London Bargain Hunt

We're thinking big today, bargain hunters.

We're in London, so why don't we bump up the budget

and blow the blooming lot, as we go bargain hunting?

Hello and welcome.

We've come to the Ally Pally in North London,

which is absolutely ginormous.

And I'm going to be giving each of our teams today £600.

Coming up...

Come on, where's this girl power gone?

..mates Elliott and Simon pass the buck...

I'm happy with it as long as Simon takes all responsibility.

-If it doesn't make a profit, it's your responsibility.

-We can blame him.

..cousins Mya and Tenay pass on the decision-making...

-I want to go and get it.

-Do you want to?

-Yeah.

-But you just walked away.

-Yeah, I know, but I've thought about it.

-Sure?

-The sense came back.

And at the auction, the experts feel the pressure.

Well, Tim, this is what I bought.

Think you stitched us up.

Come on. One more.

So, if that got you hooked, let's meet the teams.

Great. Boys versus girls. For the Reds, we've got Elliott and Simon.

-And for the Blues, Mya and Tenay. Welcome.

-Hello.

-Nice to see you.

Now you're both in bands, right?

-Yes. That's right.

-Tell us about that.

I'm in a band called the Bluebirds. We play bluesy folk kind of rock.

-And Si, yours?

-Yeah. I play in a band called Blackbart and we've played for about five years.

-And we play country, rock, blues sort of music really.

-Right.

So you're not in the same band.

-No.

-Is there a reason for that?

I don't like Elliott as much as my other friends.

Well, you're going to do terribly well on Bargain Hunt today.

-So, what do you know about antiques, you chaps?

-BOTH: Er...

There you are, you see. That says it all, doesn't it?

-Do you know anything at all about them?

-We're willing to learn.

-Very willing.

-You know about collectables though, don't you?

Yeah. We like memorabilia - music memorabilia and that sort of stuff.

Nothing wrong with buying that if you can make a profit on it, and we are giving you a monster £600.

-Exactly.

-I've never spent £600 in one day ever.

-Well, there we go. You might not spend all of it.

-No.

-Yeah. Anyway, very good luck.

-Thank you. Thanks, Tim.

-Lovely.

-Now, girls, what do you think about that? You scared of these boys?

-No. Not at all.

-We'll take them on.

Tenay, you've got some musical talents, haven't you?

-Yes. I can hold a note.

-Cos Stars In Their Eyes. Yes?

-When I was a lot younger.

-Yeah. How old were you?

-Nine.

Nine. Good. Good.

-I was doing backup singing.

-Were you? Was it good fun?

Yeah. It was really fun and funny.

-Mya, you play the clarinet.

-Yeah.

-What grade did you get to?

-Grade five.

-Did you?

That's pretty good, isn't it? We could have a band on this programme

if you think about it, cos we've got the boys who are very good.

Perhaps we'll have a bit of a rave-up over at the auction.

Now, Tenay, what are you studying at the moment?

-I'm currently studying health and social care at my sixth form.

-And what about you, Mya?

Well, I'm not doing anything at the moment but I want to go back to college and study nursing.

And hopefully from there, go to university and do midwifery.

Now you know a bit about midwifery already, don't you?

-Yeah.

-Cos you've got your little stinker at home. Do you want to wave at him?

-Hi, Tyrell!

-Hi, Tyrell!

-How old's he?

-14 months.

What do you think you're going to be looking out for with your £600 that I'm about to give you?

-Silverware.

-Yeah. Silver.

-Yeah. Go for silver. That's always safe.

We always see it goes well, yeah.

-And just generally have a poke about, right?

-Yeah. Definitely.

I think these boys can see trouble ahead here. Yes? Anyway, now the money moment.

£600 apiece. Here's your £600. Great wodge of money. Look at that.

Never seen anything like that.

You know the rules. Your experts await. And off you go.

And very, very, very good luck. So today, we've got youth versus youth.

'So let's give that youth a bit of experience.

'The Reds have got Mark Stacey.

'And the Blues, Charles Hanson.

'And they're off.'

You're not serious.

Aryton Senna.

That might be funny to have in a house, like if I was buying...

-What do you think?

-I don't like Formula One.

It's priced. Look.

On the back here, it's priced £1,000.

-Too much.

-Yeah, well...

-It's too much.

'Hmm. I think the experts have got their work cut out today.'

Whilst the teams get their bearings, here are the rules.

Each team buys three items, which they sell later at auction

and the team that makes the most profit wins. Simple.

-You like that, do you?

-Yeah.

-Tell me about it. Why do you like it?

-It's really petite.

-Petite?

-Yeah.

-Like yourself, I suppose.

-Yeah.

