Fame and Fortune Flog It!

Hello. Welcome to Syon House in west London,

the traditional home of the Duke of Northumberland

whose family have lived here for over 400 years.

Favoured and visited by many a high-ranking royal

including Charles I, Queen Victoria and our very own monarch, Queen Elizabeth.

The grand scale and splendour of this magnificent house

for me resembles the Imperial Rome of a Hollywood epic.

So it comes as no surprise that this house is in constant demand

as a filming location.

It's provided the eye-catching backdrop for blockbusters such as Gosford Park

and The Madness of King George.

Over the years, we've seen our fair share of famous items grace the valuation tables

and where there's fame, there's often a small fortune attached as I found out.

I hope you enjoy looking at these clips of illustrious items from the Flog It archives.

We start today's journey through the archives

back in 2009, where Anita Manning was star-struck

when she met Rita and her Fab Four dolls in Weston-super-Mare.

-I love them!

-I do, too.

# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! #

-These are wonderful. I'm a great Beatles fan.

-You are?

-Yes.

-Good. Glad to hear it.

-I believe you must be as well.

Yes, as long as I can remember.

Far more years than I care to remember.

-So you listened to them?

-I did, all the time.

-You diced?

I did. I drove my parents mad with the record player.

-Did you fall in love to the music?

-Absolutely.

And with them, yes. Especially George.

-He was your favourite?

-He was, yes.

-Tell me,

-where did you get them?

-I bought them in Bristol about 11 years ago.

-£80 for the four.

-You had to have them?

-I did, yes.

I did, yes.

-Have they been on display in your house?

-For a little while.

But ten of the 11 years, they've been in a box under my bed.

Right. Let's have a close look at them. We have the four of them.

-They really are soft toys.

-They are.

-They're made by an American company called Applause.

-Right.

We have John, Paul,

-George and Ringo with his drumsticks.

-Yes.

Now, these date from the 1980s.

-1987, I think.

-1987.

-We have a little booklet.

-Oh, yes.

Each with their own little details in.

"Beatles forever. The Fab Four."

-Absolutely.

-Absolutely lovely.

-Now, you paid £80 for them.

-Yes.

-For all of them.

-I would like to put them into auction

-with an estimate of 50 to £80.

-Yeah, that's fine.

-Fine.

-Would you be happy?

-Yes, fine. Absolutely fine.

I've had a lot of pleasure with them.

-Fine. That's fine.

-We'll put a reserve of, say, £50.

-If we don't make that, you can take them back home again.

-Fine.

If they sell, what are you going to do with the money?

I think I'll have a weekend away somewhere. Might be Liverpool!

Or it might be London, where I come from.

-Well, I think that would be a nice thing to do.

-OK.

-I'll be at the auction.

-Good.

-We'll hope they'll do well.

-Yep.

-And we'll have some fun!

-I look forward to that.

We'll see a bit later if Rita got her ticket to ride!

Now, it's over to Corby where in 2006

I was bowled over when I met Sue.

-Are you the cricket fan?

-No, it was my dad's. It belonged to him.

He won it in 1987

at our local cricket club.

I guess local meaning Northants.

-Because it's signed by the Northants squad here.

-It is.

-As opposed to Yorkshire. You've got to support the locals.

-Yes.

It is signed by the whole squad in '87. It's in fantastic condition.

-Is this something you'd like to sell?

-Not really, it's just an object of interest.

-The memory.

-We'll keep it in our family.

Value, something like this in auction is going to realise around £150.

-Hopefully the top end, £200, if you get it in the right sporting sale.

-OK.

-So hang on to it.

Meanwhile, across the room, David Barby had some politics to deal with

when Mary brought in an unwanted heirloom.

-Mary, are you a Liberal supporter?

-Definitely not. I'm a true blue.

Oh, good. So am I! Why have you got this in your house, then?

Well, about 1960, an aunt died, a great-aunt.

And we had to clear her house out. I found him under the stairs!

I decided I would take him home, but I didn't like the look of him.

He's such a grumpy-looking old man.

So he hung in the woodshed for years and years!

With his face to the wall!

Oh, dear! He wasn't such a bad old stick, was he, really?

