Signed, Sealed, Delivered Flog It!

Hello and welcome to this special edition of Ten Of The Best from Flog It.

Today, I'm at Sherborne Castle, in the beautiful Dorset countryside.

This magnificent house was built by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1594,

and it's been home to the Wingfield-Digby family

ever since 1617.

Now, I've been searching through the Flog It archives

from the last 10 years,

looking for some of the best items brought along to our valuation days.

And for my theme today,

I've picked out items related to the art of handwriting, calligraphy.

It's something that seems almost lost in today's age of e-mailing

and text messaging, but that's what antiques are all about.

They give us a little window into the past.

We start our trip through the archives at beautiful

Ely Cathedral, where, in 2009,

Ron brought Charlie Ross a classic piece of writing furniture.

Ron, I don't think boxes come in much better condition than this.

-It's absolutely wonderful. Do you know what wood it is?

-No, not all.

-It's walnut.

-Is it really?

-Yeah.

-And do you know what this funny stuff is, that's inlaid?

-Not at all.

-It's brass.

-Ah, right.

-Well, I'm going to open it up.

-You know what it is, don't you?

-Yes.

-It's a writing slope. It's Victorian.

It's 1860, 1870.

And there it is in all its glory.

-And do you know, I think it's got its original leather on?

-Really?

And I think it's got its original inkwells. Your pens went in here.

We will just pull an inkwell out.

Just want to see if they've got silver tops.

No, they're silver-plated tops. But beautiful cut glass.

And the condition is astonishing. 120-130 years old.

So why are you selling it?

Well, it's been in the cupboard for about two years,

a year and a half, two years, and never come out.

-So, how long have you had it?

-About three years.

-So, where did you get it?

-From an auction.

-Well, why did you buy it?

-On a whim.

-You were just sitting in a saleroom?

-Yeah.

I thought, "That's a good price," and I put a bid in.

I'm not going to ask you what the price is yet, but I will do later on.

-Have you looked in here?

-Yes.

-If I pull this up...

Hey presto, it's on a spring, this panel comes out,

and there are the secret drawers.

-That's the one.

-It's a great design, isn't it?

-Wonderful.

Frankly, it's as good as it gets, really. Now, that's the good news.

Bad news is, I think people have finally realised,

after 40 or 50 years of collecting these things,

that they are completely useless, or more or less.

-Now, you bought it three years ago?

-Yeah.

-At auction.

-At auction.

-Go on then.

-£75.

I think it's worth now what you paid for it then.

So I'm going to put an estimate of £60-£100.

Fix the reserve at 60, if it doesn't make more than 60,

well, it's only a small loss.

It makes 100, it's a profit.

And you can say to your wife what a sound investment it was,

-I wish I'd bought three more.

-Exactly.

I'll show you later if Ron did make a profit,

when they went off to auction.

Now, I was blown away in Stroud in 2008,

when Cathy and Ray brought along the most magnificent

collection of local history, which I was keen for them to hold onto.

Cathy and Ray, where do we start, which album? Look at this.

Condition is absolutely wonderful. Beautifully presented as well.

-Whose are they?

-Well, they belong to me, and I found in my dad's loft.

-OK.

-I'm pretty sure that they belong to my auntie, his sister.

-So they've been in the family a long time?

-Yeah.

-Have you thumbed through these and had a look?

-Yes, they're lovely.

-They're quite impressive, aren't they?

-They are.

They're all local scenes, topographic scenes of around Bristol,

and around Weston-super-Mare, Stroud,

Cheltenham, all over Gloucester, which is great because we're putting

-them into a local saleroom, so bound to be lots of local interest.

-Yeah.

This is where we're sitting inside today,

right inside this building, the Subscription Rooms.

-That's the Brunel tunnel.

-This is just down the road, isn't it?

-That's just down the road.

-It's incredible.

-That's our hospital.

Cashes Green Hospital.

-They're building over that now.

-Are they?

You see, this means more to you than it does to me.

If I had a collection like this of where I grew up,

and it belonged to my great aunt, I wouldn't be selling it.

Shame, Ray. Because it is so special.

-It's all here in this one volume.

-That's right.

That's priceless to somebody that lives locally

and wants to learn a little bit about their civic history.

-This one, slightly more commercial.

-Yeah.

-It's not necessarily all on Stroud.

-There are some greeting cards.

There's photographs in the back.

But we do get to some of Stroud at the very back.

There's Stroud Fire Brigade.

Now you see, that one postcard might be worth

somewhere in the region of £15 by itself.

Yeah.

Fire brigade memorabilia is big business,

-and so is early police memorabilia.

-Yeah.

Let's just have a look at this third one.

These are slightly far afield, aren't they? They come from London.

-Yeah, my auntie lived in London for a while.

-And Ireland.

-Well, this one is lovely.

-Not local.

Those two are going to do the business for you.

-Have you any idea of value?

-No, not a clue.

Look, on a good day, I don't want to get your hopes up,

I think on a good day you could be looking at £200, plus.

-Really?

-Blimey.

-Yes, you could.

And I can't wait to find out what's going to happen.

Stay tuned to find out it was a good day when we went off to auction.

Now, in Windermere, back in 2005, Adam caught sight

of Margaret's fabulous collection, which made his day.

Margaret, what a fantastic collection of pens.

-How long have you been collecting these?

-Probably as long as 20 years.

20 years. Where have you been getting them from?

Oh, anywhere that I come across them.

Job lots at auction sales, and junk shops, anywhere I see them.

-Have you got a favourite?

-Probably that one. I think it's quite attractive.

It is attractive. A lot of them are very attractive, aren't they?

-This is a Conway Stewart, I think.

-Yes.

We've got a lot of different manufacturers of pens here.

The big names like Parker and Sheaffer, Waterman's,

there's Swan, all sorts.

I quite like these marbleised ones, as well.

You've got a couple in their boxes as well.

This is a nice one here, the Waterman's one. Still in the box.

This one's got 14 carat gold mounts. So, quite a nice pen, that one.

Waterman's one. Some value in its own right.

This one's a Swan here,

and I believe this one you've had for the longest, have you?

-I think I had that when I was 11.

-This one was your school pen?

-Yes.

Well, that's lovely, isn't it? Still in pretty good condition.

-You must have looked after it quite well.

-Oh, I did!

-Didn't chew the end, or anything.

-No.

-A lot of these have 14 carat nibs, the majority.

-A lot of them, yes.

You've also got a few pencils.

There's a collection of propelling pencils,

including one of these old advertising pencils,

and you've got two silver pencils as well.

-So, what made you collect pens?

-I don't know.

I think people kept finding them in their cupboards,

-and just adding them to my collection.

-Right.

I must admit that I've hung onto a few pens

that I found here and there, I've probably got a few, but nowhere near as many as this.

-No.

-What was the most reasonable one?

There must been some that were 50p,

but some of them were two or three pounds.

-So, they've all been between 50p and a couple of pounds?

-Probably. Yes.

It's a nice collection. A lot of pen collectors out there.

I think it's probably going to make £100-£150.

How do you think about that?

-Lovely.

-Is that what you thought?

-Wonderful. Yes.

-So, we'll put a reserve of just below, at 90?

-Yes.

That's great. Thank you very much for bringing them along.

-It's a good collection of pens.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Well, that definitely put a smile on Adam's face.

And Jane's wacky item brightened up James Lewis's day in Kilmarnock,

back in 2009.

I have to say, I absolutely love it!

-It's mad, isn't it?

-It is. It is fun.

We've got a Victorian desk weight and paperclip desk clip,

cast in bronze as a monkey jockey, riding, what looks to be...

-I think it's a greyhound, isn't it?

-I think it's a greyhound.

-Quite a muscley greyhound.

-Yeah. Quite strong.

-Isn't it crazy?

Only the Victorians would do such a thing.

Tell me, how did you come to have such a fantastic thing?

Well, I inherited it from my mother, and she, in turn,

inherited it from her parents. But I've always known it all my life.

It was in my grandparents' house when they went on holidays,

and later when I lived there. it's just always been there.

-I bet you did this as a kid, didn't you?

-Oh yes.

It was always referred to as "the horse."

And for quite a long time as a child,

it was a long time before I realised it wasn't a horse.

Do they realise it wasn't a horse?

Oh, yes. they just called it out of fun. It just had that name.

The centre for this type of work was Austria.

There's one factory that always calls out this sort of quality,

and that's Bergman.

-Right.

-Sometimes you see a little mark.

I've had a really good look over this,

and I couldn't see a mark anywhere.

Sometimes it's a vase, with a "B" in the centre.

Sometimes it's marked quite clearly "Bergman,"

and sometimes it's marked, "Namgreb"

-"Bergman" backwards.

-Oh, yes. Right. I see.

It's cold-painted bronze.

The fact it has its original paintwork means a lot.

These things, because they were fun, they were often

novelty animals, kids got their hands on them and played with them.

As soon as you get a kid playing around with

a bit of cold-painted bronze, the paint chips off all over the place.

You can see a bit of the damage on his little jockey cap there.

Really, it's not in bad condition.

Considering it's probably 100 years, or so, old?

-Yeah, it was made, probably 1870, 1890.

-As long as go as that?

Yeah. Somewhere like that.

But it's useful, it's practical, it's in good condition and it's novelty.

Those three things are all in its favour.

The rectangular stand that it's on is in walnut.

-It has that lovely golden glow.

-It has. Yes.

Here, we've got these little areas here

around the outside of patination. Why is it here?

To be honest, I haven't used it,

and it hasn't really had a place on show.

What do you think it's worth?

Having listened to what you've said, I should have thought,

possibly, the hundred pound mark?

-The hundred pounds should be increased to £300-£500.

-Really?

-As much as that!

-Yeah.

-That is good news.

-Brilliant.

Why don't we put £300 on it as a reserve,

and if it doesn't make that, take it home and enjoy it for a bit longer.

Put it somewhere where I can use it. Yes, that sounds ideal to me. You've made my day!

So, before we take our first trip to auction,

here's a quick reminder of what's being sold.

Ron had bought his writing slope at auction, only three years ago.

Will he see a good return on his £75 investment?

I loved Cathy and Ray's postcard collection,

but did it reach my £200 estimate?

Was Adam right with the estimate of £100-£150 for Margaret's pen collection?

And did James hit the spot with Jane's letter holder?

Well, we're just about to find out as we head over to our first

saleroom in Stamford, Lincolnshire.

Going under the hammer right now, we've got a walnut

writing slope, with a fitted mahogany interior, with a value

of £60-£100, there is a lot riding on this, and all will be revealed.

It belongs to Ron, who's putting it under the hammer,

and you've brought?

-My grandson, Ryan.

-Ryan, how do you do?

-OK.

-Do you love antiques or football?

-Yeah.

-Both.

-What's your favourite football team then?

-Liverpool.

-Liverpool.

The money is going towards young Ryan's present for Christmas.

-Right, we need 100 quid or so.

-Yes, we do.

-That's what we want.

Do you know though, on a good day, two people

falling in love with this, it could get 120, I don't know.

Ryan, this is the excitement of the auction room,

are you ready for this?

-Yeah.

-Here we go, it's going under the hammer now. Good luck to you.

-This is it.

-The large writing slope,

what should we put it at? 60 to start. 65, 70, 75.

-80, 85.

-80?

-It's gone.

-90. New money, 95. 100, 110. 110, 120. 130.

130, 140.

-160.

-160. Take your 70, Sir. 170. 180.

-I was right.

-180, 190.

200 down here. Sale seated at 200. 210 up there. 220. 220.

You sure? 220, seated. 230 if you want?

She said yes!

I sell down here at 250, the seated bidder. He wants that box at £250.

LAUGHTER

-£250.

-How good is that, Ron?

-Quality. It was all there, complete.

The condition was great, as well. What a result.

Next up, I'm feeling the pressure with Cathy and Ray's

postcard collection, which went under the hammer in Cirencester.

Great Aunt's collection of postcards is just about

to go under the hammer, and they belong to Cathy and Ray, here.

We've got a value of £200, which we talked about on the valuation day.

Lots of social history captured here for ever,

and hopefully the collectors are in the room.

I know you've got more mementos of Great Aunt,

-so you don't mind selling these, do you?

-No.

-Up in the loft, out of sight.

-Yeah.

-Now they're going to be out of mind.

Here we go, they're going under the hammer.

Three early 20th-century postcard albums.

A lot of Gloucestershire in there. 100, I'm bid.

At 110, if you like now. 110. 120, 130. 140. 150. 160.

170, the bid's at. 180, 190. 200.

210, 220, 230, 240, 250, 260, 270,

280, 290, 300, 320, 340, 360, 380.

-Blimey!

-£400 on the left, now. At £400. 420, if you like.

At 400, are you all sure?

-£400! The hammer's gone down. How about that, Cathy?

-That's fantastic.

That was great, wasn't it? I love it. There was a tear in your eye?

-There was, yeah.

-That was worth taking it to Flog It.

Thank you so much for bringing it in.

What a wonderful moment. I knew they were special.

It's up to Penrith now, for the sale of Margaret's collection of pens.

Is it time to say goodbye to those pens and pencils?

-Have we got that value right? £100-£150.

-I hope so.

We're just about to do battle in the auction room,

and find out if the pen is mightier than the sword.

-£150, top end, that's what we want. There is a lot there.

-There are.

If you divide them by the amount of pens,

it works out fairly reasonably.

-Very reasonably!

-Exactly. You sounded a bit disappointed then.

-Well, we'll see.

-There's a lot of collecting there.

-Yes, yes.

Good luck. They're just about to go under the hammer. This is it.

A collection of pens, propelling pencils, the whole lot of them there.

Various bids. I have £70 bid. 70, 80, 90, 100, and 10. 120, 130, 140.

Oh, they love it, they love it.

160, at £160 bid. 160, 180. 180, at 180.

With Janet at £180. I'm selling, all done. At £180.

-I like the sound of that. 180! Happy with that?

-Yes, thank you.

That is brilliant, isn't it? Lots of memories though.

-Well worth collecting over a period of time.

-Yes. Yes.

Another happy Flog It customer.

How did Jane's letter holder do, when it went for sale in Glasgow?

Jane, this is a wonderful thing.

Possibly the nicest thing in the auction today.

It's a cold-painted bronze, it's the monkey riding a greyhound.

It's the letter holder.

James Lewis beat me to this at the valuation day. You zoomed in on it.

-You focused on it. He grabbed it. It's good, isn't it?

-I love it.

I've just got to ask, why, why, why are you selling this?

Well, I've been used to it all my life,

I've got really used to it, and now I've inherited it,

I find I don't use it.

You don't have to use it, you just look at it.

I'm not even looking at it, it's tucked away in the corner of a desk.

It's lost its wow-factor for me a little bit,

because I've known it all my life, literally, all my life.

-It so good, and it's so quirky, and I've not seen this one before.

-No.

Let's find out, shall we?

Superb, cold-painted, bronze letter holder,

depicting a monkey sat upon a greyhound.

-Starting at 200.

-Right, we're in.

-200 bid. With you, sir, at 200.

Any advance on 200?

220, 240, 260, 280, 300, 320,

340, 360, 380, 400, 420, 440,

460, 480.

It's down to two people in the room.

520, 540,

560, 580,

600, 620, 640,

-660.

-This is good. It's so rare.

-680, £680.

-Good gracious!

-All done at 680? All done at 680, 680.

-Yes!

Slowly, slowly, catch the monkey there. Anita worked that one out.

-She did.

-£680, Jane. Oh!

-After commission, there's still a lot of money.

-Still a lot of money.

For something I had sitting in the corner of the room.

What are you going to put it towards?

Well, we're off to Canada in a couple of weeks' time.

So, it will provide a nice little bit of spending money.

-There may be a new digital camera in the offing somewhere as well. You never know.

-Yes, yes, snap away.

I could see that on your desk, in your office, in your auction room.

So could I!

Well, Jane was extremely excited, wasn't she?

That's what it's all about. A great result.

Now, in the early days of the Royal Mail,

post was delivered by horse or by coach,

and no doubt here at Sherborne Castle,

there was even a butler to sort all that that sort of stuff out for you.

It wasn't until after stamps were invented in 1840

that we saw the first post boxes

being introduced to the streets of Britain.

It was author Anthony Trollope

who, whilst working for the Post Office at the time,

spotted post boxes in France, and he suggested they be introduced here.

Now, over the years on Flog It, I've met some incredible collectors,

but back in 2004, on a visit to the Isle of Wight, I met up with

Arthur Reeder, whose collection, literally, had me seeing red.

# Return to sender

# Return to sender...#

You can never find a post box when you're looking for one,

but then again, they're a bit like buses, they all come along at once.

# Bright and early next morning

# He brought my letter back...#

This is quite amazing really, isn't it? It's almost surreal.

It's like Stonehenge, but all the rocks are painted bright red.

The humble post-box takes on all shapes and sizes,

and has adorned our streets since 1853, with the majority

made from cast iron, they were designed to stand the test of time.

They weigh in at around a ton each.

21 years after the first box appeared, the Post Office

embarked on a ten-year mission to paint them a uniform colour.

They chose red because it was highly visible,

and in England they've remained the same colour ever since.

But there's one man whose interest in boxes takes him

all over the UK, and resulted in a first-class collection of his own.

We've taken shelter out of the rain in Arthur's garden shed

to take a look at some of his collection.

What I want to know is how you get started collecting letterboxes?

Right. Well, like most things, some people collect stamps.

My father used to collect stamps.

My mother was supposedly born in a post office, so I suppose

I was going to do something along these lines at some stage.

My actual interest is in street furniture.

I've never heard this called street furniture before.

I love furniture, but this is a first for me.

Well, street furniture is all-encompassing,

it can be phone boxes, street signs, anything like that.

So, how long ago was it before you purchased your first one?

Well, I got my first one purely by chance,

because I actually went to North Wales to photograph

a wooden one on a station in Rhyl, and when I got there, it had gone.

I actually tracked it down. It was on a skip, ready to go out into the rubbish.

I asked the stationmaster what he was going to do it,

and he said, "Well, you can take it if you want it."

The provenance thing comes in. I had to ask him

if he would sell it to me, give me a bill of sale.

And I took this rotten old wooden box, that had been vandalised,

set fire to, home with me, to where I used to live in Harrow,

and I restored it. It's the one actually sitting behind you there.

-This one here.

-That one there.

That's back to its former glory.

It's properly better than it was when it was on the station.

The condition of them is absolutely fantastic.

I love that pillar box bright red.

Do you have to restore a lot of these?

They are virtually all damaged in some way,

and you have to do a lot of work to restore them back.

Particularly cast iron,

because any kind of repair to cast iron is very expensive.

So, how do you go about doing that? What you do?

The most important thing is making sure you have all the bits,

if there's something missing, you have no chance of replacing it.

-Yeah.

-You've got to have all the bits,

you have to find a decent welder, who will weld cast iron.

Luckily enough, there is a very good man on the island.

Something's going through my mind right now, I'm thinking,

you've got another shed somewhere in this garden full of spares.

Post boxes that you can actually break down.

Well, actually, you're not far short of it there.

Because some of the bigger ones that are down the garden

are actually an amalgam of about four or five different bits and pieces.

It might take five broken doors to make up one good one.

But when you finish the job, and get it blasted and painted,

and I put the final coats of gloss on, you can't tell.

Why are some of these bright green?

Well, the green ones that you see

are actually not British green at all.

They're the Republic of Ireland.

I was going to say they look shamrock green, rather than British racing green.

It's actually grass green, another standard colour.

But unfortunately anyone who's travelled

the Republic of Ireland will know that just about any colour

green is usable over there, but the actual proper colour is

the grass green that you see on these ones behind me here.

What's the most unusual box you've got?

Right. Virtually all of them are unusual

by virtue of the fact that I've got them.

They've all got their own little personalities, haven't they?

Oh, every one's got a story. Every one's got a story.

I suppose the box I've got standing in the garden from Hong Kong

has got to be one of the most unusual ones I've got,

quite a few of the ones I have here are actually,

well, there's only one or two examples in existence.

So, I mean, take for example, the box from Rhyl,

and this one here, next to it. They are very rare,

there's only one of these left in existence in use.

When I was walking around the garden earlier, I noticed a few post-boxes

without a cipher on, now, why is that?

When the first boxes were produced, they all had the cipher

of the reigning monarch, which was Queen Victoria, like you see here.

That's a cipher, embossed. That actually says "Victoria Regina."

When they came up with the design modification to make

the cylindrical box, they actually forgot to put the "VR" cipher

on the front of the box, and they even forgot the words "Post Office,"

and that's around about 1887, and they then produced them

for a further nine years before they realised

that there was nothing on the box

to say they belonged to the Post Office, or the reigning monarch.

So, how many have you got in your collection?

As of today, I've got 142.

-That is so many to have in your garden, and in your sheds.

-Yes.

The thing is I've actually got slightly more than 142,

because I have a couple of spares.

So, you have to have a few swaps, you see?

Maybe to get the one you want,

you might have to swap two or three, or something.

-You know?

-What is the one you want?

-The Holy Grail.

-Well, the ultimate Holy Grail is the Penfold post-box.

There's about 110 of them still around the country,

and there's a few in the Republic of Ireland as well.

There's a couple worldwide, one in India, one in Pakistan and a couple in Australia.

What would you be prepared to pay for that? That particular one.

-Now, you see, the trouble is...

-Or swap?

Well, I don't think there's any chance of me getting one,

because they are all listed structures, and as such,

they shouldn't ever be removed from where they are.

Well, I think it's great. Where does the collection go from here?

Because I think what you're doing, actually,

is preserving our heritage for future generations to appreciate.

I would dearly, dearly love to display all these smaller items

and the smaller wall-boxes in a proper building,

or least ways, a bigger shed, so that people could actually come

and walk around, and have a look at them.

-It's a link with the past to the present.

-We want to see it.

We want to see it bright red as well.

Well, I'd like to see this museum up and running pretty quickly.

Yeah, so would I. I'd love to get all these boxes out of the shed.

Thanks very much. Much obliged.

So, it's time to look back at some more

of my favourite treasures from the archive.

And I'm taking you back to Bangor, where, in 2002,

Kate Bliss found a beautiful writing accessory.

Sue, what we have here is a super quality Victorian writing cabinet.

Just before we open it, tell me where it came from?

I've had it for about 25-30 years.

My husband bought at auction, round about that time.

-I think he paid £45 for it.

-Right.

Well, £45, 30 years ago, was quite a large sum of money, wasn't it?

Yes. I think it was.

I think there were gasps in the auction room when my husband

paid 45, but it was in such a lovely condition, and we did want it

very much, so he probably paid a little bit over the odds at the time.

It's rosewood, of course, which has this very attractive,

almost black grain running across the top there and the sides.

And we've got this super marquetry inlay,

which is typical of the late Victorian, Edwardian period.

Ribbons and swags, in boxwood and just a little bit of ivory there.

And we've got two cast brass carrying handles there.

And if we open it up, we can really see the full extent of the quality.

And the accessories. We've got a leather inset writing service,

that really looks as if it's never been used,

and on the inside, the mahogany interior, a set of little pigeonholes

for the stationery, and these lovely little drawers on the side there.

Beautifully made, for stamps or sealing wax.

And a little calendar here, for 1900, which is nice, isn't it?

Would that be, that would be original to the box, would it?

-So, it was about that period?

-That's right.

I would think we're looking at late Victorian for the time it was made.

But that certainly could have been used while it was in use, I think.

It's a lovely thing.

It's certainly the sort of thing that a collector would go for.

In today's current market, I would put an estimate of £300-£500 on it.

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't reach the upper end of that.

What do you think about that?

-Erm...

-Had you set your hopes on...

-Yes.

I think I would be a little disappointed

if I put it in auction and it fetched 300.

Right.

I have a feeling it's worth, not considerably more, but perhaps 500.

I think a 500 reserve is going to be pushing it, to be honest.

-I think that that might just put people off a little bit.

-You do?

-What about somewhere in between the three and five?

-Shall we compromise?

I think if you're happy with that, it is a good compromise.

It's lovely quality, I would hope you are right.

I hope that it does go above that.

I think if we say 400, that's got a chance.

I think if it went for three, I'd rather keep it in the family.

We'll find out a bit later if the bidders agree with Sue or Kate's estimate.

But first, here's a quick look at some of my other favourite items that flew away at auction.

Elizabeth Talbot had a giggle with Pam in Lincoln in 2005.

Thank you for bringing your two pigeons.

-He was obviously a very serious pigeon fancier.

-He was, yes.

-And he raced them?

-Yes, he did.

-How long ago would that be?

Well, he's been deceased 13 years.

-They've been in a loft since then.

-Right.

Not a pigeon loft!

Very good. You were quicker than me!

Elizabeth was spot on as they sold for £135.

Charlie was very interested in John and Hillary's postcard collection.

It says, "Coad fish." C-O-A-D.

I would have thought that means codfish, but they don't make cod that size.

-They might have done then.

-I shouldn't think so.

Fish and chips for the rest of your life.

They were thrilled when they made £740.

And David gave Alan the seal of approval

with a collage of firsts, including a Penny Black.

What is so good... It's a collage of firsts.

So you've got the first stamp, adhesive stamp,

which is the Penny Black.

And then what is so important, this is the most valuable element,

you have the Australian cricket team when it visited the USA.

This is the exciting element because you have got one signature there,

-Don Bradman.

-Alan got £270 at auction.

So, to Solihull now, where in 2007,

James Lewis spotted a lovely little desk ornament.

Albert, when I first saw this, I saw it from behind and I thought it was a little desk watch.

Then I looked from the front and I thought it was a picture frame.

Then I picked it up and thought it was a desk weight.

The thing is, they're all three in combination.

So it's a really neat little thing for somebody's desk.

Tell me, it's obviously continental,

it's got a German or an Austrian scene on the front there,

it looks like somewhere Rhine Valley, I should think.

If we turn it over, it's inscribed in Swiss on the back.

So it's a Swiss made thing probably for the German market.

It's a little picture,

painted on ivory and the clock tower here actually has

a working little timepiece in there, on a solid marble plinth.

Is that something you picked up on your travels?

No, no, it belongs to the wife's mother.

How does it come to be in your house?

Well, it was off the mother, but apparently the story was,

it was brought back from Germany just after the war, the Second World War.

-OK. As a tourist souvenir?

-As far as I know, yes.

-It's a neat little thing, but obviously you don't use it...

-No.

I reckon that's going to go to somebody as a little bit of fun.

Therefore, it's not a lot of money.

It's not going to be worth a fortune.

Having said that, it's nice quality,

it's gilt brass, it's solid marble, it's watercolour on ivory.

A nice little Swiss watch movement in the back.

What shall we say?

-£40-£60?

-Fine.

-£30 reserve.

-Yeah, fine.

-Are you happy with that?

-Fine.

Fantastic. Let's see how it does.

Well, I thought that was quite a low estimate,

but we'll find out later.

In the same year, I met Heather in Rochdale

who brought in one of my favourite things.

And what a fun time we had!

Heather, this little group of bears is absolutely stunning.

I'm so pleased you brought some oak in for me, it's my favourite wood. Did you know that?

I know you like wood. No, I didn't know.

It's typical of the Black Forest carvings you find from Austria.

So, what's its story and how did you acquire it?

An old lady gave it to me what I used to look after.

-I just said how nice it was...

-And she said you could have it?

How long did you look after her for then? Did you do that for a living?

-No, five years.

-What did you do before?

-I was a hairdresser.

You were a hairdresser. That's why your hair's so neat!

-Neat?!

-Do you cut your own hair?

It's a good cut. Do you think I need a haircut?

Yeah, you could do something doing with it.

-Let's talk about your Black Forest carving.

-OK.

-Did you know they're called Black Forest carvings?

-No, I didn't.

Austrian.

And this dates from around about the early 1900s

and it's done with quite basic chisels and gouges

-and it's known as chip carving.

-Oh, right.

-And they're very, very collectable.

-Are they really?

Yes. It's a lovely little inkwell and it's a nice group here

because you've got Mummy and Daddy bear and a couple of babies,

with a naturalistic log which has been hollowed out

which holds the inkwell. Now, if I take that out...

Unfortunately, you've got the pin missing.

-Did you acquire it like that?

-Yes.

The hinge is still there, it just needs the pin sliding in.

-It was like that.

-That'll make it work. And a bit of solder.

-You can see, that's cut glass.

-Yeah.

That's all done by being offered up to a little wheel,

-a little grinding wheel.

-Right.

-You only get one attempt at that.

Otherwise, if you muck it up,

you've got to grind it all off and start again.

-So, that's not going to devalue it.

-No.

It would if the top was missing

cos you'd have to find another vessel to put in, really.

That can be sorted out.

I think the chip carving, the detail in the work is superb.

It really is superb.

It's one of the nicest little groups I've seen, it's complete

and it puts a smile on your face and that's very important.

That puts the value up.

So, what's the all-important question then? What's it worth?

-That's what you're all here for!

-Yeah, go on.

-You tell me!

-I don't know! I've no idea.

You're the expert. You tell me.

I bet when you were in the queue this morning,

you were thinking, could I get a cruise out of it?

No.

Come on, you must...

No, honest to God, I've no idea. Not at all.

-You've not given it any thought?

-No, none. I haven't.

-I think this will do £250 if we put it into auction.

-Do you really?

-yes.

-And I'd like to put a valuation Of £200 to £300 on it.

-Very nice.

We might just get that top end.

Thank you!

Why do you want to sell it though?

Well, because we've gone from a bigger house to a small bungalow

and I'm just frightened of it getting broken.

There's nowhere to put it really.

It's just been stuck in the cupboard and I thought it's a shame.

-We're going to protect this with a fixed reserve of 200, OK?

-Yeah.

So if it doesn't make 200, it's going home with you.

-That's right, yes.

-Are you happy with that?

I'll sell it to you if you want.

And Heather was just as much fun when we got to the auction.

But first, let's remind ourselves of what else we took to the saleroom.

In Bangor, we had Sue's Victorian writing case.

Was she right to up the reserve?

James loved Albert's picturesque desk weight in Stratford.

And finally, my favourite, Heather's Black Forest inkwell.

Did I hit the mark with this one?

First, we head back to North Wales

to see what happened with Sue's writing slope.

We're a few lots away from flogging your writing slope.

-That's exciting.

-It's a lovely little letterbox, isn't it?

Why are you selling it?

Just cos I haven't got room for it

and I need some money to do the cottage up.

-Oooh. What's wrong with the cottage?

-The rain's coming in.

-Oh, crikey!

And it needs rewiring as well.

-Were you happy with the valuation? Kate's valued this sensibly.

-Yes.

It's priced to sell. Hopefully, this could go to 600,

650. You just don't know on the day, though.

It needs two people to fight against each other.

298.

This is it. We need a £400 reserve.

Let's hope it does it. I'm pretty sure it will.

Quality rosewood writing box.

One of the nicest boxes you'll ever see.

Beautiful, that is. Put it in.

200, I'm bid. £200.

250. 300.

-500.

-500?!

£600. £600.

£600. £700.

£700. £800. £800.

850.

900.

950.

-950.

-950?!

£1,000. Where would you get another one?

£1,000 and it's gone.

-Wonderful.

-Brilliant.

-Thank you very much.

-Fantastic result.

-I'm delighted.

-That is superb.

Quality will always sell, something like that.

And it's becoming rarer, of course,

so people are prepared to pay that little bit more to get it now.

That's going to get lots of renovations done, isn't it?

It might even pay for the whole lot.

That was a shock for Kate. Great result!

Now, let's see what happened at Stratford-on-Avon

when we tested James's knowledge on that little desk weight.

Right, now time is up for Albert's desk weight.

It's got a little clock in and it's an image of the Rhine.

We've got 30, 40...

hopefully £60 on this.

Let's get James's top end of the estimate.

-It's not a lot, is it?

-It's not a lot, but it was the mother-in-law's.

-It was, yes.

-Did you get her permission to sell it?

-I did, yes.

-You did.

-He's laughing his head off.

-The wife's permission.

The wife's permission. That's more like it!

Why do you want to flog it? Has it been on a desk? It's a desk weight.

-No, it's just been in the cupboard. Doing nothing.

-Doing nothing?

-Yeah.

-Sick of it now?

-Yeah.

-Want to flog it?

-Yeah.

We'll do our best. Fingers crossed.

It's going under the hammer right now. This is it. Good luck.

The 1930s desk paperweight, Rhine Valley, eight-day mechanism,

little clock there in it.

Rather nice. Blue John moulded plinth as well.

£20 to start me.

£20 I've got. Five.

£30, sir. £30.

Five. At 30 at the back. Five.

40. 45.

-50.

-This is good.

-45. 50.

Five. 60.

60 and five.

70 at the back.

70 and five, sir?

75 and 80.

At 80 and five. 85 and 90.

90 and five. 95. 100.

100. Go 110. 110.

Gosh. I'm pleased you brought this along now. I bet you are as well.

140. 140. 150.

145. All right. 150.

155.

150, right at the back with 150.

It's going to be sold. All done.

£150! He said Blue John, maybe that's what put the price up.

Well, there we go.

-You've got to be impressed with that, haven't you?

-Brilliant.

I said earlier, I won't ask you what you'll spend the money on

if it sells for 30 quid cos there's a letting fee of £7,

by the time you take the commission away,

you're not going to go home with much.

-But you're going to go home with quite a bit now.

-Yes. Well pleased.

What are you going to do with that £140 odd?

-She'll probably buy a bit jewellery.

-A bit of jewellery. Lovely.

-What a good day out.

-Brilliant.

-Is she here?

-No, no, no. Working.

-She's working!

-Where I should be.

And you should be, yeah.

And finally, it's Heather's fabulous Black Forest carved inkwell.

I had everything crossed as it went up for sale at the Calder Valley Auction Rooms in Halifax.

Next up, it's my turn to be the expert

-and we've got some real quality on the show, haven't we?

-Like me!

It's Heather. And your beautiful, carved, Black Forest bears.

It's a lovely little group. Gorgeous inkwell. £200 to £300.

-We are going to breeze that...

-Hopefully.

..cos these always sell well.

I had a chat with the auctioneer earlier off-camera

and he said, really nice, he said.

-Something he'd like to own. 200 to 300, no problem.

-Oh! Brilliant.

-That's great.

-It is, isn't it? And we've got a packed sale room

and I don't think they're sitting on their hands

cos most of them are standing.

-Anyway, the money's going towards the holiday fund?

-Yes.

-For the kids.

-Yes, the grandkids.

-Good luck. I love what you're wearing.

-Thank you.

Right. Easy, tiger. This is it. Here we go.

Late 19th-century, Black Forest carved ink stand, lot 49.

What am I bid for this? Couple of hundred?

150. £100, thank you.

£100. 120.

120. 140.

160. 180.

200. At £200. At £200. 220.

-Get it up!

-240.

-Go on!

-260. 280. 300.

Go on!

And 20. 340.

-360.

-Go on! Give it a bit of welly!

400.

-And 20.

-Are you listening?

-I am!

At £420. Any further bids?

At 420. We're selling.

420, first and last time.

Woo hoo!

LAUGHTER

Easy, tiger.

-Brilliant.

-£420!

-Woo!

Sock it to them, boy.

-Wow!

-Lovely. Thank you very much.

-Isn't that a good result?

What are you going to do with that?

I said I'd put it towards the kids' spending money for Benidorm.

That's right. That's what you said. Treat yourself as well.

-I treat myself every week so I'll give it to the kids.

-I bet you do!

-Life's for living, Paul, you know?

-Exactly.

-It's not a rehearsal, is it?

-No, not at all.

What a wonderful moment and what a result!

I was so pleased for Heather

and what a little treasure she was as well.

Well, sadly, we've come to the end of today's programme.

I hope you've enjoyed our little trip down memory lane.

Join me again soon for another look into the Flog It archives.

Until then, from Sherborne Castle in Dorset, it's goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd