Charlie Ross vs Paul Hayes: Foreign Market Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

This show pitches TV's best-loved antiques experts against

each other in an all-out battle for profit, and gives you the inside view on the secrets of the trade.

Coming up, our experts reveal how knowing the maths is crucial to success.

If I bought that for 420 euros,

I would lose approximately 250 euros. Bonsoir.

They show you exactly what to look out for when buying.

When an artist signs a bronze, he's very proud of that work, so that tells me that's very good quality.

And how the most important part of selling is keeping your cool under pressure.

Stop laughing, it's not that funny.

Today's epic duel of the dealers sees Charlie "The Charmer" Ross

take on "The Man From Morecambe",

Paul Hayes, to see who can make the biggest profit

from buying and selling antiques.

Yes, it's Oxfordshire's auctioneer smoothie...

If I sell it for three times the price, I'd come back here and take you out to dinner.

Versus Lancashire's blue-eyed antiques superman.

Quality, quality, quality.

That's what you're looking for.

They're risking their reputations and their own hard-earned cash

in a contest that will test their dealing know-how to the absolute limit.

Today's battleground is the Belgian capital Brussels,

where Charlie and Paul must unearth the most profitable bargains.

First at the city's celebrated fleamarket,

in the Place du Jeu de Balle,

and then amongst the more exclusive antique stalls of Le Sablon.

Our duelling duo have up to £750 worth of euros of their own money to spend.

Their mission is to make the most profit over a week of challenges,

all of which will go to their chosen charities.

As they head for their first buying location,

our two heroes turn their attention to what items they'll look for.

Charlie Ross and Paul Hayes, it's time to put your money where your mouth is.

When you get there, you'll be looking for what?

I'll be looking for anything related to the First World War.

Oh, right. Are you a historian?

I love all that sort of stuff and I think this was the major area in a major event.

I think there's every chance of finding something English,

and they might not even know it's English, it might be overlooked.

-We're here.

-We're here.

Come on then. Merci, merci beaucoup.

Ah, look at this, Charlie.

Look at this.

And this is what our profit-seeking pair from Blighty are getting so excited about.

The morning market in the Place du Jeu de Balle, where 200 continental dealers

pitch up daily to peddle humungous heaps of antiques and collectables.

From the off, The Charmer's on his guard against flea market fakes.

It's funny, you see a bronze from 20 or 30 yards and you

think, "Yes, I've seen it!" and the closer you get to it, the quicker you realise that it's reproduction.

There's going to be a lot of that here.

There is indeed, Charlie, and the man from Morecambe could be about to prove your point.

Now this is really what you want to find, a long-lost Van Gogh, or something, isn't it?

Do you know, I've actually set out to find a Van Gogh painting and I've found one.

This is Van Gogh's Irises.

Now, believe it or not, this would be 20 million, 25 million probably, these days.

Finding the real deal here would be nothing short of a miracle.

Is our blue-eyed boy seriously thinking of taking a punt on this painting?

This is an honest copy for the simple reason that the gentleman who's painted it has done it as a study.

It's exactly like Van Gogh would have done, very well painted,

but he hasn't tried to fake it.

Sometimes you'll see they actually have the word Van Gogh on the bottom.

I'll tell you a funny story, my father was in the antique trade

before me and he was once offered a Van Gogh painting. The gentleman said "It's dead right, it's been signed!"

When he looked at the signature, it was signed Van Gogh, but G-O-F-F.

C'est combien, le Van Gogh?

1,000 euros.

1,000 euros. That's cheap. Cheap. How much, then?

-40 euros.

-I'll tell you what, Paul, try haggling in French.

Dix euros.

-20's good.

-20's good.

20 euro. Quinze.

Quinze, pour moi.

Yeah. OK. I think I'll buy that.

I think we just arranged, he asked me 1,000 euros for this, then he went down to 50 euros,

then I offered him a tenner and he said no, 20, then we settled on 15.

Well, a bizarre first purchase from the blue-eyed boy.

His strategy was to go for World War I memorabilia but he invests

in a repro Van Gogh for just under £14.

Still, he seems as pleased as punch.

Not a bad start, Charlie, eh?

I'm on my way to Sotheby's now to get it checked out. Merci.

Now, Charlie's strategy was to find English antiques to sell back

in Blighty, and he spent nearly an hour looking.