Well, it's a very nice standard set of silver teaspoons.

-OK.

-We can see on the back there'll be hallmarks.

There's our hallmark there, which is a leopard's head for London.

-Yeah.

-London 1928. They're quite old. They're very small, aren't they?

They're probably small little coffee spoons or... Yeah, they're pretty.

-And they're £49.

-Yeah.

-I would say at auction, probably worth, what? £35, £40.

-Yeah.

-Less?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we need to just maybe haggle a bit.

-I prefer these ones that I like.

-They're nice, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-They're nice.

And they're 1907 hallmark from Birmingham.

These are apostle spoons, you see.

There's our apostle terminal with its nice spiral casting,

and of course on the back it says Birmingham, with an anchor, you see. And they're nice.

-And they are £49 as well.

-Which ones do you prefer?

I'm not sure. I think they're both nice.

-In a saleroom, each set is worth between £30 and £40 each.

-Yeah.

If the gentleman would sell them for 60, I then think there'll be a small profit.

-But would they be sold together?

-With them as one lot. Exactly.

Two sets of silver spoons. Yes. That makes more sense. That's really what I would go for.

-My very best is 65.

-Close.

-64?

-I can't do it for less, honestly.

-63?

I've already come down...

-quite a bit.

-Quite a bit. Yeah.

-I say we'll think about it.

-Yeah.

-The gentleman's been very kind. Is that OK with you, sir?

-I'll hold them open for you.

Thank you very much.

'Isn't it lovely seeing Charles with a team younger than him?

'He almost looks grown up.'

-Yeah. I just found these and they look pretty...

-Great, aren't they?

-Yeah. They look really interesting.

-That's good, El.

-But they'd be great in a sort of loft apartment, wouldn't they?

-Yeah.

-A sort of open-plan. Yeah.

I love it. It's very... It looks a bit like

the War Of The Worlds as well, you know, the aliens. Shall we ask how much it is?

Yeah. I like it.

-Excuse me.

-Best on them is 350.

They're both Strand lamps.

-So they're 350 each?

-They're 350 each.

And is this the original stand?

-No.

-No.

The stand is a 1970s display stand.

So it would have come from a shop-window type of environment.

But this piece is 1930s original.

And as I say, you could see that in a loft apartment.

-Yeah. Exactly.

-Just as a statement piece in the corner.

-Yeah. And I think people...

-I love this.

-Yeah. It just looks really nice.

-Yes. It's great fun, isn't it?

-Yes.

I think it's... You said you wanted something funky.

-Yeah.

-And different. I mean, you've certainly found two funky, different things -

-The Ayrton Senna and this.

-Yeah.

Which do you like out of the two?

-I prefer this one, personally.

-Yeah.

I prefer the Formula One man.

-But everyone likes lights, don't they?

-Yeah. They do.

-Everybody needs lights.

-Yeah. Everyone doesn't need an Ayrton Senna.

But everyone needs lights, I guess.

So maybe on that basis, we should... I don't know.

I don't know. Shall we go for it?

I think it might be quite a good idea.

Yeah. I really like it but I don't want to be... I would rather you...

-If it doesn't make a profit, it's your responsibility.

-We can blame him. I like your strategy.

-Yeah.

-I like your strategy.

-It's nothing to do with us.

-It's completely your fault.

OK. I think I'm up for that.

Could you possibly do it for 300?

I'll take another 20 quid off. 330.

I've got a good feeling about this.

-I mean, we could leave it.

-Let's do it.

-OK. Leave it?

-Let's do it. Yeah.

OK. Yeah. We'll take that.

'There you go. All in one fell swoop. Half the budget gone.

'Just like that.

What did we do before the ubiquitous Biro,

which was invented in the Second World War?

What we did was, we wandered around with little things like this.

Propelling pencils.

These propelling pencils were extremely popular, right back

to the time when they were invented by Sampson Mordan in the 1820s.

This one's nice.

Half of it is engraved in inches.

We've got up to three and a half inches there, look.

And if I twiddle it over, there's the centimetres and millimetres.

It's hallmarked Birmingham 1925.

So it's the sort of thing that a relatively rich person would have owned.

But it contains another secret -

cos if I give it a yank, it extends,

not to six inches but to a cool nine and a quarter inches.

This retractable shaft

is also engraved all the way down its length,

so when you sat at your desk you could measure something even larger.

What fun is that? What's it worth?

Well, I reckon it's worth about £20 an inch.

That's extended.

I think it's worth £150 to £180.

What's it available for?

This is where it gets interesting -

and don't let anybody say you can't find bargains in these places.

It's available for £45,

which I promise you, per inch, is not much.

'So has our Blue team sized up its first buy yet?'

There's some nice objects here.

Nice tantalus.

This must be what, 1900, 1910?

-Yes.

-Do you like it?

Yeah. It's nice.

-Like it?

-'Don't think they do.'

The quality of the cutting is... You rub your hand over that.

-Yeah.

-Really good quality.

And then of course, how you lock it -

you close it like that. Very, very... Oops, careful.

So you close it like that. And you turn the key

-and then you won't be able to get the stoppers out.

-Oh, wow.

To me, it's worth... There aren't any chips you see,

on the actual glass in the stoppers. 150, 200.

So if we could sort of negotiate down to the bottom estimate,

there might be a chance of a profit, because 150-200 is its market.

-We just like the sound of the profit really.

-Yeah.

We'll ask your lowest price first.

We're asking your lowest.

-150.

-150, Mya.

-I'm going to have a quick look again. Stay there.

-That's the bottom of the estimate.

Can I just come and look at the condition of it?

Let's turn it round, open it up again.

There we go. Out it comes.

Take them out.

There we go. The cut is superb, isn't it? Look at that cut.

You could have your vodka in here. You could have your rum and coke in here, you know. Eh.

We check the bases, it's in good condition.

The only concern is, of course, the stoppers because

we've got the chipping and nibbling on the actual inside stopper.

-I like it. I think it's good.

-Yeah.

Excuse me!

-Can you do it for us for 130 and we'll take it now?

-And we'll take it.

140 is my best, really is.

-130.

-135?

-135.

-Oh!

-TIM:

-'Go, Tenay!'

-TRADER:

-135, I'll take that.

-You wouldn't go 130?

-He's worse than me!

I can see it...

It's just the nibbles on the neck which bothered me.

I mean, I like it a lot. Sir, I'm being really cheeky.

-Would you take 130?

-Go on, then.

OK, sir, thank you. You're a good sport. 130. It's a deal.

'There you go. A lesson in negotiating by Master Hanson.'

It's quite good, isn't it?

I like this and I like the Wall's ice-cream one.

-Advertising-ware is quite collectable.

-Yeah.

And it is quite funky, isn't it?

-68 quid for that.

-That's not bad.

I could see that in a little apartment, in a bedroom, for shoving your odd socks in or something.

-Exactly. Yeah.

-Yeah.

-I think I prefer it to the Wall's one, actually.

-Yeah. I do.

-Cos it's a bit, I like the iconography on it, you know, the sort of female figure.

And "High Life".

-Is this the beer?

-It is. Yeah. Miller's Beer.

It's American, isn't it?

Yeah. That's right.

Hello. I think we quite like the Miller's box there.

It's priced at 68.

What's the very best you could do?

-64.

-64?

-That's not very much.

-I know.

-I paid a lot of money for it.

-Did you?

-Oh, right.

-I think we were hoping for a bit more off than that.

-Yeah.

-Like what?

-Can we try 50 for the box?

No. Definitely not.

-I think that was a very definite no.

-No. Definitely.

You were very positive about that. Do you like it?

I mean, could we tuck it in at 58?

You're pushing it. No.

59.

-I just want to get it under that 60 if you can.

-Yeah.

-£59.50?

-£59.50?

-No. 59.

-Go on - 59.

But do you like it?

I'm happy with it as long as Simon takes all responsibility.

-Oh, you're doing this, are you?

-I'm turning this back.

Are you willing to take that chance, Simon?

-Yes. I am, Mark. Yeah.

-£59 and we'll shake the lady's hand and say thank you.

-Thank you, madam.

-Thank you.

-OK. Brilliant.

-TIM:

-'So, a box for Simon and an old light for Elliott.'

What's that, Mya?

'What next?'

We've got 25 minutes left so we need to start formulating some plans.

Bring it round to me here. What have we got?

-Are you a musician at all?

-I play the clarinet.

-Do you?

-I like it.

-Tenay?

-It's not antique.

-Look at me. Look at me.

-It's not antique, is it?

You said to me you want to bounce along, you want to spend some money.

-I like it.

-There's too much caution here, don't you think?

-I'm the safe one.

'Charles is earning his money today, and our Mark deserves a bonus.'

It's quite a big thing, isn't it, for £50?

Is it heavy?

Yeah, because we value paintings by the weight.

I'm literally going on the size and weight.

Some silver we could try and get for 200.

-Do you like silver?

-Well...

-Yeah.

-I don't know much about it but we could.

Well, it's a metal.

'It's so educational, this bargain hunting lark, you know.'

It's the same thing, Art Deco thing, what you was talking about, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-What have you got over there?

-We've found something.

-It's an Art Deco thing.

-That's very nice.

-It's cute.

American Art Nouveau.

1930s.

-And they look good, don't they?

-Yeah.

-They're very stylish.

-Chrome boats.

-Yeah.

-I would, if I was in your shoes, I would buy the whole ensemble as one lot.

-Yeah.

-How much is he selling it for?

-Yeah. Let's find out.

Excuse me, sir. How much is the whole ensemble, please?

-Including the tray?

-Yes.

345.

And it is American art deco. It is 1930s.

-Absolutely definite.

-All contemporary.

-The tray isn't.

-No.

-The tray's French, sorry. The tray is French.

-OK.

But all the boats are American deco.

Personally, I've never come across these before.

You don't see them very often.

No. So there's a rarity value there.

-Great.

-But it's a gamble, girls.

-Do you think that rare thing will go good in a...

-It's a gamble.

290?

Yeah, 290.

It's your day out. OK.

What do I think?

It's a big gamble, isn't it? Big gamble at auction.

-Cos if it's rare here...

-They are rare.

-It's your call.

-The flute's less of a gamble.

-No.

-The flute's more of a gamble.

-Where's this girl power business gone?

Come on. Where's this girl power gone? Look, it's your call.

The flute's less of a gamble.

OK. What's your opinion?

I think those. She thinks the flute. So what do you think will do better?

I would gamble with the boats, personally.

I think that's where there is some more speculation to be made and had.

Would you come down a tad more, sir?

275. That's the bottom.

Are you sure 270 ain't the bottom? SHE CHUCKLES

Sorry.

-TIM:

-'Ooh! Go, girl.'

What do you think, Mya?

-I think let's keep looking.

-'And I say you need to make your mind up.'

He'll hold the deal as long as he can,

-but it will go if a buyer comes who offers a better price.

-Yeah.

I think, let's do it - we've got £600 so why not?

OK. Well, hold on. You just walked off a second ago.

-I want to go and get it.

-Do you want to?

-Yeah.

-But you just walked away.

-Yeah, I know, but I've thought about it.

-She changed her mind.

-Sure?

-The sense came back.

-Sense came back. OK.

'Hurrah. They agree.'

-Oh, that's quite nice.

-Do you like that?

-Yeah.

-A nest of tables.

-It's very funky, isn't it?

-Yeah. That is cool.

-Is that the whole thing for 110?

-Yeah.

-That's amazing.

-Is it amazing?

-Well, is it? I don't know, Mark!

I think they're really colourful, aren't they?

Just again, if you saw that - quite colourful, quite big, quite nice.

-Quite big.

-Quite big.

-It's got legs.

-I like the... It's got, yeah.

-Put stuff on it.

-Put stuff on it.

-I like it.

-Do you want to have a go at negotiating?

-Yeah.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Is that the best price you can do on this table?

Maybe knock it down to 80 or so?

I could do 95.

-What do you think?

-A round figure would be nice.

-90 would be good.

-Meet us halfway?

-Go on, then. I'll do 90.

-Thank you very much.

-TIM:

-'Well, they bought their third item and could furnish a flat.'

'Now, those girls - are they still seeing eye to eye?'

It's OK condition but it's not nice.

-It's not nice?

-No.

-It is nice.

-It's not nice?

-I disagree.

Right.

'That's a no. Keep looking, Mya.'

Have you found something over there?

To me, it's a bit old-fashioned, personally.

-It looks like my granny's friend's.

-Yeah. What you doing, Grandma?

-What you doing, Grandma, to me?

-I don't like you lot.

'Yeah, meanies. You haven't got time to pick on poor Mya.

'You've only got minutes left.'

What about the spoons? What do you think about the spoons?

'Good idea, girlfriend.'

-Buy the two for 60 quid.

-Buy the two of them?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

-We're back.

-Hello there.

-We're back again.

-We're back.

You wouldn't do 62?

We've got 62. We'll take it now.

-Take it now, cash, 62.

-All right.

-Thank you.

-That's girl power, isn't it, for you? There we go. Dear me.

-Two such lovely smiles.

-How can I say no?

-That's a deal.

-That's done. You've done it.

-You've twisted my arm.

-You've done it.

-TIM:

-'Yep. You've sure done it.

'And any leftover loot gets given to our experts to sniff out a bonus buy.

'But before all that, let's recap on what the Reds bought.

'First up, Elliott took a shine to the £330 Strand lamp and stand.

'Next, Simon hopes to be drinking in the glory

'after going for the £59 beer box.

'And finally, they found not one, but a whole nest,

'of 1970s tables, bringing their total spend to £479.'

Just look at you lads.

I just can't decide which one's the youngest.

-Now, have you had a good time?

-We've got £121 left over.

Well, that's a decent amount, isn't it? I'll have the £121 left over.

Thank you very much. £121. Right. That's yours, sir.

-Thank you, Tim.

-What are you going to spend all this money on?

-An antique.

-Are you?

Deliberately, something as old as you can possibly can find.

Absolutely. I'm going to try and find an antique to show

these kids that old things can be more valuable.

Well, make sure you don't fall up on that one.

For us though, right now, why don't we check out what the Blue girls have bought?

'Mya and Tenay took Charles's advice

'on the Victorian decanter set coming in at £130.'

Sense came back.

'After a bit of indecision,

'they plumped for the £275 chrome sailing ornaments.

'And finally, they came full circle,

'buying two sets of silver teaspoons for 62 smackers.'

How was your shopping, darling?

-It was good.

-Was it? How much did you spend in the end?

-467.

-467?

-Yeah.

So you're going to give me £133.

-Yeah.

-Can you get that out of the old tight jeans?

Going to be an experiment, isn't it?

-There we go, look.

-No more in there.

-No more. You sure?

-Yeah.

-Are you going to go and blow the lot, Charles?

-Oh, I don't know, Tim.

I'll have a good look.

Well, you look after yourselves, girls,

because we're about to shove off to Camden Town.

I'm in Camden in north London,

home of the recently reopened Jewish museum and believe you me,

this place packs a punch in more ways than one.

It's extraordinary the range and breadth of exhibits in this museum.

But probably the prize exhibit,

despite its damaged condition, is this -

a pearlware jug,

which, on the face of it, looks pretty ordinary.

It was made by the Aynsley factory in Stoke on Trent.

The top band is hand painted but if you look at this scene underneath,

this is transfer printed and merely coloured up in part by hand.

The interest to the museum is in this pugilists' fight.

Here we've got a boxing match between a man called Humphries

and a man called Daniel Mendoza, a Jew.

Daniel Mendoza was an extraordinary athlete

and incredibly successful as a fighter,

becoming English heavyweight champion from 1792 to 1795.

What was extraordinary about him was that he was so underweight.

Technically, he was a middleweight,

but he fought as a heavyweight and survived

because he came up with a new form of boxing

called scientific boxing, where he developed a form of defence.

Previously, boxers had simply slugged it out,

bare fist to bare fist.

He would simply dance around, avoiding punches.

Not only were these fighting bouts recorded on ceramic,

but you can see behind the coloured print,

which shows Mendoza at his best.

The point is that prize fighting in that period was incredibly popular.

From the very leaders of society -

the prime minister and so forth would attend boxing matches.

And as a result, these things have a special place

in the Jewish Museum today.

The big question is, of course,

which of our teams are going to deliver the knockout blow over at the auction?

Ker-pow!

'Their arena for the final round is West London -

'the Chiswick Auction Rooms. It's also where our experts reveal their bonus buys.

'In the Red corner, it's Mark Stacey.'

Now, Elliott and Simon, you spent £479, which is pretty good.

£121 went to Mark.

Did you blow the lot, Mark?

Well, Tim, this is what I bought.

-Oh, lordy.

-It's a sliding book trough, so you can have this on your little library shelves.

I particularly like the little Egyptian scenes here.

It's Victorian, of course.

It's not in the best of conditions.

-Right.

-I was left with quite a lot of money, which I'm not used to.

-Yes.

And I thought... I just...

At the time, I thought, "This is bound to make a profit."

It was £25, which is not too bad, actually.

You're quite interested in the science of these things, aren't you?

-Yeah.

-Aren't you, Simon? Yes.

-You like that.

-I like things. Yeah.

-Yeah. That's rather good, isn't it?

Yeah. You could use it as a little small table as well.

-You could. Yeah. Thank you for that.

-Lovely.

And what do you think, Elliott?

I don't really like it.

Well, get away!

-I mean, don't hide your feelings, will you?

-No. Quite.

I mean, don't worry about how Mark feels about it.

I think he's stitched us up.

No, Mark. Thanks very much.

Yeah. Thanks, Mark. OK.

Well, on that happy note, you don't have to pick it right now.

You might decide to choose...it after the sale of your first two items

but for the viewers at home, and the viewers at home only,

let's find out what the auctioneer thinks about Mark's little slide.

One pretty standard late Victorian book slide.

Not too exciting. Won't set the world alight.

Nice...distinctive masks on it -

best thing I'd say about it - but not very valuable. £40-£60.

-£40-£60.

-£40-£60 is a fair estimate for it

and hopefully we can give it a bit of oomph.

Well, he'll be delighted cos he paid £25 for it,

so that's not too bad. Great as a bonus buy. Lovely.

OK. Now, Elliott and Simon -

they're young, they're enthusiastic and not surprisingly,

they've gone with some pretty extraordinary objects, including this lamp.

I think it's a copy. I think the whole thing's a copy.

It's got some Philips screws in it.

I've been all over it and I'm very dubious about the age of this.

The stand's obviously new but the top, I think, is new as well.

Oh, lordy.

For decorative purposes, 80-120.

£330 paid.

Next. They're keen on beer so they bought the Miller's beer box.

I suppose that goes into a trendy flat, does it?

Yeah. I mean, it's OK, but it's not valuable, is it?

It's £20 or £30 worth.

£59 paid.

That's another one third of its potential purchase price

-maybe about to be achieved.

-Another kicking.

Another kicking. Yes.

And the third kicking maybe, or not, is this nest of tables.

Tile-topped tables.

Originally flat-pack -

unscrew-type legs and whatnot - but we've got three of them just like this, Tom.

Something to warm the cockles of your heart.

Well, I think they're original '70s and they have got a look to them

and people who buy the sort of '70s look will buy those

and they'll make £50 or £80.

Brilliant. £90 paid. Lovely. That's it for the Reds.

Now for the Blues, Mya and Tenay.

They're not the most experienced antiques buyers.

They've been led around with their £600.

And the first item they've come up with is the tantalus.

Are they as good a seller as they used to be?

No. They're not. Ten years ago,

that was £200 or £300. And it's not a bad quality one.

Nice silver-plated top. The bottles are intact, which makes a change.

They're usually damaged, so that will help them.

But even so, £60, £80.

£130 paid, so they may be lucky there.

Next is this centrepiece. The late Deco chromium-plated centrepiece.

I think the quality of the thing

takes me to one shop and one shop only on the high street and that's Woolworths.

I suppose Clarice Cliff started in Woolworths but I wouldn't put it round the '30s.

I think it's '50s, '60s.

-'50s. '60s. Fair enough.

-And the quality is not that good.

What's it worth? It's going to be hard to value as well. £30, £40.

Great. £275 spent.

£275. I mean...

-That's got no chance.

-That's got no chance.

Lovely. What about the two sets of silver spoons?

Quite easy. £60 or £80 for the two sets. £50-£80, that sort of money.

-Yeah.

-Silver.

-Not that exciting.

-£62 paid. So they paid about the same.

About that money.

You know, when you've got a big hole sitting in the middle of your purchases,

like that chromium-plated centrepiece, I mean,

that is a serious difference.

£30-£40 to £275.

They're going to need their bonus buy so let's have a look at it.

Now, Mya and Tenay,

-you spent £467.

-Yes.

You gave the lovely Charles £133 to go and find you a bonus buy. What did you find?

It was really, really hard but I spent every last pound.

So £133 for this beauty.

Wow.

It's a magnificent wrist watch.

OK. It's a ladies' Rolex.

-Wow.

-Nine-carat, gold-backed, precision-movement, from 1958.

It's iconic, it's in good condition,

with Arabic numerals.

-And I like it.

-I think the girls are stunned. What do you think? Have a look.

Isn't that small? So tiny.

I always think they look so much nicer when they're on.

Don't you think?

Let's just try and see whether that looks really pretty or not.

Because if these things look just fab on you,

they're going to look fab on somebody else.

Oh, look at that. Just look at that.

-Do you think that looks nice? Tenay?

-No.

-No.

-I think it's not my style but it's nice.

-How much did you pay again?

-133.

-133.

And I really, really hope it will make...

£150, £170.

And I'm confident with this watch.

-Happy?

-Yeah. I'm happy.

-Great.

-You don't have to decide right now. You decide later.

-Yeah.

But for the viewers at home, let's find out what the auctioneer thinks about Charles's little watch.

This is a really ducky little thing, isn't it?

It's got a good name and it's gold case

-so it's a "get out of jail free" card, isn't it?

-Yes.

-As a bonus buy.

But pity it's not a gents' watch. They always do very well.

But a ladies' gold watch, being Rolex as well, it'll make 120, 180, all day long.

Brilliant. £133 paid.

-Chances.

-So as a bonus buy, that's a good idea, isn't it?

It just depends on whether the girls go with it.

-Anyway, good luck on the rostrum, Tom.

-Thank you.

Our future is in your hands.

Does this box remind you of anything?

If I was standing outside number 11 Downing Street

and was beaming at you like a Cheshire cat,

I could be mistaken for the Chancellor of the Exchequer,

en route to Parliament to deliver his budget speech.

In fact, all those government boxes are covered in leather -

usually red leather - and they're all of substantial construction.

On the end of this piece of picture-hanging chain is a wee key,

cos you wouldn't want to lose this key.

Insert it into the lock and yeah, you can open it like that, look.

And it reveals a gorgeous leather-lined interior.

This has hardly been touched inside,

even though it's a bit battered about on the outside.

And if we open it up, it's full of intriguing compartments, like that.

That little pouch would contain papers, look.

The interior is lined in mahogany.

On the other side, compartments for pens and writing instruments.

Inside this flap

is contained some information about the history of this box.

We've got a plaque here that describes the Solemn Covenant,

the covenant that was sworn by all loyal Ulstermen in 1912.

The box itself was presented to

the Duke of Abercorn in May 1928

and he was the governor of the newly formed province of Northern Ireland.

Later that year, the box was passed on yet again,

to Lieutenant Commander Oscar Henderson.

Quite exactly what happened to this box

after it finished up with Commander Henderson, I do not know.

But on the outside,

we've got a little brass plaque, which is inscribed with a crest,

and that crest relates to the Order of St Patrick,

which is an ancient order relating to the government of Ireland

that dates back to the end of the 18th Century.

This box, therefore,

has been steeped in the history of Ireland,

the formation of the province

and of course, the declaration of the free state.

Historically important.

What's going to be interesting is the auction -

what is it going to bring?

The estimate is £300-£500.

250. 260. 270. 280.

290. 300.

-Guys, how are you feeling?

-Good.

-Pretty confident.

-Pretty confident. Yeah?

-Yeah.

Good. Mark, you didn't have so much to do with this shop, did you?

-Cos these boys were largely on their own.

-They were very good, Tim.

They knew what they liked and I liked some of the things.

I liked the nest of tables.

I think they're quite funky. I could live with those.

£90 you paid for those. It's this ruddy lamp that is going to sink you or swim you

and it's the first lot and it's coming up right now.

Chrome and aluminium adjustable set light on castors.

£50 for it?

£50 for it?

£50. 55. 60. Five. 70.

Five. 80. Five. 90.

Five. 100. 110.

120. 130.

It's like Only Fools And Horses.

Are we there at 130? You out? At 130.

Last chance. Going at 130. Are we done? 130.

£130 just like that, and you are £200 down the lavatory.

-And it could have been worse.

-It could have been.

-Not quite sure how.

-OK. The beer box.

Miller's brewery pine beer crate,

with a stencil decoration. £20 for it. £10 for it.

-Good Lord!

-It's looking just like a wooden box now.

£5 for it? They sell the beer for about a fiver somewhere.

A bid of five. Take it at £5. Bid in at £5. At £5. All done?

-The wooden box, no-one cares.

-£5. £5.

All done? At £5. All done and going at £5.

-Sorry, guys. £5.

-That is minus £54.

Mark, why couldn't you step in and help us more?

Well, cos it's more fun not to.

54A now. The nest of three '70s tile-topped tables.

-See, I think those look really stylish.

-Yeah. Me too.

It's a good nest.

£50, please. £50. Thank you.

Bid at £50. £50. Take 55. £50.

Take five. £50. Are we done at £50?

Take 55. 60. Five.

£60. Take five. £60. Are you all done at £60 and going?

-Last chance £60. £60.

-Oh, £60.

It's minus 30.

I make that minus £284.

-Good heavens above.

-That's not bad.

-Minus 284.

What about this book shelf jobbie? What do you think about that?

-Yes. We'll go for it. Yeah.

-Definitely. Go for it.

All right. We're going for it.

The decision's made. We're going with the bonus buy. Here it comes.

158A now.

158A. Victorian book slide.

-£30. Start me at £30. £20.

-Oh, come on.

-£20. It's got to make £20. £10 for it.

-Get on with it.

10. £10. 12. Bid at 12. 15.

15. 18.

At £15. A bid at £15.

18. New bidder. 20?

-Come on. That's it.

-20. 22. Do you want 22 over there?

At £20. At £20. 22. At £20.

At £20. At £20 sold.

-Oh, how silly!

-It's £20.

I have to tell you, his estimate was 40 to 60.

He's just sold it for 20, which is minus £5.

You are £289 down.

But that could be a winning score.

In today's market, here, it could be a winning score so don't say a thing to the Blues.

310. Your last chance at 310.

310, all done.

Next up is that dispatch case.

Do you fancy being Chancellor of the Exchequer?

Well, the estimate is £300-£500. Here it comes.

Early 20th Century leather-clad dispatch case, number 26.

£200 for it. Thank you. Bid at £200.

210 there. 220. 230. 240.

250? 250.

260. 270. 280.

290. 300.

320. 340. 360. 380.

At £400 bid. At £400.

-420. 430.

-Cor!

No. At 420. Bid at 420. 430. 440.

450. 460. 470.

480. 490. 500.

520. 540. 560.

540. Bid at 540. Going at 540.

Are we done? Last chance and going.

540 smackers.

Well, there's a bit of Irish history for you.

370 bid, right in the corner.

So, girls, do you know how the Reds got on?

-No.

-You haven't been talking to those Reds?

-No.

-No. Just how excited are you?

-Really excited.

-Are you?

-Yeah.

-Are you a bit scared?

-A little bit. Yeah.

A little bit scared. It's not surprising, is it?

There's a room packed full of people here

and who knows what your things are going to bring in?

All depends on how the bidding goes.

First up is the tantalus

-and doesn't it look good up there, Charles?

-Looks great, Tim.

A Victorian oak and silver-plated mounted two-bowl tantalus. And £50.

Thank you. Bid at £50. 55. 55.

60. Five.

Bid at £60. 60. 65. 70. Five.

-75. 80. Five. At £80.

-One more.

At 80. 85. 90.

At 85. At £85.

90. 95. At £90.

-Come on.

-£90. Take five. £90.

Are you all done? Selling for £90. And going. All out £90. And gone?

Oh, dear me.

£90 equals minus 40.

Anyway, chromium-plated sailing ornament on a circular stand.

A circular chrome-mirrored table stand

with five various-sized chromed sailing boats.

-Very much in the art deco style. Is it worth £50 for it?

-Come on.

Worth £30 for it?

Please. A bid at £30.

Let's go. Come on.

£30. At £30. 32.

-At 32. 35.

-Come on.

38. 40. 42. 45.

-Come on.

-50. Five.

-60. One more.

-At £50. I want 55. £50. I'll take two if it helps you.

-Come on.

-At £50. At £50.

At £50 all out. £50. Selling and all done at £50 and going. At £50 then.

That's minus £225.

That is bad luck, isn't it?

Now the teaspoons. The safety buy, we know.

Two cases of teaspoons here. 136A.

-Here we go. Come on. Let's go.

-£50?

£40?

-Surely.

-42. 42. 45. 48.

What is going on here, eh?

-£48.

-One more. Come on.

-52.

£50. £50. Take 52. At £50.

-Come on.

-Oh, dear me.

Come on. One more.

At £50. Sorry.

OK. We tried. There we go, Tim.

£50 is minus 12. Minus 12.

That's 225.

65. 75. 77.

Minus 277, I make that.

That's terrible.

-That is terrible.

-That is very bad.

-You never know, it might be a winning score.

What are you going to do about this Rolex? Your bonus buy.

I think we've got to give it a try. We've got nothing to lose.

-You're going to go with it?

-Yeah.

-We've got no more to lose, you mean.

You've made, I hope, a wise decision there.

You're going with the bonus buy. Here it comes.

A ladies' nine-carat gold Rolex wrist watch.

180A. Is that worth £100? Start me.

-£50 for a low start.

-Dear.

-Come on.

-Start me at £50.

£50. I'm bid at £50. Say 55.

At £50. Take five. At 55. 60.

At £65. I'll take 70. £65. 70. 75.

80. 85. 90.

At £85. £85. Take 90.

For a Rolex watch. At £85. Take 90.

Are we done at 85? Going. All done?

At £85.

90. Thank you. 95. 100.

Are we done for 95 and going?

That's minus 38.

38. Seven and eight. 15. Seven.

Eight. Ten. 11. That's minus £315.

That's amazing, isn't it?

-Oh, dear.

-That is minus 315 smackers.

Minus 315.

-Too bad.

-Sorry.

OK. Minus 315. It could be a winning score.

Don't say a word to the Reds. And all will be revealed in a moment.

So, teams, been chatting?

-No.

-No? No chats at all.

So you have no idea

how diabolical your mutual performance has been today.

I mean, you have all done incredibly badly.

And the way it shuffled out, the team that is behind,

running up, are the Blues.

Aww!

Your final score is minus 315.

Carumba!

It was the sailing ornaments for £225 down the proverbial

which didn't really help did it, Tenay?

-I told Mya...

-I told you.

"That's not nice."

The best thing to do is everybody blame everybody else.

No. Seriously. It was bad luck. £315 down the drain is nothing,

cos this lot are £289 down the drain,

-but you're nevertheless the winners today.

-We owe it all to this man.

Oh, thank you.

Well, isn't that lovely?

Just don't buy any more of those Strand lamps, cos that

minus 200 score wasn't a great start. But we've had great fun.

We've learnt a lot on Bargain Hunt today and in fact,

join us soon for more bargain hunting. Yes?

ALL: Yes!

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