He was very philanthropic, certainly towards the ladies of the night!

-Really?

-He tried to encourage them to go onto the straight road.

-Oh.

This is quite an interesting piece.

It's a tile. It's a ceramic picture. The technique of it is quite clever.

-Think in terms of black and white in reverse.

-Yes.

So those areas which are slightly darker have a deeper groove or moulding

in the actual ceramic mould.

When they poured glaze over it, it would receive more glaze and appear darker.

-I see.

-So it's done in reverse.

-Something like a negative?

Yes, absolutely. But the likeness is very good. It was taken from a photograph.

All the details are here. By a person calling himself Mr Mendelssohn.

It's dated here 1898.

At auction, I think the value of this is in the region of 40 to £60.

You're joking!

Did you expect more?

No!

-How much would you have paid for it?

-Nothing - I'd have given it away!

Well, the gentleman has a very good history

and from the potting point of view, it's an excellent experimental piece of work.

So this is quite good. And there are so many of these produced towards the end of the 19th century

-that people do collect them.

-You dear old man, you're not so bad after all!

Not at all. Give him a pat on the head!

We'll come back to Corby later

to see if grumpy Gladstone cracked a smile in the sale room.

Next it's Southend, where in 2009,

Ruth caught Thomas Plant's eye with her autograph book

stuffed full of famous signatures.

I used to be a film extra in the '70s and '80s and I collected signatures for my son.

-I've got some interesting names in there.

-You have.

-Yes.

I've got it open at a page which is lovely.

-It's Christopher Reeve.

-Yes.

-He's done a little Superman there!

-He has, yes.

-I've heard that he was a very, very nice man.

-He was.

I worked with him on two Superman films and he was a fantastic person.

-Really friendly.

-And I turn the page and there's Sean!

-Yes.

-What was he like?

-He was lovely.

-Yes?

-A really nice man.

-A bit flirty, but he was lovely.

-Was he?

-Yes!

I worked with him on a film called Outlands. An outer space type thing.

He just knew everybody and he was very friendly.

So it's nice, really.

And for me especially, I've put my eye-glass chain here so I can turn it over.

-Talk about this one here.

-Yes.

"Follow the FORCE! Mark Hamill." I think that's a very rare signature.

-Right. OK.

-My understanding is Mark Hamill is not somebody who likes the limelight now.

-Yes.

-He did the three Star Wars films. And nothing else after that, really.

There must have been a few roles for him. Where did you meet him?

I worked on Return of the Jedi, one of the Star Wars, 1985 I think it was.

And he was also very, very friendly. He was lovely to work with.

I just went up, "Can I have your autograph?" and he obliged.

-He put, "Follow the force", which I thought was great.

-Great, isn't it?

-In this book, you have plenty of other signatures.

-Yes.

-Burt Reynolds.

-Burt Reynolds, yes.

-What was he like? Was he a big man? A big bear?

-Just lovely.

-Really?

-Really nice man.

-You must have had such a good time.

-I did. It was a wonderful time.

-And I did collect some great names in there.

-Why are you selling it?

Well, I used to collect them for my son. He doesn't really want it.

So it's a shame. I think somebody who would appreciate those names

could maybe keep it in their collection.

The auctioneers will have to go through it

-and they'll make a list of who's in there.

-Right.

-Signatures are not worth huge amounts of money, but Mark Hamill may be worth £40 on its own.

-Yes.

-Sean Connery, 20 to 30. Christopher Reeve, 40 to 60.

-Yes.

-We're already at £80.

-Yes.

-All the others on there,

-I think we've got some quite good signatures here.

-Good.

I think it could make 120 to £180.

That would be wonderful.

-I'd like to fix the reserve at 80, and we've got a good chance of making some money.

-Good.

We'll find out later if the signatures in Ruth's book were worth the paper they were written on!

I'm heading over to Nottingham now, back to 2006,

where Philip Serrell and Mark were reliving their halcyon days!

Let me guess. You are 47 years old?

-Slightly older.

-Really?

-Tell me.

-51.

-You're making me feel better!

-Thank you!

-I'm 52

-and these are toys of our childhood.

-They are.

-Absolutely fabulous.