I refuse to bow to pressure and buy something perhaps even with a profit in it if it's modern, repro.

I don't want to be seen to be buying repro unless it's 12 o'clock tonight - in which case, I might have to.

And he does find something, but it's not English.

It's a Belgian prayer book.

Like his opponent, he's gone off strategy, but he won't care less if it turns a healthy profit.

Isn't that just beautiful?

If this gentleman would take ten euros for this.

Pardon, monsieur, dix euros?

-No.

-No?

Vingt euro!

He will take 20, which is about £18.

You know the great thing, positive thinking from C Ross, frankly there's not a lot of downside.

If you pay £18 for something, you can only lose £18, can't you?

I think there's a slim profit in that, and it's about time I bought something.

Just over £18 for the little book, let's hope The Charmer doesn't need

divine intervention to raise a profit.

Our dealing duo have made one purchase each, neither of them on strategy, and this Belgian

bargain basement is throwing up one distraction after another, even if they're not original antiques.

OK. Now one thing I have spotted here is some beautiful art nouveau ewers. Look at that! Look at these two here.

Now, a ewer is for water or for claret.

The wonderful thing about art nouveau is it was a new art for a new century, 1900,

the inspiration was organic form, so you had these wonderful tendrils.

The whole thing looks alive, growing out of the weeds of a lily pond.

That's the whole idea. And Belgium was very famous for

art nouveau, lots of the buildings here had this style.

But if you're going to buy items like this, buy the original items.

You'll pay a lot more for them, but try and avoid reproduction. And I can tell straight away

by the quality of the casting here, it looks very poor, there isn't the

detail like you would find on the original art nouveau items.

The whole thing looks alive, looks very organic.

And then the ceramic looks not the best quality, but on the bottom here it really gives it away.

Made in the year anno 1906.

You would just never, ever find that sort of thing, the original yes, reproduction, no.

The Charmer is scrutinising this market like Hercule Poirot at a crime scene,

and it gets results. He discovers a case-cracking silver condiment set.

I have to say, these are as a good a pair of mustards as I have ever seen.

Smart houses, not like mine, but smart houses still have

these sort of things on their dining tables.

Now not being English, of course, I'm a little unsure as to the price,

but if these were English,

I think they would be certainly £300-400.

I'm in love with those.

So in love, in fact, that Charlie pays a whopping 120 euros for them, or just over £109.

That was a stroke of luck, wasn't it?

I've got two things in the bag,

and I think there's a profit in each of them.

All Paul's bought is his copy of Van Gogh's Irises, with as yet unknown profit potential.

The man from Morecambe needs to get his buying boots on.

Now then, there are some great postcards here.

This is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to buy, anything First World War related.

Let's have a look through this lot.

A few old buildings, and some old Belgian folk.

Interesting, but at one euro per card, a handful of these won't make too much of a dent in Paul's kitty.

Au revoir. That's great. There we are. So he's knocked me off a pound.

I did a good deal there, I bought four postcards, all related to the First World War.

We have the two ruins of Louvain, and then we have the

Belgian royal family at that time, so that's great, that fits in a nice little parcel of Belgian memorabilia.

With the discount, Paul pays just three euros or £2.73

for his four postcards.

Paul is struggling to spend his dosh but Charlie's still hoping to spot

that genuine antique bargain to net him a whacking profit when he gets back to Blighty.

Is it old? Just possible it is.

Yeah. Unless that's the cleverest repro I've ever seen in my life.

Is this Dutch? Is this 18th century?

Is it Chinese 20th century?

Lack of knowledge is a wonderful thing. Should I gamble?

Depends how much money it is.

Looks like it's got age from the back. It's cracked and chipped, but of course, if it's 18th century,

wouldn't matter if it was cracked and chipped.

Well, you never know, Charlie, until you give it a go.

Bonjour, monsieur. Ca va?

Combien? Vingt.

20. If he'd take ten euros, I'd have a damn good stab at it.

-Dix euros, monsieur, pour moi?

-OK.

He said yes, straightaway.

What a shame I didn't go in at five.

The charmer's gamble on the plate sets him back just over £9,

and it seems he could be a very lucky boy indeed.

I have just asked another gentleman down here and he said it's Tournai, which is near here.

He said it's 19th century so neither one thing or the other. I asked what it's worth,

He said "If you bought this for 75 euros, you did well."

And I bought it for ten. So I'm full of confidence.

And so you should be, Charlie.

So far you've managed to spend over £130, whilst your rival has struggled to spend even 20.

Paul's World War I strategy is bogged down in the trenches and with

time at this flea market running out fast, he's decided to go over the top in his quest for profit.

I've tried to walk past all this tribal art, and it's jumping out at me.

Obviously Belgium has a massive influence on Africa,

the Belgian Congo, and there are lots of original items

that were imported into Belgium well over 100 years ago.

Those artefacts can be priceless, literally.

The one that's taken my shine, actually, is this one here,

with all the lines on the face, which shows the grain of the wood.

And there was one of those sold in Christie's in New York for an enormous amount of money.

We were talking hundreds of thousands of pounds.

So I doubt, I think that's just a copy of that.

The Man From Morecambe's massive change of tack brings a change of luck.

Paul reckons he's struck African gold.

These items here look top, top quality.

This looks a different kettle of fish to what was over there,

and this middle one in particular I think is fantastic.

I think that's very visual, very striking.

This is the real, authentic McCoy, and it's not so much the grain

of the wood, it's the design, the artist has carved very, very delicately, very accurately.

Very visual. Anybody interested in interior design would

love it and it's very suitable for the British market.

Don't forget, people like Picasso were heavily inspired with tribal art and these wonderful shapes

and designs, even though they didn't understand the history, so I'll stick my neck out.

I'm going to buy this.

Paul is convinced that this African carving is top notch

and it better be, because it cost him just shy of £320.

In one fell swoop, The Man From Morecambe's flea market spending

storms past his rival's, but The Charmer's not finished yet.

Ooh, cranberry glass jug.

Is it modern? Is it old?

It's old.

People collect cranberry.

Charlie buys the cranberry jug for a low-risk ten euros, just over £9.

So, another stunning purchase by C Ross.

Not the best, but not the worst.

Well, after a shaky start at the flea market, our two Brits in Brussels are now brimming with

confidence, and they're boogieing on down to their next buying location.

Paul and Charlie each started the day with £750 worth of their own euros.

Paul has made three buys and spent just under £335,

leaving over £415 in his kitty.

Charlie has bought four items at the flea market but spent more modestly,

just over £145, so he's got more

than £600 still to play with,

but this Belgian buying bonanza is just beginning.

Our duelling dealers have got up to £750 worth of euros to spend

buying antiques in Brussels that they must then sell back in Blighty.

The stakes are about to get higher for our two Brussels battlers

as the contest moves to the premier antiques stall of Le Sablon.

All that hustle and bustle of the flea market is gone.

This is more a shopper's market, you have to be a bit more discerning when you're buying items here.

Finding the bargains in this place is a completely different kettle of fish.

I don't need to call the lady over.

Lo and behold, I have looked at the bottom.

420 euros.

If I bought that for 420 euros,

I would lose approximately 250 euros.

Bonsoir.

But The Man From Morecambe is off to a stunning start.

After some speedy reconnaissance, he's back on his wartime strategy before you can say "charge".

So I think these are really interesting, actually. We've got the medals to do with the First World War

and they're obviously presented to people in Belgium, so we're not going to find those in the UK.

And the lady's asked for ten euros each, and she said she'd do them

for 30 euros for the four, which is a reasonable price.

I like them.

Vingt-cinq? OK. Looks like I've bought them now.

That's 25 euros for four medals,

just under £23, but Paul's not entirely sure what he's bought.

Definite gamble. There could be a rare one amongst them.

I'm sure the collectors in the UK will really like them actually, so yes.

Merci beaucoup, madame. Merci beaucoup.

And Paul's on a proper Belgian roll, snapping up yet more local memorabilia from the same shop.

These are the Belgian royal family, starting from the 1930s, I should imagine.

They've been signed by the artist. Now, normally,

when an artist signs a bronze, he's very proud of that work, so that tells me that they're good quality.

The bronze plaques cost Paul

40 euros, just over £36, but who's

going to buy them from him back in the UK is another matter.

Now watch out, The Charmer's really hitting his stride and in a posh

antiques market in Belgium, he's found a posh silver spoon from England.

It can't be a sifter spoon, but it's something to do with fish.

-Anchovies.

-Oh, for anchovies.

-Yes.

An anchovy spoon.

Yes, the salt drips through the bottom.

I've never seen one, I don't think.

And it's one of your cheaper items, isn't it, my dear?

This is not, as they say, de trop.

-How much is it?

-I think it's five euros.

-I'll make it 15.

-You could do that for ten though, couldn't you?

-No. No.

-Ten euros.

-No.

-Why not?

I'm not saying it's a lot of money.

I have to make a profit.

You could sell it for three times the price.

If I sold it for three times the price I'd come back and take you out to dinner.

I'd love to pay ten euros for that.

Real money, real euros.

-All right.

-You're a sweetie.

I've never seen an anchovy spoon.

And we've never seen more of a silver-tongued charmer than you, Mr Ross.

One English anchovy spoon, ten euros, just over £9.

So it really is possible to find bargains in the poshest antiques stall in town.

Good news for both our contenders, who are still loaded with euros.

With buying time ticking away, The Man From Morecambe's staying ultra-cool under pressure.

I've stuck to my guns here and I really

have gone for something that's local, that you can't buy in England,

and that's what I'm going to try and do.

I'm going to have five minutes to soak up the atmosphere and then have one final push.

I want to buy another couple of items if possible, but I'm quite pleased with what I've bought.

I don't know what you're doing, Charlie, but I'm doing all right, thanks.

With nearly £600 still in his pocket, Charlie is a man on a mission.

Ross is now beginning to think on his feet.

I saw the box.

Does look quality to me.

French. 19th century.

Thought, what do you do with a box? You open it up.

A gaming box.

Not unusual. Nice quality.

What you don't know is I've had a quick sneaky look already behind here at the price.

180.

And I asked the lady for her very best price

and she said 150.

I'm now going to have a go at 120.

And The Charmer gets the deal he's after.

120 euros for the games box, a shade over £118.

Now, Paul's plan was to find exotic Belgian antiques to bring back

to Blighty, so with the pressure on and a big bag of euros left, what does he find?

Well, a 100 bill from the American Civil War. Of course.

For you, 180.

-Very, very rare.

-I know, I know, I know.

-You see the date.

170. I'll have a go.

170. OK. We're done. Shall we shake?

-Thank you. We shake.

-Thank you, sir.

170 euros for an obsolete 100 bill.

That's just under £155.

What a fantastic thing to have. I've never seen one like this, actually.

I've heard of them going, they can fetch a lot,

so what I need to do now is just research this exact type of note.

It was issued in Richmond in Virginia.

Let's hope it's a very rare one and earns us a few quid on top,

but for 170 euros, that's about £160, it's a complete gamble.

It sure is, partner. But at this stage of the game, a big risk

like that could prove an absolute corker in the profit stakes.

Little bit of Sorrento ware here.

Sorrento as in Italy.

Olive wood. And I do know an Italian who loves it.

But the mirror's not perfect, so the charmer is not convinced.

There's a piece missing here.

And there's a piece missing here.

-Combien, monsieur?

-250.

HE GULPS

Could go to 180.

Cent soixante-quinze. That's 175.

-So you are very hard!

-I am. I'm a horrible Englishman.

-Of course.

-Cent soixante-quinze.

-I have to surrender.

-Merci, monsieur. Merci.

-You're welcome.

Well played, Charlie, but at just under £160,

the mirror is The Charmer's most expensive buy of the day.

The Man From Morecambe rounds off his Belgian campaign by emptying

his wallet on - guess what - another wallet, albeit a vintage leather one adorned with a gold crown.

60 euros, just under £55.

I'm really pleased with this. It has a solid gold coronet of a baron or perhaps somebody

of the royal family, but what a wonderful thing to have.

It's quality, quality, quality.

Just need to know a well-dressed gent who might fancy it.

Charlie Ross, look out, I think you might be buying this.

Oh, no, he won't. The Charmer has just got one thing on his mind as he makes his last-ditch bid for profit.

A chunk of classy glass, and one final haggle to get the best price.

Good name. Signed, as you would expect,

on the bottom there.

-Combien?

-Cent-vingt-cinq.

Cent...vingt...cinq.

-125.

-125.

-What about quatre-vingt?

-Quatre-vingt-cinq.

Quatre-vingt-cinq.

I said, "What about 80?" He said 85.

I said I haven't got a clue what I'm talking about

but I'm going to buy it because I always like one gamble.

Merci, monsieur. Quatre-vingt-cinq.

I hope I can get more, but who knows?

85 euros for the vase, just over £77.

And that's it in Belgium for our brave battlers from Blighty.

So how does their day's spending compare?

They both arrived with £750 worth of their own euros in their pockets.

Paul made seven buys and spent a grand total of just under £603.

Charlie made eight buys and spent a bit less, at just over £509,

but it's the profit they make back home that really counts.

And before they go their separate ways to sell, our brave boys seize

the chance to take a sneaky peak at each other's wares.

It's been a long day.

It's been a tiring day, and what have you bought?

Well, do you know what, I've bought a bit of tribal art, a Songhai mask, 1920, 1930.

I've took a gamble on that but if that's right, Charlie, that is a fantastic collector's item.

-I took a real chance on that one.

-How do you tell a right one from a wrong one?

-There we are!

THEY LAUGH What have you been buying?

-Well, I told you I would spend some money on something English.

-There we are.

A Victorian cranberry glass jug.

Ten euros. What's your next lot?

I bought an original Van Gogh painting. Do you like that?

-No.

-Let's skip that.

-Is that Van Gogh?

That's not Van Gogh, that's more Darren Gough.

It is, yes. It's his brother.

Do you know what, our work here is done, we've bought our items, now we need to sell them.

Good luck, Charlie.

Do you know anybody who wants to buy a Van Gogh painting? 25 quid to you.

Now, Charlie and Paul must make as much profit as they can

on all the items they've bought to donate to their chosen charities.

As well as the African mask and his painting, Paul must sell a selection of old postcards,

four World War I medals, two bronze plaques of the Belgian royal family,

a Confederate bank note, and this vintage leather wallet.

And in addition to his cranberry jug, Charlie must sell a small prayer book,

two silver mustard dishes, a china plate, a silver anchovy spoon,

a wooden games box, a Sorrento mirror and a Val St Lambert vase.

With the final whistle blown on their Belgian buying blitz, our two antique superstars have

returned home to Blighty where they now face the second phase of this monumental challenge, the selling.

I'm back.

Both Paul and Charlie have built up an exceptional list of contacts in the antiques industry, so

outdoing their opponent is going to demand something truly spectacular.

And both these old pros know that no deal is truly sealed

until they've shaken on it and the money has changed hands.

Paul Hayes is already powering his way down to London,

but this seasoned dealer isn't expecting to find the streets paved with gold.

Selling the items is a lot harder than you think.

Little tip here actually, phone somebody up first.

The phone was a fantastic invention. It's over 100 years old now.

Just by saying hello to somebody, finding a contact name to deal with,

you get through to the right department, someone looks out

for your e-mail, send them a photo of what you've got, hopefully the deal's done.

Good tip, Paul, but upriver in the county of Oxfordshire, The Charmer

has a little tip of his own for Mr Morecambe.

My call has been forwarded.

Here we go.

Ah, Mr Hayes, good morning. I'm sorry to ring you at nine o'clock.

I suppose you're still in bed.

My strategy, in a nutshell, is to give you an absolute thrashing.

Not so charming now, are we, Charlie?

While Paul has dashed south to try and make some cash in the capital,

a confident Charlie is kicking off his selling campaign closer to home.

He's popped over to the village of Woburn where he hopes his Val St Lambert vase...

Yohan!

..will tempt this specialist dealer.

That's a lump.

-A lump. That's not a very sexy way of describing it.

-It's a nice lump.

It's signed.

And as far as I can tell, about 1960 in date.

I would think so, yes.

Can we find a spot for it, do you think?

-Yeah.

-Yohan is clearly interested.

Now Charlie wants to reel him in by getting him to give the vase pride of place in his shop.

What do you think, then?

Cutting to the chase, are you going to pay me 250 quid for it?

How about 150?

Well, it's a bit more than half, isn't it, I suppose?

I tell you what, would you give me 200 quid for it?

-I will.

-Shake on it. I think that's very fair.

Yes. I bet you do, Charmer.

That is a sensational start, and Charlie more than doubles his money on the Belgian glass.

In London, Paul's route to profit is more convoluted.

Of all his Belgian buys, his Congolese mask was his favourite, and he's set up a meeting with Tony,

an expert in tribal art, who he hopes will be able to confirm this striking piece is the real deal.

You don't see something like this every day, do you?

You don't see them as big as that.

-Got that bit right.

-I was out in Belgium, at an antique fair.

I was trying to buy something Belgique.

They have a big connection with the Belgian Congo and I was chatting to this wonderful gentleman

and he told me this was the Songhai tribe, and he reckoned it dated around the 1930s.

He'd got it off an old collector.

And I've found a bit more information on the internet,

but what can you tell me? That's as far as I've got.

You're right. It is Belgian Congo.

-This is symbolic of the labyrinth of life.

-Right, OK, right.

And this is the labyrinth they have to walk when they become adults.

-So that's like initiation rites, sort of thing.

-Sort of.

-Fantastic.

And I think it's as old as he says, if not older, because it's been

-repaired and they're old repairs.

-So how do you know this is an original?

A tourist piece would be made of different wood.

It certainly wouldn't be faked, it would just be a reproduction with a new look,

-probably one of the heavier woods. This is quite light.

-OK.

And all these earth colours ground in like this, that doesn't happen instantly.

So almost like a piece of furniture, the patination.

Exactly. The patina is what you're buying.

Can I let you into a secret there?

-Yes.

-Before I brought it I was going to give it a polish.

You must never do that. I would have said it was reproduction!

I took a complete gamble on this.

I really liked it. It jumped out at me.

I've paid 350 for it.

Now could you envisage me getting a small profit on that?

-How would you rate it?

-That was euros?

-Yeah.

I think if you sold it with us, you would get a profit.

-Fantastic.

-I wouldn't like to commit myself cos, to tell you the truth,

the stronger market is in New York, but our market, having once gone down, is now coming up again.

I'd be more than happy with that.

It's nice to find an original item, that's the important thing.

It's very nice and quite rare.

-And you'd be happy to handle it for us?

-Love to.

That's excellent news for The Man From Morecambe, but Tony

was careful to point out that there are never any guarantees at auction, and an experienced dealer like Paul

won't be counting his profits until he sees the cold, hard cash.

Charlie is also going the extra mile for profit and he's hoping to sell

his Sorrento mirror to a buyer in Italy.

The Charmer has arranged to meet with Barry, his buyer's English-speaking representative.

But with first-class linguistic skills like Charlie's, an interpreter was hardly necessary.

HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

-TRANSLATES:

-How are you? Well?

SPEAKS ITALIAN

Lost me.

I think he's going to the bathroom.

Hang on a moment, what are you saying to him?

-You are talking about this, aren't you?

-I am talking about this.

-Quanto costa?

-That means how much?

-Si.

-Trecento... What's pounds?

-Sterline.

-Trecento sterline.

-Duecento.

-Try 250.

SPEAKS ITALIAN

200, Charlie, he said. That's it.

-220 would be good.

-Si.

£210.

-Oh...OK, 210.

-Si, Paolo. Va bene.

-Va bene. £210.

It's a profit.

Oh, dear, looks like that Italian job didn't quite pay you what you wanted, Charlie,

but £50 profit plus change ain't bad in any language.

Now, Paul's strategy in Brussels was to buy items that were quintessentially Belgian,

hoping they'd have a rarity value back home in the UK.

Now he's arranged to meet Peter, a specialist online dealer in militaria

who he's hoping will be tempted by his two Belgian bronze plaques and his four World War I medals.

If you had said to me, I have bought four First World War Belgian

-military medals, I could have told you, I bet you bought that one, that one and that one.

-Really?

Let's go to this one which is awarded for the people who were on the River Yser.

You can see here it says Yser.

That's the river where the Belgians stopped the Germans.

So on 17th October 1914, the full might of the German Imperial Army

smashed into gallant little Belgium

and the Belgians fought like fury

and they held up the entire German Imperial Army.

Those 17 days that they held the Germans meant that

the British and the French could prepare their defences.

So when the Germans did break through, they could hold them on the Marne,

they kept them out of Paris, and eventually, of course, the war was won.

But because so many were issued, it's only worth actually about £15-£20.

-OK.

-And because I have lots of clients worldwide, I can probably get a better price than

most other people, so we're talking about perhaps £15,

-another 15, that's 30, plus ten is 40.

-40...

And we'll be generous on this one and say 55.

-Say 55 all in.

-55 all in.

-Is that all right? Shall we shake on that?

-No.

-Not yet, right. 55.

-Because I want to come to these.

-OK.

-They're not my field.

-No.

-But I love them.

-Right.

And sometimes that's the great thing about collecting because

the problem when you're a dealer is you're always first a collector, second a dealer,

so using my head on this,

my heart on that, I'm arriving at £80 for the lot.

You couldn't make it £90 by any chance, could you?

-I know I'm being very mean.

-Done.

-Done. Excellent. Thank you very much.

-Thank you very much.

That's a smart bit of dealing from Paul.

By taking a slight loss on the two bronze plaques of just £1.50,

he lands a solid profit on his First World War medals of just over £32.

But that wouldn't be enough to impress our Charles

who is fair to say is feeling pretty good about himself.

Is this the Charles Ross guide to selling? No.

It's the Charles Atlas guide to selling.

# Yeah!

# I got something that makes me want to shout

# Jump back, I want to kiss myself

# I've got soul

# And I'm superbad... #

Yes, Charlie "hot stuff" Ross is clearly pumped up for this challenge and having promised

his opponent a damn good thrashing, the charmer is keen to keep selling.

He's come to Banbury, convinced that he can flog his anchovy spoon...

Knock, knock!

..to the owner of a catering company.

So what do you think of this delicious object?

I'd never use it in a million years.

Oh, not quite so chipper now then, Charlie.

Stop laughing. It's not that funny.

Oh, he's not happy and his mood didn't improve much when he finally

did find a buyer for the spoon

because he only managed a profit of just under £3 for it.

As for Paul, he seems to have pinched Charlie's chutzpah

following his selling strategy to a T, he finds a specialist dealer

in rare banknotes in London

who's happy to pay him £200 for his 100 Confederate banknote.

And our boy also discovers

that some of us might be sitting on a pretty profit of our own.

One of the most common notes of England can be one of the best.

-Really.

-And the secret lies in what we call the prefix letter.

-OK.

Now, this is a very common pound note

which many people have at home

but if this has MN there...

-So MN instead of the letters DY.

-I'll pay you £1,000.

-Really?

This is something that if you've got one of these at home in the tin, check it just in case.

Now then, I know Charlie Ross will think that I'm still a bit wet behind the ears

but where there's muck there's brass and I tell you something, I've just exchanged one quite scruffy

American banknote for ten pristine condition English £20 notes and that sounds like a deal to me.

Nicely done, Paul, but remember it doesn't pay to get too carried away. Just ask Charlie.

It's been a busy start to this selling campaign.

So far, the charmer has sold £422 worth of Brussels booty,

banking over £176 in profit.

The man from Morecambe has sold just £290 worth of items,

netting him a profit of just over £76.

But with Paul's African mask waiting to go under the hammer in London,

today's contest could still go either way.

Back on form, it's the charmer who strikes next,

making just under £41 profit

when he sells his cranberry jug to a private collector in Buckingham.

Can you stretch to a nifty 50?

-I think so.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Give me a kiss.

So Paul needs a big sale and he needs it fast.

Why he's wandering around Isleworth in West London

with an unsigned copy of van Gogh's Irises will surely soon be revealed.

Now don't panic, fellow citizens of Morecambe,

I haven't come to rent a property in Isleworth in London.

I've come to pay homage to one of the greatest painters that ever lived

and I cannot believe that none other than Vincent van Gogh lived here

in 1876 and there's his blue plaque.

Now, apparently, he found religion, he taught English and the Bible from this very premises here.

So I'm here to try and sell my homage to van Gogh's Irises

and I found a gentleman who likes flowers that lives in well, almost van Gogh's hometown, Isleworth.

If there were prizes for sheer effort, this contest

would already be in the bag for the man from Morecambe.

Unfortunately, no such luck, but our boy has located a local florist who might be interested in his painting.

What would you intend to do with it, cos obviously you've got flowers?

We're having our shop redone in a few months' time

so I want to kind of separate the flowers out into colours, and irises are blue...

that can go nicely with the blue section of flowers.

That'll go well. What do you want for it then, Paul?

I actually bought this out in Belgium. I was hoping for around the 50 quid mark.

-I don't know how you feel about that?

-I was thinking more like, I don't know, sort of

round about the 30, 35 mark, in between somewhere in between there.

-You couldn't go to 40, could you?

-I could do 37. How about that?

-37.

-Yeah. What do you reckon?

-OK.

-Yeah.

-Shall we shake on it, then?

-Let's shake on it, yeah. There we go.

Thank you very much for that. That's fantastic.

A good deal for Paul, selling his painting

for just under three times what he paid for it in Belgium.

But Charlie is still well ahead

and so it looks like the African mask that Paul splashed out nearly half his Belgian budget on,

is becoming more and more vital to his chances of victory.

In Buckinghamshire, the Charlie Ross offensive continues to gather steam.

He's aiming to sell the 19th-century porcelain plate that he paid just under £10 for in Belgium,

but private collector Paul is no shrinking violet when it comes to haggling it out.

-100 quid.

-That's far too much.

Come on. How about 50?

I did start high because I knew you would murder me on the price. 80.

50 seems fair to me.

How about 55? 70?

60. Last bid.

Don't believe you.

65.

Take two and a half.

£62.50.

Yeah.

And that is more than six times what Charlie paid

for the plate in Belgium.

And he adds to his rapidly swelling profit pot

by selling his Belgium prayer book to an Oxfordshire book collector

for a profit of nearly £12.

Paul is left disappointed when a trip to Bath to sell his leather wallet to a vintage clothes shop

fails to deliver the profit he was hoping for.

Ah, so there you are. Life is a learning curve, isn't it?

I really went out on a limb to buy that fantastic wallet.

I wasn't sure how much it was worth but I really put my money where my mouth is.

I've taken it here to a specialist in gentlemen's accessories in leather goods. She really liked it, too.

She had the feel for it.

I got my nose bloodied a little bit.

I didn't quite make a massive profit on it.

I didn't make a loss either and that's very, very important so I'm very happy, Imran's very happy.

I'm out on the deal. How are you getting on, Charlie?

Well, he's doing rather well, Paul, and seems more than content

with a spicy little profit of over £50 on his silver mustards.

I'll bring them along to the cricket on Saturday and bring your cheque book.

Paul makes a good mark-up

on his postcards featuring images of King Albert I of Belgium,

but if the man from Morecambe is to wrestle victory from the charmer's clutches,

then it all comes down to this early 20th-century Congolese mask and this phone call...

-Hello, Paul, how are you, you all right?

-'..to find out how much it made at auction.'

We'll find out shortly.

Our dealing duo had £750 worth of euros to spend in Belgium.

Paul parted with just over £600 in his quest for profit,

whilst opponent Charlie was more cautious in his spending,

risking just under £510.

All the profit our dealers make from their Brussels bonanza will be going

to the charities of their choice, so without further ado,

let's find out who's made the most cash and who is today's Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is champion.

-Bonjour, Charles.

-Bonjour Monsieur Morecambe.

-Ca va?

-Bien, merci.

-How was it for you?

-I really, really enjoyed myself.

I thought the trip to Belgium was amazing, Brussels itself...

-How did you get on with that mask?

-Not all gambles paid off but I stuck to my guns and I bought

something you definitely can't buy here in the UK. You, on the other hand, bought a lot of English stuff.

Well, I didn't buy a lot but I bought a cranberry glass jug which was unusual to find in Brussels.

-Certainly was. How did you get on?

-Well, I shall show you.

-Shall we find out?

-I'll count down.

-OK. Ready.

Three. Two. One.

Absolutely. Look at that.

That is a whopper.

How do you say disaster in French?

Hard luck.

Yes, the charmer is triumphant.

And why? Well, firstly because the wooden games box

delivered him a substantial profit of just under £110

at a local auction house.

But more importantly, because Paul's mask didn't quite do the business.

Just one bidder, that was it.

Paul's loss of just under £9 on the mask sealed his fate

in today's antiques dealing face-off.

And Charlie the charmer Ross is victorious.

Good profits for my charity.

Tiny ones for Mr Morecambe.

Don't count your chickens yet, Charlie.

There are still more challenges to come before your profit can be banked.

I made a good bit of profit for my charity. Not quite as much as Charlie Ross

but you pay your money, you take your chance.

Yes. A truer word was never spoken, Paul.

Tomorrow, the man from Morecambe gets his chance to strike back...

-I want to go over there.

-I want to go over there, too.

-Race you.

..as our two ANTICS maestros go head to head again at a top UK antiques market.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd