and I never found the pattern, no picture.

You haven't been able to find it, have you?

It's not one I've seen, but I don't think it's one of the most rare ones.

The best thing would be for it to go to auction but for the auction house to have a look

and do more research on the pattern and see if they can find the name.

It's possible it's an unlisted pattern but there are websites and collectors' clubs

that list all the patterns so they'd be able to find out.

But it's quite a funky piece of design, anyway.

-I can see why you liked it. It's classic Clarice Cliff, isn't it?

-Yeah.

You've got the really good acid colours, the green, the yellow.

These really strange... a bit like fried eggs, the fried-egg flowers.

Yeah, they are fried eggs!

So it's a really iconic bit of design.

We go on about Clarice Cliff but they are the best of their era,

but I'm going to moan about condition.

Yeah. They told me, the couple I bought it from, they were quite elderly.

They'd used it as a plant pot.

I can see in the front here, there is a lot of damage wear-wise to the paint

and also there's a great big hairline crack along the bottom,

so that's obviously going to affect the price.

Any ideas what you're hoping to get for it if you put it in a sale?

I was hoping for 80 to 100.

I think, with the condition being as it is,

it's going to be maybe a little bit less.

I would have said, in that condition, £40 to £60.

You can never tell, can you?

Would you sell it?

If we put it in with a reserve of £40, would you sell it at that

or would you be gutted?

Could it run to 60?

It's your item so if you would be really disappointed to sell it for lower than your reserve

obviously there's no point putting it in.

If you'd take 60 as the least, put that as your reserve, we'll put 60-100 as an estimate.

There are people that collect and sometimes condition won't matter if it's a very rare pattern.

It's worth a go. That's the best thing about auctions.

You have no idea what'll happen.

-It's what someone wants to pay.

-And it'll go on the internet.

-You loved it and hopefully somebody else will.

-I did. I do.

Why are you selling it now, then?

We're thinking of downsizing as I have Parkinson's...

She can't do the stairs.

I can at the moment, but there'll be a time when I can't.

I've got to start letting go.

Sorting through your collection, getting rid of stuff.

Dad likes to break things as well. He's a compulsive cleaner!

That's not what you want in a room-full of china, is it, really?

I hope we can get it sold and help with the move. That would be great, wouldn't it?

-Yeah.

-Thanks for bringing it in.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

I'm sure that bowl will do well.

At least Anne's husband won't break it when he's dusting!

Now, where shall I go next?

Kieran, this is a very nice map by John Speed.

Early 17th-century map.

He was a surveyor

and he was championed by royalty in this country,

and they actually financed a lot of his work.

The secret of Speed maps is the fact that they were all printed

in Holland, the quality of the printing was superb,

then brought back here and hand-coloured. This shows the shires.

Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire. Look at this.

-Look at Reading.

-Very detailed, isn't it?

Quite incredible! Look how small it was then.

And this is a good sign, seeing lots of armorials,

because he would've got sponsors as well.

These crests, family coat of arms, actually sponsored and paid him so they could be part of the map.

What's the other side for? I've inherited, or been given this by my parents.

Whoever framed this did a jolly good job

because it's so nice to have the map on one side,

but also the history of Buckinghamshire on the other,

so it tells you a little bit about the place, which is fascinating.

The condition is superb, there's no foxing.

Now, when I first started Flog It! about ten years ago,

these maps were very, very popular.

They'd just about peaked then and were fetching £800 to £1200 in good condition,

but they've started to lose their popularity.

The ones that people want now are the ones that show the coastline, a slight bit of coastline.

Nevertheless, if you put this into auction,

it should realise around £500 to £700. What were you hoping for?

Probably double what my father paid for it, which was 500.

-So you were hoping for £1,000?

-Probably about there.

Maybe hang onto it, and hopefully fashions will change again.

And the key to this actually if you do want to sell it, is sell it

in the Reading area because that map of Reading is quite unique.

Look at that street plan. Look at the way Reading's spelt.

R-E-D-D-I-N-G.

That did cross my mind, actually.

Yeah. Yeah.

If you want to sell it, put it into an auction room

in the Home Counties, in the shires.

But what a wonderful thing and thank you so much for bringing that in.

Thank you very much for your time.

Kieran's holding on to his map so we won't sell that one.

I wonder if Jan will feel the same about the bronze stag she's showing Mark.

Well, what can I say? What a lovely stag you've brought in.

I like him too.

Tell me all about him.

I bought him about 40 to 45 years ago in a flea market in Greenwich, London.

-How much did you pay for him?

-£4.50.

-£4.50?

-In the old money.

-I'll double your money for you. How about that?

-No!

Quite right. So what attracted you to him?

His eyes. If you look, he'll follow you about.

Beautifully painted.

Yeah, they don't move but they feel as though they do.

He's very freaky, actually.

It's very beautifully painted.

-Was this antler like this when you bought it?

-Yes.

So I think it has been dropped somewhere cos that antler would almost certainly be up here.

Now, do you know what it was made of?

No, I thought it was just metal.

Well, it's actually made of bronze,

and this technique of decorating is called cold-painted bronze.

So this has been painted once the figure has cooled down,

and it's quite a specialist technique.

It's most popular in places like Austria and Germany.

The maker you always associate with pieces of this quality is Franz Bergman.

Now, he specialised in these sort of cold-painted bronze animals,

birds, lobsters, all sorts of things,

and he sneakily did some very risque ones

where there was a young lady, say,

with a bronze cloak on, all beautifully decorated.

And then, when you opened her up, she'd be naked inside.

-Ohh.

-Now, on those ones,

he signs his name is reverse, so it says Namgreb instead of Bergman.

-I see.

-Cos he didn't want to be associated with those,

but those I'm sure were his most profitable ones.

Unfortunately, I've had a chance to look at this,

I can't see a mark.

What I can see, in a very indelicate part of the stag's anatomy,

is a stamp for "geschutz"

which is a German or Austrian word which means registered.

You normally find that in association with Bergman so that's a very good sign.

The other reason I think we can safely say that it's a Bergman

is just the sheer quality of it...

the decoration, the quality of the eyes, the painted nose.

It looks like a stag, doesn't it? It's wonderful in quality.

And you paid £4.50 for it?

They're quite popular. There's quite a big market for these.

I'm a little bit cautious, Jan, simply because of this.

When you try to adjust these, if you adjust them too much,

you'll snap the whole thing off,

so I'm being a little bit cautious on that.

What do you think it might be worth? Have you got an opinion?

Not really, no. I think about ten years,

a friend of mine, her husband offered me £100 for him.

-Well, that's too little.

-But I said no.

If it was in absolutely perfect condition, with the antlers and signed,

I think we could easily say this was worth...

oh, gosh, £400, £500 or more.

If we tried it in at say £250 to £350 and put a reserve of £250...

I'm not bothered about a reserve, to be honest.

-I think we should.

-We should?

-Yeah.

If the internet goes down or whatever, or if people aren't there,

then it could go for £50, though I doubt it.

But you don't want it back, is that what you're saying?

Then let's put a slightly lower reserve of £200 on it,

but this is such a quality piece and it's really made our afternoon.

Thank you very much.

That's a rather special thing.

I think this is the one to watch.

There you are. You've just seen it.

Our experts have made their final choices

so now it's time to say a fond farewell to Herne Bay.

It's been wonderful filming here for the day,

but now we're moving inland to the Canterbury Auction Rooms.

And we're taking with us Terry and Marilyn's miniature boats,

that charming Clarice Cliff bowl,

and Jan's fantastic bronze stag.

Before the sale,

I got the chance to talk to auctioneer Cliona Kilroy

about the bronze stag.

Absolutely love this. Big fan of cold-painted bronze,

especially if they're signed Bergman, but this is gorgeous,

this stag and it belongs to Jan.

Mark, our expert, put £250 to £350 on this,

and I think that'll fly away cos the small ones do that.

Absolutely. He's just stunning, stunning quality.

Everything about him, features, detail,

it's all there, and I just think he's great, really unusual,

and I think he'll make all of that money easily.

-You're enthusiastic about this?

-I really like him, yes.

OK, stick your neck out...

OK, there has been a bit of interest and I would hope that he would...

-Four to six?

-..break his top estimate.

I'd like him to do that and I think it is possible.

The buck stops here.

We'll see how the stag does a little bit later on, but first up

it's Terry who's come to see the miniature boats go under the hammer,

although his wife Marilyn couldn't make it.

We've got £100 riding on this at the top end, £60 to £100.

We hope, for the cause they're going to, they get as much as they can.

-Exactly. Remind us again.

-I'm the local chairman of the Thanet branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society,

and whatever this raises will go to help with the work that that branch does.

Great cause. Going under the hammer right now.

Lot number 245 is the Tri-ang model ship of RMS Queen Mary.

Lot number 245, who'll start me at £40?

Thank you, 40 I'm bid.

Who's in at 50 now?

Bid is on my right at £40.

£50 I'm looking for. Any interest at 50?

-Come on, please, come on.

-Any interest at £50?

On my right... 50 I'm bid. 60? 70?

70 anywhere? On my right at £60, then, and selling at 60...

Every little penny helps.

-Every little penny helps.

-It does. I thought it was quite cheap, though.

-So did I!

-I thought it would've gone for a bit more.

But thank you for doing what you've done

and it's raised a few pounds towards running a local branch.

And raised the profile so hopefully more people will be aware.

-Yes. Thank you.

-Thanks.

You've got family support. That's your daughter. What's her name?

She's Emily.

-Emily, hi there.

-Come to support me.

A good result for a good cause.

We're happy with that.

Next up it's the Clarice Cliff bowl

being sold by Anne and her son Spencer.

This really is your inheritance. Mum should be handing it down to you, Spence.

Yes, I know, but...

But I can't see Spence wanting a bit of Clarice Cliff, can you, Kate?

It's a bit girly.

You might like that, I don't know.

-I'll take the money!

-Take the money.

-You paid £65 for this.

-Correct.

-Yes.

-How long ago?

-A long, long time ago.

-Top money, then?

-I'd like to, I'd like to.

Hopefully, we can improve on that over 20 years, Kate.

It has got a crack so that might do for it, but you never know.

-That's what's fun about auctions. Fingers crossed.

-Yeah.

Lot number 37 is the Clarice Cliff Erin pattern octagonal bowl.

Who'll start me at £50? Any interest at 50? 50 I'm bid.

Who's in at £60 now?

-60 for someone?

-We want two people.

-Yes.

Thank you. £60 I'm bid. 70?

-80?

-There's a telephone bidder.

-Good.

-90, 100, 110...

-They like it.

120, 130, 140, 150,

160, 170,

180, 190...

Oh, they love it, don't they? Clarice!

200? Anybody at £200?

I'm selling at £190 if we're all done...

Hammer's gone down. £190.

Excellent, isn't it?

That's my first...

I'm really pleased. That was great. I thought maybe the condition would do it, but that's great.

-Yeah, that's quality.

-It is nice, though. Good pattern. Erin pattern was a lovely pattern.

-It was lovely. Lovely colours.

-Yeah.

Are you going to treat each other? I think you should take Mum out for lunch.

She can take me out now!

A good result. Clarice Cliff still does the business.

Next up it's Jan who bought her magnificent bronze stag more than 40 years ago.

-Well, I'm excited. Are you?

-No.

No? Oh, come on, you must be, Jan.

-You must be!

-I am a little bit.

We're just about to say goodbye to that wonderful Bergman bronze.

We're looking at £350 at Mark's top end but I had a chat to Cliona

and we both feel it could easily double that.

You just don't know. If two people want it...

It's weird the way the eyes look at you.

-Why do you want to sell it?

-I'm getting old now so I want to buy some double glazing.

Oh, we could get you some of that, hopefully,

if this goes for double the top end,

and if it does, Mark's there to catch you.

We both will.

Lot number 524, the cold-painted bronze figure of the stag.

Who'll start me at £200?

-Any bid at £200?

-Oh, come on.

£200 I'm bid. Who's in at 210?

Any interest at 210, 220, 230, 240, 250,

260, 270, 280, 290,

300 and 20, 340, 360, 380...

This is more like it.

440, 460, 480, 500, 520,

540, 560, 580, 600? Anybody at 600?

600 and 20, 640,

660, 680, 700,

720, 740, 760...

-I'm shaking.

-780, 800...

820, 840, 860, 880,

900, 920, 940, 960,

980, 1,000,

1,100, 1,150.

The bid is at £1,100 on the telephone now. Any further offer?

If not, I'm selling at £1,100.

The bid is with Chris at 1,100.

Yes, the hammer's gone down. £1,100!

-They love that.

-Fantastic quality.

I knew I was being a bit cautious, but it never lets you down, does it?

No, no, not at all.

Well, that was a nice surprise, wasn't it?

Thank you.

I told you I'd give you a kiss.

Oh, I'll never wash again!

It doesn't get much better than that. Well worth a kiss.

Well, sadly we're coming to the end of another show.

A few lows and a few highs there, but that's auctions for you.

But I can guarantee something, they're always full of surprises, so do join me again for many more.

But for now, from Canterbury, it's cheerio.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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