-I love them to bits.

You've got some great cars here. That is a Ferrari 250 LM.

Le Mans is the LM.

-The back lifts up, look.

-Beautiful.

That would be worth about £3 million, if it was the real thing.

I know. But it's a dream world.

Absolutely. Then you've got a Lotus Elan.

-It's the old Esso - tiger in my tank.

-That's right.

-It's one of my favourites.

-The tiger in the tank on the back.

And they're all boxed.

And we've got the Wall's ice cream van here.

These are all Corgi.

So they all date from, probably 1960s, aren't they?

About '67, eight, nine, '70.

-Late '60s, most of these.

-They started to produce different things to make the cars quirkier.

-So some of them had suspension. The Mini was the first to have suspension.

-Yes.

Then others would have lights. The engine lifted up.

This is a great one. Look at that. Steering.

You turn the thing on the roof and off it goes!

It's a driving school car, with the L plates on the front.

Brilliant. Look at that.

So you are now going to sell your childhood?

-I am.

-Yep. I think they're going to show you a healthy return.

This little group here. What would that have been, about 4/6?

-Six and thruppence.

-Hold on.

Six shillings is 30 pence. So that's 31 pence, isn't it?

So you've probably got under £10-worth of cars here.

I think this little lot is going to make 200 to £300

and we'll put a reserve on this little lot of £150 for you.

I've pulled one out separately because it's a James Bond Aston Martin D.B.5.

It was that car that when Bond flicked over the gear lever,

-and pressed the button on the top, he shot Mr Goldfinger's assistant straight out through the roof!

-Yes.

-That's the one in the film.

-The thing is, when Corgi made these, they knew what we were like.

They knew we'd lose the one guy in the blue overall!

-So they put two guys in, didn't they?

-Correct.

-Have you still got the two guys?

-Yes.

-Let's have a look. This is sad.

-Awful, isn't it?

-So you press that there.

-Yep.

-Ooh, there's the man.

-And then we press the...

-Press...

-Press the exhaust, don't you?

-It brings the screen up.

-The screen comes up. This is exciting!

Do you press another one at the front? That one there?

Then the machine guns at the front.

The bullet-proof screen.

We've catapulted the little guy in the blue overalls into kingdom come.

-Yeah. Still with the car is the spare man.

-The spare man.

And the top secret instructions!

-Doesn't get any better than this, does it? Goodness me.

-That's authentic.

-Why sell that?

-It's been in the collection a long time. It's sitting there.

-I can't believe it.

That is going to make 50 to £80. Reserve £40.

-But I think that's a top car. Are you happy to sell them?

-I am, yes.

-You're bonkers!

-Probably am!

We'll find out later!

Here's a recap of the first part of my collection of favourite star items.

Lovely Rita had Anita singing the praises for her iconic Beatles dolls.

Thomas Plant thought Ruth's book of autographs was a sign of success.

But did it do the business in the sale room?

It was fame in the fast lane for Philip when Mark brought in his James Bond Corgi car.

But was his collection licensed to thrill?

Finally, will anyone rescue poor Gladstone from the depths of Mary's shed?

Let's find out.

-Not only has it been in the shed, but facing the wall in the shed!

-In the wood shed.

-You wouldn't give it house space?

-I'd rather have you or David looking at me!

That's a nice compliment!

-Yeah!

-This is quite an interesting tile, actually.

When it was first made, they couldn't decide if it was done by photographic process

or if it was hand-modelled. To this day, we don't know how it was produced.

Probably modelled by a Tory who wanted to make him look "Grr!"

-"Let's hit him with the ugly stick!"

-Absolutely!

-You're too political!

It's going under the hammer now. Good luck, Mary.

He's almost breaking into a smile, there!

£40 bid and you're all out. £40 I'm bid.

£40. Five.

£50 on commission. At 55. 60.

Five. 70.

You're both out. £70 with the lady.

Five.

£75.

All sold and away at £75. Are we done?

-Don't believe it!

-Yes!

-Fantastic! £75!

-I can't believe that!

I can't believe that!

-Somebody loved it.

-They did. What will you put that towards?

A fortnight ago I bought a four-legged friend.

-What, a dog?

-No.

-A cat?

-No.

-A badger? Fox?

-No!

-What, then?

-A horse?

-A heifer.

-Did you?

She needs a new halter.

That's the heifer you bought? Have you given her a name? Look!

How much did she cost?

I daren't tell you!

Gladstone found one avid supporter, at least!

Now to Somerset to see if Rita's Beatles dolls found new fans.

-Will we need any help? Help me if you can!

-I might!

Guess what it is - those Beatles dolls.

-I hope we get £50 for these.

-I hope so.

-Or a little bit more.

-Yes.

-Found in Bristol.

-Yes.

Why have you decided to sell them now? I know you're a fan.

I've got a lot of Beatles memorabilia anyway.

I've got all the records and books. These are dust collectors.

-I thought I'd let them go.

-Bring them along to Anita!

-I know!

The collectables market is vibrant.

-People love The Beatles.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Let's find out if everybody here in Clevedon likes them, shall we?

Here we go.

We have a set of four dressed dolls, depicting The Beatles.

I've got £35 on the book. Give me 40.

Four of them. 40, 40, 40?

£40 widow. £40 widow?

-40 I'm bid. Take five.

-Fresh legs.

-And 50?

And five.

And 60?

60 near the door now.

£55, your bid, sir. Waving the catalogue at 55.

60, anyone else?

All done, then, at £55.

£55!

-Is the money going towards more Beatles memorabilia?

-Maybe a trip to Liverpool.

-To The Cavern?

-I think so, yes.

-Enjoy it, won't you?

-I will do.

-Maybe a trip on The Mersey, as well!

-Yes, I've been on The Mersey.

A nice result for Rita!

Over to Southend, now.

Did the famous names in Ruth's book turn heads in the sale room?

-Which was the favourite?

-I think probably Sean Connery.

Very suave. Very sexy man.

-Good value for money, Thomas.

-Really good value for money.

Some wonderful signatures there.

It's kind of like an end of an era for you, isn't it? All these memories.

Yes, but they're all up here, still!

-That's the main thing. Treasure those. You can't sell those!

-No!

A bit of interest. Commission bids, two of them.

I'm clearing the book at £100. Bid's here at £100. All done? Here with me

at 100 - and ten. 120.

-130. 140.

-Good.

-150. 160.

-Very good.

In the room at £170. Against you on the phone at 170.

Are we all done, then, at £170?

Last time. Hammer up and down.

At £170.

Well done, auctioneer! 170! Good valuation, Thomas!

-I'm very happy.

-I've spent half of it already today!

-Oh? On what?

-Here?

-I bought a lovely locket for myself.

-Today?

-Yes.

That's what we like to see.

Putting the money back in the trade!

Thomas was right on the money there.

Now, Nottingham, where I caught up with auctioneer Stuart West

for a chat about Mark's Corgi cars.

I had one of these. I've still got the car, but not the box. There's a lot of value in the box.

We've got a value here of 50 to £80 and it is Aston Martin D.B.5.

Not the real one, but the next best thing!

I think that's quite cheap.

I agree. It should really outstrip that estimate quite easily.

-Lots of other toys in the sale.

-So there'll be interest.

The toys and juvenalia buyers will be there. Fingers crossed, we'll do well.

-It's a cracking little car.

-Good condition, with the box.

-It's a shame the box isn't 100%, or we'd have been talking...

-£200.

-Easily.

-Yeah.

-Easily.

-It's all in the packaging, now.

They don't just want the car, they want the whole thing.

Let's see whether they raced out of the sale room.

-Why are you flogging?

-The time's come to move on.

Let's hope we get the top end of Philip's estimate.

-I reckon we'll get 80, possibly 120.

-I hope so. We're all boys, aren't we?

Disappointed to hear you're a naughty boy.

Nah. That's the nearest thing to an Aston Martin D.B.5 I'm ever going to get!

The Corgi toys model 261.

Special Agent 007.

Being shown with its original box.

And I'm bid on commission £40.

Any advance on 40? Two.

Five. Eight, sir.

With you at £48. 50. Five.

-Come on, steady climb!

-It's got to go.

With you at 75. Do I see 80? 80's bid.

Seated at £80. Any advance on 80?

Gentleman seated at £80.

All done at £80.

-80 quid.

-Very good.

-That's good.

The Bond car drove up a nice result.

So let's see how the rest of Mark's collection performed.

Various models and nicely boxed as well.

Lots of bids with me on commission.

And I have to start it at £190.

Looking for 200. With me at 190. 200.

210. 220.

Your bid of 220. 30. 40.

50. 60. 70.

And 80. 90.

300. 320, sir?

-No, he didn't want to...

-You're out.

With you at £300. And 20 bid.

40. 360.

380. 400.

420. 440.

All done at 420. Do I see 40?

Any advance on 420?

All done, then. 40. He's back in.

460. You're out. With you at 440.

All done, then, at £440.

-Yes! What a result!

-Absolutely!

What will you put all that towards? 440 quid, less commission.

I'll probably add to my cigarette card collection.

-How long have you been collecting?

-About 15 years.

15 years. OK. How many hundreds or thousands have you got?

About 100,000.

Do you know exactly what each one is?

No!

Those cars really revved up the auction room in Nottingham.

But what happens if toy cars no longer get your motor running?

And you want one of these?

The real thing. That's exactly what Peter Nelson decided to collect.

He searched far and wide to assemble the world's biggest collection

of cars of the stars.

And they're right here in Edinburgh.

Peter, where did it all start?

I was driving my old MG TC and somebody jumped in front of me and asked to borrow it for a TV series.

That set me off thinking, "What happens to all the cars from TV and film?"

I travelled around the world to track them down.

Hop out. This is from Back To The Future.

Tell me all about them, Doc!

Mr Bean's mini! What a bit of fun. Is this the first car you bought?

The first car I ever had was a Mini, so I had to get a Mini from TV or film.

You wanted one. How much did you pay for this?

It's worth £50, really, but I paid 100 times that amount.

-Why? What's special about it?

-Well, nothing.

-Nothing!

What's the first film car you ever bought?

The first major car was the Trotters' van.

I saw it in a magazine. It was £995.

I bought it, sent it up to the museum. But then

the BBC rang up and said, "Somebody sold the van. Can we hire it back?"

-It was a big mistake and they wanted it back!

-I hired it back for £995!

-Good for you!

-Oh, my word! Look!

-#

-Da-na-na-na-na Batman!

-#

How did you come across this?

This is my favourite car of all time.

I pestered Warner Brothers life out. 50 phone calls I had to make!

In the end, they said it should go to a museum.

"Leave me alone! You can have it!" It's huge!

What's underneath it? Is there a real car and does it drive?

There is. It was based on a Chevrolet Impala chassis.

Then they built this fabulous body on it.

-It's all fibreglass.

-Yep.

-And where was it built?

It was originally built in London. A firm called Protoco built it.

-What a great job they did of it.

-It's incredible!

-Value-wise, are you allowed to talk about that?

-No, I'm contracted not to say how much I paid for it.

But a car recently, without an engine or an interior

was sold for 380,000.

What's the most expensive film car sold to date?

Well, the most expensive film car wasn't exactly sold.

But one was stolen and the insurance company had to pay 4.2 million for it!

-What car was that?

-It was James Bond's original Aston Martin D.B.5.

It was stolen in America and has gone forever.

-That's the one with the toys, the rocket launcher, the visor at the back, machine guns!

-Yes.

-You haven't driven this down the high street?

-Yes, I have.

It's an absolutely incredible car. You start it up and it sounds unbelievable.

-The whole town wakes up!

-I bet it does!

Let me have a look at the front end. What does it look like? Cos it's so long!

A fabulously designed vehicle. Couldn't be better for a film.

How long is that? How many feet?

-It's about 24 feet.

-Parking must be a nightmare!

Absolutely!

This brings back lots of memories for me.

The first movie my parents took me to see was The Love Bug.

It's got Herbie in it - and here she is!

-How did you come across her?

-A phone call one night from Florida.

This chap said he had two of the original Herbie cars from the film and was I interested?

Of course I was, because Herbie was the star. It's great collecting cars that were the stars of the film.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or Herbie or Kit from Knight Rider.

What about provenance, originality? How can you tell that this was the car in the film?

It's quite easy with this one cos it was titled to Walt Disney Productions.

Most of the cars often are titled or the log books are in the name of the film company.

-So you can get an idea from that.

-That's good provenance, then.

Or the registration number is the one used in the film

in British cars.

But you've got to be very careful cos there's so many replicas

and people try and pass off things which are not real.

So I do a lot of detective work and research to find out if they are the actually things.

If we wanted to start to collect cars of the stars, where can we get hold of them?

-Apart from buying them from you.

-Well, that's it.

I've cornered the market in them! I've got them all, really.

But there's so many things connected with TV and film that you can collect.

You can collect props, film posters, or autographs of film stars.

It's brought back lots of memories for me. Thanks, Herbie!

Toot-toot!

If I could go home with any car in Peter's collection,

it would be this one, the Volvo P1800 driven by Simon Templar, The Saint.

A practical every day classic.

Now for more of my favourite A-list items from the archives.

Off to Swindon next, where, in 2008,

David Barby was waxing lyrical

when he came across Diane's stunning silver visitor's card case.

This is absolutely devastating! Do you know what it is?

We've always thought it was a visitor's card case.

Perfectly correct. Have you seen one like this before?

-Not so much decoration on it.

-This is beautiful!

It's not just bright-cut, so you get the shiny elements in the decoration,

but it's also raised work as well.

When you look at all these flower heads and scrolls,

it's all raised.

Possibly cast originally, then chased away.

You have all this lovely open work here on a matt ground.

But what is such a feature

is the decoration in the centre panel here,

which is of a house. Do you know what the house is?

No. We would like to know.

That house is important and the one on the other side is important.

-Because it commemorates two major writers of the day.

-Oh.

This one is Abbotsford.

-Where's that?

-Who lived at Abbotsford?

Sir Walter Scott.

Oh!

On the other side, we have Newstead Abbey.

Who lived at Newstead Abbey?

Byron, the poet!

Oh!

So this commemorates two major literary figures of the early 19th century.

When I say early 19th century,

this little box dates from 1836.

1836?

-1836.

-Gosh!

-Earlier than we thought.

-Yes.

This was made in Birmingham by a company called Taylor and Perry.

-Right.

-It's lovely!

Does this belong to you?

No, it's my father's.

-How much do you think it's worth yourself?

-He did think about 200 to 300.

200 to 300. Well, I think he's got a sensible head on his shoulders.

-Where is he now, that you had to come along?

-He's on a half-world cruise!

Oh! He doesn't really need the money, does he?

-He's working, though, on it.

-Oh? What does he do?

-He's a dance host for Saga.

-Really?

-Yes.

-What a fascinating way to see the world!

-Yes!

He left last week from Southampton to Sydney.

-Brilliant.

-Australia.

-Brilliant.

I reckon if it goes up for auction we should get something in the region of 400 to £600.

-Excellent.

-That sort of price range.

But the factors are the decoration and the subject matter.

-Right.

-Newstead Abbey. Abbotsford.

Locally made, Birmingham.

You've got all the ingredients. And the condition is so important.

-That's in perfect condition.

-Yep.

I think it's a collectors' piece and I've seen wonderful collections of card cases.

But not as beautiful as this.

I think it's going to make the top end of the price.

I'll reveal whether that literary gem became a best-seller a bit later.

But first, let me show you three superstar items

that I think deserve another chance to shine in the limelight.

First up, this rather auspicious item. A slice of Andrew and Fergie's wedding cake

that John brought in to our valuation room in 2008 in Torquay.

My horses and I were on the procession and all the staff got a piece of wedding cake.

-Must have been a big old cake!

-It was, yeah!

It was another fine result in Skegness in 2008

when Kathleen's collection of famous shots snapped up a cool £170 at auction.

But it was clear from Colleen's Rolling Stones photos in 2009

that gave Philip Serrell some serious satisfaction.

Do you know, you've made my day?

-Are you a Stones fan?

-I'm a huge Stones fan.

Wild Horses couldn't stop it from reaching £520 in the sale room.

But I can't resist giving you another quick blast of The Beatles

as I take you back to Dunstable where in 2009

I got to flick through the pages of Derek's rather special book.

John Lennon has got to be one of my all-time heroes.

How did you come by this little book?

It was left to me by my grandmother who passed away when I was in my early teens.

-It was left to me and I've had it ever since.

-How did your grandmother get hold of this?

-She worked at Jonathan Cape, the publishers.

-OK.

That's where she met him and got his autograph.

I don't doubt the signature at all. It's so hard.

-Yes.

-Because there are so many fakes.

To tell whether or not it's genuine. I've seen enough in my time

-to be pretty sure.

-Yeah.

-Obviously the auctioneer will want to do more research.

-Obviously.

-It's the first publication, so that will carry weight to the value as well.

-Good.

-But it is quite interesting to read it.

-Yeah.

-It's almost madness, in a way.

-It is.

It's hard to make sense of.

He drew the illustrations as well. "The Wrestling Dog".

Incredible.

All credit to you, because at the age of 13,

I would have got my felt tip pen out!

I'm not joking, Derek!

-I would have coloured them all in. Very neatly, mind you! Accurately!

-Of course!

-But I would have devalued this.

-I think with the signature, I was more keen to look after it.

-Exactly.

Any idea of the value?

Have you done any research?

Slightly. Around the £1,000 mark.

It depends if he's signed to somebody, that can devalue the signature.

That devalues them. Because it's not personalised, it's worth a bit more.

-Right.

-Also, funnily enough, signatures in pencil last longer.

Pencil lead won't fade so much.

-Whereas ink will gradually fade over time.

-Right.

I would like to get this into auction with a value of 800 to £1,200.

That's where I feel it's going to find its own level.

Yeah.

So we could be looking hopefully in the middle at £1,000.

-Which is what you want, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Could I get that reserve a little lower?

-Um...

-No, I'd really like...

-You want £1,000.

-£1,000, please, yes.

Do you mind if we set the reserve at 1,000?

-No. No, I don't mind.

-OK.

-All right, I'll go with you on this one.

-OK.

Let's call the valuation 1,000 to £1,200.

Lovely.

-I think it will just get away.

-Yeah.

Only just!

-It's right on the borderline.

-Yeah.

Great.

From a '60s superstar to a modern-day legend.

All the way back to 2002 to Swindon where Kate Bliss discovered

that little Chris Hawkins had some big boots to fill!

Chris, you've got a really exciting lot for us today.

-We've got David Beckham's boots!

-Yep.

Tell me how did you come by these?

It was on the internet, a competition to win them.

It was a quiz where you had to fill out the answers about football.

You had to get four out of five answers to go through and they put your name in a hat.

They were bought at auction by the company who owned the website

-for about 14,000, I think.

-Is that right?

-Yeah.

So after the competition, a few weeks later,

we got a message saying, "You've won the boots and you'll get them soon."

Wow! So are you a big fan of Manchester United?

I can't exactly say they're my favourite. Mine's Newcastle United.

They're best. Shearer. All the way.

So are you looking to sell them?

I'd be very pleased if I could sell them.

Have you had them valued since?

Yeah, I went on a website

-and they think about 2,500 to £3,000.

-Right.

-I'd be happy to get that.

-Right.

Well, David Beckham's loved the world over, isn't he?

Even I knew that and I know nothing about football.

Anything connected with him is very popular and very saleable at auction.

Sport memorabilia is actually quite a different market.

Something associated with such a personality,

having said that, will be worth a lot to sport enthusiasts.

So value, you thought about 2,500, £3,000.

To do them justice, they ought to go into a specialist sport memorabilia sale.

Where people can pick up on them there.

But you found them on the internet and that may be the best place to market them.

There's a lot of interest from Japan in this sort of thing, particularly Beckham.

If the auction house markets them in the correct way, and gets the right buyer, they have potential.

Let me do a bit more research for you and see how we can market them.

And we can set a reserve figure so it wouldn't go below a certain amount.

If the bidding didn't come up to that, you could have them back.

But we'll do our best and see what we can do.

How exciting. Something completely different!

So let me refresh your memory before I reveal

which of my last famous three items scored the biggest hit.

Was it instant Karma for Derek's autographed first edition John Lennon memoir?

Diane's silver visitor's card case brought a sparkle to David Barby's eye,

but did it shine through in the Cheltenham sale room?

Chris's David Beckham boots kicked us all into a football frenzy

so keep watching to see how high they scored at a sporting sale.

It's over to Cheltenham first

to see what kind of interest Diane's silver card case drummed up.

It's the best thing in the sale!

-Unbelievably good.

-Yeah.

-Really is good.

What will you do with the money?

Actually, it's my dad's, so it will all go to him.

-Hopefully he'll give me a bit of commission!

-Let's hope we get that top end.

I'd like 600.

Victorian silver castle-topped card case. Repousse decorated.

300 to start.

£300. Bid at 300. At 300.

320. 350.

380. 400.

-Diane, we're selling.

-420.

450. 480.

500. 520. 550.

At 550.

At 550. Are we all done? At 550 near me.

-I feel greedy. Come on!

-At 550.

£550, Diane!

-Excellent!

-You must be happy. David's very happy.

-I'm delighted.

-Dad will be over the moon!

-Yes, when he gets back.

-He's on a cruise at the moment.

-Is he?

-On his way to Australia.

-Sounds like he doesn't need the money!

-No, he doesn't!

Diane's dad could certainly carry on cruising after that result!

Now to Tring, to find out if Derek's John Lennon book did the business.

There is a bit more Beatles memorabilia around, so fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed the Beatles fans will find this.

-I'm nervous, really.

-Are you?

-I'm wondering if it'll go or not.

-Fingers crossed.

-Let's not end up being jealous guys, shall we?

Here we go.

There it is. Shall we start at 500. Thank you very much. 500 we're bid.

520 we have now. 550.

580. 600.

Let's move on. 650. 700.

And 750.

800.

850. 900 bid.

At 900 I'm bid. £900. Madam, 950, thank you.

At £950. At £950.

So 1,000 we've got. Thank you. 1,000 is bid for it now.

At 1,000. 1,050. 1,050.

Are you going to meet 11? 1,050.

You'll never get another chance.

1,100. That's the way. At £1,100, then.

OK. I shall sell it, then.

That hammer went down quickly. Well done, auctioneer. Good man.

-£1,100.

-Yep. Not bad!

-Not bad, was it?

-Not bad. Happy?

-Yes.

I am. I'm certainly very happy! What will you put the money towards?

Some of it will be to help the cost of my son's driving lessons.

The rest, I don't know yet. Haven't made plans.

-Enjoy it, won't you?

-I will do! Thank you very much.

Quality always sells. And what a name, as well.

A smash hit, and my estimate was right on the money.

Finally, when I took Chris and his mum to a specialist auction in 2002,

the young lad almost became as big a star as David Beckham!

-How are you feeling?

-Very nervous.

-Are you?

-Butterflies. Very shaky.

-How's Mum?

Not very well!

-Extremely nervous!

-I bet you are.

-You said it was like standing in the queue for?

-The Big Dipper.

-Big dipper!

-I think it might be as well!

-Yeah!

These are going to sell, Kate?

Chris has his lucky tee-shirt on, I've got my lucky... I'd better not tell you!

-There they are.

-Here we go.

-Come on!

We can open here at 550. 600. 650.

Any advance on £650?

At 650. 700. 750.

800. 850. 900. 950.

-£1,000 on the telephone. Any advance on 1,000? 1,100 in the room.

-Great!

1,200.

-Going on, sir? Back on the telephone at 1,300.

-That's good!

1,400.

1,500.

At £1,500. In the room at 1,500. Any advance at £1,500?

I can feel you shaking!

-Are you pleased with that?

-Yeah, I am.

I was hoping to get a lot more, but that will definitely do!

-That'll do you, won't it?

-Yeah!

-How are you feeling?

-I'm glad it's over!

Those football boots of David Beckham's certainly hit the back of the net! What a result.

It goes to show how lucrative the market is for celebrity memorabilia.

That brings us to the end of the show.

I hope you've enjoyed our trip through the archives and do join me again soon.

But for now, from Syon House, it's goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd