Episode 2 Collectaholics

-From art...

-To antiques.

Ceramics to signs.

-Taxidermy...

-To toys.

-From the common...

-To the curious.

We're a nation of collectors.

Follow me, Mel Giedroyc...

And me, antiques expert and lifelong collector, Mark Hill...

..As we go behind closed doors to uncover Britain's secret collections.

And reveal what they're really worth, with surprising results.

Collecting and curating.

Selling and displaying.

-For collectaholics everywhere...

-We're here to help.

-Oh, good God!

-'On Collectaholics,

'we'll be delving into the extraordinary collections that have taken over people's lives.'

I've never seen so many signs.

'Swallowing up their space and using up their income.'

-What's the most expensive piece you've bought?

-It'd be sort of £8,000 to £10,000.

'And pushing their relationships to the very edge.'

I've threatened him with skips before.

'I'll be helping our collectors deal with their collections in crisis.'

Could I possibly call it an obsession?

It is bordering on that.

'And I'll be finding out what drives them to buy and buy and buy.'

Ah! It goes on forever!

-'This week...'

-Ruff!

-Ah!

'..we meet the man who's stuffed his house with over 500 dead animals.'

-It just goes on.

-The scale of your collection is unbelievable.

'And the wife who's trying to tame him.'

I'd like to talk about the giraffe.

No, we're not having one of those,

but he just keeps smiling at me and he knows I'll give in.

The thousand-piece antique pottery collection

and the owner who fears it's crashed in value.

Absolutely gutted, that's not selling them,

that's giving them away.

And the competitive collectors vying for the spotlight.

My collection is the highbrow collection and Francis's is the lowbrow.

And there's a breathtaking revelation for one of them.

No!

We're in the heart of the British countryside to meet animal lovers Nigel and his wife Janice.

Gobble, gobble, gobble!

But Nigel's passion isn't just for the living.

TURKEYS GOBBLE

I collect taxidermy and curios linked to natural history.

As a result, his house is full to bursting with stuffed animals.

I've always liked it, I don't know why, even when I was quite young.

I can remember distinctly, in a stately home somewhere,

looking up and seeing all these huge deer heads and thinking, "I wonder

"if I'll ever be able to live in a house that will be able to have any

"of these on the wall," and I think that's really what fired it up.

Estate agent Nigel's passion for taxidermy was reignited by a little bird.

It was actually Jan who bought me a case many, many years ago with a hoopoe in it, which is a bird.

It was around about Nigel's birthday and I saw him

looking at this little bird and I said,

"Have that if you want it for your birthday, I'll buy you that."

And that really got me back into it in earnest

and she quite often says it was the worst thing she ever did,

and I always said it was the best thing she ever did.

In an era of animal conservation,

Nigel's collection might seem offensive, but the majority

of animals here died a long, long time ago, and are in fact antiques.

What I try and do is make sure that everything that I've got here

is either Victorian or died of natural causes.

The only place Nigel hunts big game is on the internet

and he deliberately avoids controversial items

like rhino horn or turtle shells, instead going for fakes.

I'd always felt that these things unfortunately have to die to

be stuffed, quite clearly, but once that's happened and I think it

does need to be looked after and cherished for future generations to enjoy.

Nigel's looking after so many animals, he's converted

the six-car garage into a trophy room,

turned the swimming pool into a diorama,

filled the bar, library and the billiard room.

I never dreamt in our lifetime that we'd run out of space here

because it looked so huge when we moved in.

Unbelievably, Nigel STILL wants more.

I trawl through auction catalogues, on the internet.

I go to boot sales, a lot of antique fairs, flea markets.

I never imagined that we'd end up with all this lot, no.

I swapped a dog head for a rhino foot the other day.

People say I'm very tolerant.

I say I don't know whether I'm tolerant or stupid!

'With this home completely overrun,

'and Nigel still on the hunt for more,

'can we help this couple find a way to live at one with these animals?'

Please, Mark, tell me that that is not a real rhino?

Definitely not. He looks like he's made of metal to me.

But he's got a bit of an evil glint in his eye, I think, there.

'But first I have to get my head around dealing with dead creatures.'

-Morning, hello, I'm Nigel.

-Wow.

-Hello, I'm Mark.

-Pleased to meet you.

-Good lord, and who's that on top of you?

-Is it a squirrel?

-Yes, that beats your hat, doesn't it?

-It certainly does.

-You've only got one feather in yours.

-I don't know what to say.

-Come on in.

Lovely to meet you, are you Janice?

-You too. I am, yes.

-Hello. I'm Mel.

-Hello, I'm Mark, good to meet you, Janice.

-Hello.

-It's a great... Wow!

-But it's integrated.

-They're all around us.

-It's a cheetah,

-a polar bear, along with a grandfather clock.

-Exactly, yes.

-Can we explore, Nigel?

-Yes, certainly, come on through

-and then take you on a full tour.

-We'll see you in a bit, Janice.

'But the hallway is just the tip of the iceberg.'

-OK.

-There's a huge polar bear there.

Yep.

I have to say congratulations. I mean, that is spectacular.

-Yep. They don't come better, I don't think, do they?

-No. It's amazing.

Look at these, they're everywhere. Pig, bison, huge...

-Tamworth...

-Yep, Tamworth Red.

-There's a spaniel!

That's quite cute. The spaniel is quite cute. You must admit.

Look. Aww.

Nigel, this is extraordinary.

Dogs, ah! I don't like them. It's the eyes.

You feel, they're ever so sharp, you feel the teeth.

-What is it?

-Ruff!

-Ahh!

THEY LAUGH

That was pretty good.

MARK LAUGHS

It may seem unusual today, but during the mid to late 1800s,

hunting was so popular that there was reputed to be

a taxidermist in every town in Britain.

I just want to ask what Nigel.. Why do you do it? Wouldn't you rather just visit a zoo?

-You can't touchy-feely, can you?

-No. Well, some - petting zoo?

I don't know whether you can pet a polar bear or a tiger or a lion or a...

Well, the little lambs and...

-Oh, I've got one of those as well.

-Stuffed?

-Yeah.

Over the past two decades Nigel has managed to amass

over 500 animals of every shape and size.

-Wow.

-It just goes on.

-I feel like I'm on safari.

-He looks quite sozzled.

Yes, he does. He's fallen off his plinth.

In the collection are nine lions...

13 bears.

54 foxes.

44 fish.

And 264 birds.

Just go right... More big game.

-Hairy, hairy. It just goes on.

-The scale of your collection is unbelievable.

The house just goes on and on and on.

-You know that the animals are kind of creeping in.

-They are, really, aren't they?

Yeah, I do keep saying, "No, we're...

"we're not having one of those," but he just keeps smiling at me and he knows I'll give in.

That's because wily old Nigel's ambitions for his collection are reaching new heights.

If you could do one thing to improve your collection, what would it be?

I'd love a giraffe.

Not a full one, because they're a bit tall,

but you can get very nice head, neck and shoulder mounts.

And how does Jan feel about this?

It's going to be a bit of a negotiation.

I'd like to talk about the giraffe.

Oh. I have got mixed feelings about that, because the only place

it can go is in the hallway and its head on the landing will be

the first thing I see when I get out of bed in the morning.

I'm sure she'll warm up and come round a bit with a...

you know, I might have to treat her to a few frocks or something.

I'm not sure I'm keen on that, to be honest.

Perhaps Janice will be happier knowing Nigel's prepared to do some horse-trading to get his giraffe.

What needs to happen for you to...?

We've probably got to raise £5,000, £6,000, £7,000.

-Wow. By selling off...other bits.

-Bits and pieces, yeah.

Nigel's prepared to spend thousands on a high quality giraffe head,

because realism is priced above all else

and with taxidermy, you get what you pay for.

I'm quite intrigued by what they do with the internal

bits like the tongue, and the eyes of course, what...?

They're acrylic or...the older ones are glass, these are acrylic.

Early taxidermy techniques were quite crude.

The animal was skinned and the hide preserved using salt or arsenic.

The skin was then pulled over a wooden frame

and stuffed with straw or fine wood shavings known as woodwool,

before finally being sewn up.

-And the nose. The nose is plastic?

-The nose is real, probably, yeah.

-The nose is real?

Yeah, they can do that.

By the mid to late 1800s, the best taxidermists were sculpting

highly detailed clay manikins of the animal, which the skin would then be stretched over.

This became known as mounting, as opposed to stuffing.

-The taxidermists are perfectionists, it's got to look exactly lifelike.

-Absolutely.

There's some good ones and bad ones probably still today,

but in the olden days, there was quite a few poor ones,

and if you look over by the fireplace

there's a huge cape buffalo in the middle

and then the two animals to either side are exactly the same animal.

-You wouldn't guess it, would you?

-No.

I see what he means.

Some of the animals here look less Life On Earth and a bit Basil Brush.

These less impressive animals are the ones Nigel is willing to sell.

When a run-of-the-mill fox head goes for around £80,

you start to realise he'll have to sell quite a lot of smaller items to raise enough for a giraffe.

At least Janice will be pleased.

Do you think it's an addiction?

I think of it... I think it's an illness.

Where do you draw the line?

How big are you going to go?

I'm hoping the giraffe will be the last big thing.

We can kill two birds with one stone here.

Help Janice by thinning the collection

and help Nigel get his giraffe.

But to sell enough taxidermy, we're going to need a cunning plan.

Somebody who also needs their fortune transforming

is retired bus driver Bob, who downsized his life to fit into this caravan.

Every room of his new home is packed floor to ceiling with

antique Ironstone china made by British company Mason's.

Next to the dogs, it's probably the second most important thing in my life.

I think when you collect Mason's Ironstone,

you are not a collector, you are an addict.

There's no halfway stage, I think, with Mason's,

you either absolutely love it or you think it's horrible.

It has really just sort of taken over my life.

Mason's were one of the pioneers of British ceramics.

They created crockery with bold, oriental style patterns

that were extremely popular with the burgeoning middle classes of the early 1800s,

but the unmistakable style has divided opinion ever since.

It's so beautiful that I wouldn't want to collect it

if it had to be in a box underneath the caravan.

It has to be displayed.

But due to lack of space, that's sadly what Bob's been forced to do.

Underneath the caravan, he has ten boxes of his much-loved

Mason's ceramics, some of which are more than 200 years old.

There's no way I'm ever going to be able to display them

and I don't want to just, you know, own them

just to say, "I've got that", but I don't want it sitting in boxes under

the caravan, I'd much rather sell it and let somebody else enjoy it.

Maybe we can find a way to keep Mason's as the foundation of Bob's life and not his caravan.

-Hello, are you Bob?

-Hello. I'm Bob, yes, please come in.

-Hello, Bob, lovely to see you, how are you?

-And you.

-Every single flat surface.

-Wow.

Look above, above our heads, literally, that is...

Bob, this is extraordinary.

How long have you been amassing this for, Bob?

Probably started in about '84.

Mother got into Mason's and I thought, "Ooh, lovely colours, lovely patterns,"

and so it started off very slowly, probably didn't get serious until probably the late '80s.

-It's been a long time.

-Yeah.

-And it's not just in this room, is it? It's in...

-Every room.

-Other areas.

-There's more.

-Every room.

-Shall we? Go this way.

-Please, yes.

Come through here.

Even more.

Do people sleep in here, Bob?

Well, they would have done before I put two Welsh dressers in, yes.

-I was going to say.

-It did have two single beds in.

You'd be scared of moving. I'm not going in any further, not with this coat on.

No. They liked to decorate things didn't they, in those days?

-Oh, yes.

-It's quite....

-Very busy.

-It's busy, it's busy, it's not restful china, is it?

-No.

-It's busy old china.

The decorative style of Mason's is definitely not everyone's cup of tea.

Its popularity has fluctuated over the decades

until production ceased in 1998.

My first wife wasn't keen on me collecting Mason's at all.

She basically looked at it as a waste of money,

because she didn't actually like it.

Ah, the master bedroom.

There's just so much to take in.

-Bob, you sleep amongst your collection.

-Oh, yes!

My second wife had more of an adventurous nature

and found some pieces that she liked and duly started collecting, and I

think had we not split up, she would have probably been a serious rival.

Space wise, well, there's... there's this.

HE LAUGHS

So how many pieces do you have in total?

-There are thousands, by the looks of it.

-Thousands.

No, probably down to a few hundred now.

-Sorry, sorry, down to a few hundred?

-Mmm.

-Have you sold off some?

-I've sold probably about 10 or so boxes

and I've probably got about another 10 or 12 underneath the van.

Do you worry about the collection being under the caravan?

-It's locked, but we don't get any problems here anyway.

-No.

The only thing that I don't like is just having it doing nothing.

To me, it's not owning it,

you want to display it.

You've got to put it on display, otherwise there's no point in having it.

You can't have the memories that are associated with it too.

I would rather sell it and let somebody else have the pleasure of being able to see it.

The market for antiques moves in cycles of popularity

and unfortunately for Bob, the 1990s saw the start of a trend for modern, minimalist interiors.

People were encouraged to chuck out their chintz, and

since then much Mason's has become unfashionable and difficult to sell.

And you've talked about collecting the Mason's as a sort of addiction.

-Yes, yes.

-How much are you spending in the height of your addiction?

I could quite easily spend £5,000, £6,000, £7,000 a year,

which meant an awful lot of overtime to pay for it all.

-Oh, Bob.

-But it was worth it. I don't regret it.

I mean, I used to work seven days a week to earn the money to

pay off the overdraft and go to the next Newark Antique Fair and buy some more.

But, you know, given the choice I would go back and do it again.

So what's the most amount of money you've spent on a piece?

I think that would be the bowpot there,

and I think from memory, that was about £1,700 or £1,800.

The really bad news is just how much the market has collapsed.

20 years ago, a soup terrine in good condition could have fetched around £2,000.

Today the value of the same item is likely to be half what it once was.

The last auction I went to, I put some pieces in, had five cups and saucers,

which I thought probably £20 a piece, and one lot sold for £5.

-No reserve, and you think, "Well, that's not selling items, that's giving them away."

-Yeah.

But the pieces that we're standing on top of, there's very little point in that, is there?

They really do need to be sold,

but at the moment it's just a matter of getting a price that you're happy with for those items.

'Sounds like it's tough to find anybody who's willing to pay Bob's asking price for his Mason's.'

That's true, but this isn't the first time Mason's has gone in and out of popularity.

To understand more about the turbulent 200 year history of Mason's, I'm heading back in time.

This period house is kept as a recreation of a home at the turn of the 19th century.

It was a time when owning the finest ceramics indicated wealth and status.

Miles Mason was a dealer in expensive and delicate Chinese porcelain,

but seeing a gap in the market, he began producing his own British-made china.

With his son Charles, he also experimented with different types of clay mixtures,

in order to produce something more economical and durable.

In 1813, Mason's cracked it,

they patented a game-changing new ceramic and named it Ironstone china.

Decorated with colours and patterns found on desirable oriental porcelains,

Mason's patent Ironstone china captured the public's imagination.

Ironstone china was refined enough to entertain the gentry

and tough enough to be entrusted to clumsy servants.

It sold by the bucket-load.

But the good times didn't last.

Miles died in 1822 and Charles was over-eager to modernise

the manufacturing process, but not the design.

Mason's flooded the market with products of an inferior quality.

Sales plummeted and in 1848 Charles Mason was declared bankrupt.

He died a few years later, having lost all he and his father had worked for.

A chain of different owners continued using the name Mason's

until the company finally closed for good.

For collectors like Bob, the Mason's ceramics made in those early years, between 1800 and 1825

are the most valuable and sought after.

But the problem is, while rare or desirable pieces in excellent condition

are still doing well, in the current market,

run-of-the-mill common items, like many of the cups and saucers and plates under the caravan,

are hard to sell.

As from last year, I've stopped putting anything in auction

and hopefully the prices will pick up again.

Bob needs to sell, but it's going to take some radical thinking to buck

the downward trend of the Mason's market.

Dealing with one collection is tough enough.

But behind the door of this ordinary looking house is not one but two highly competitive collectors

tussling for the same space.

I collect decorative art from

the early part of the 20th century -

ceramics, furniture, carpets, lamps, rugs, pictures.

David had filled almost the whole house

with work by the Bloomsbury Group,

a historically significant collective of British artists

and intellectuals who changed the face of British art and design.

This is one of my favourite pieces

and it's a chair that was designed in 1913 by a man called

Roger Fry, and I love my collecting because it's about research

and about searching for things and finding stuff.

It's a search, it's a discovery, and I love that.

David uses his research to spot bargains, and after nine years

of collecting, he's eager to find out if his keen eye has paid off.

I'd like a valuation, it might frighten me a bit,

because I have no idea what things are worth.

But I would like a valuation, yeah. Be interesting, very interesting.

Tucked away in the corner of this room, there's another collection that belongs to David's partner, Francis.

I collect salt and pepper shakers.

I've been collecting them for well over 15 years.

It's a whole bunch of objects that make me very happy.

People, animals, fruit, vegetables.

When I'm really feeling low, I can look at my collection and it sort of brightens me up.

Despite having almost 2,000 sets of ceramic shakers,

this collection is confined to just two cupboards in the house.

My collection is small, manageable, easy to store, and David's is big.

My collection is much more, um, decorative and eclectic

and a whole mixture, but he just collects one thing, salt and peppers.

You could put either one painting in the space or you could

put 20 salt and pepper shakers in that space.

So, Mark, something a little bit different today.

Have you ever lived with another collector?

No. I'm not entirely sure I'd have the space.

-Oh, really?

-The town ain't big enough.

Interesting.

DOORBELL RINGS

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Come on in.

It's not Avon calling. Hello, good to see you.

-Hello, I'm Mark, nice to meet you.

-Hi, there. You must be Francis.

-Welcome to our home.

-This is Mark.

-Hello, Francis. Thank you very much for having us.

-Thank you.

-Oh, my goodness gracious me!

-Whoa.

Well, you can't miss David's collection, it's everywhere you look.

Wow!

It's only when you look harder, you notice the second collection in here.

-Those are all salt and pepper shakers?

-Yes.

-There's every single shape under the sun.

-Oh, yes.

But how does this work?

You've got sort of art pottery from the 1920s and '30s,

and 1910s even, and then salt and pepper shakers.

It's an interesting combination.

-Yeah.

-They don't cross.

Well, I would say, tongue-in-cheek, that my collection is the highbrow collection

-and Francis's middle to lowbrow.

-Ooh.

-Which he hates, but he knows that, he knows that I kind of say that.

-He's smiling, he's smiling.

I wouldn't say mine is lowbrow in the sense it's... it's less important.

Mine is just as valuable and important,

but the difference is mine is more accessible,

and it's my role in life is to not make it just a country cousin.

-I'm sensing there's quite a lot of competition going on between these two.

-I agree.

David's collection is dominating this house

and maybe Francis has a bit of collection envy?

We need to find out more about their individual passions, but where do we start?

How about a nice cup of tea?

-Well, you sit there.

-Ah, thank you. So elegant.

'This house looks deceptively like it's just tastefully decorated,

'but everything here is connected to the Bloomsbury Group.'

Whilst authors Virginia Woolf and E M Forster are the most famous

of the Bloomsbury Group, David is passionate about the art works of

Duncan Grant, Roger Fry and Virginia Woolf's sister, Vanessa Bell.

For them, any surface was a canvas for self-expression.

This decorative style was channelled into bold new ceramics

and furniture that defied the conventions of the time.

It's incredible.

I want to have a little weep, it's just, for me, beautiful objects.

-A good weep or a bad weep?

-Oh, no, a good weep.

-A good weep.

-Tears of joy, without a doubt, it's stunning.

-Oh, good.

-The colours, just the feeling.

-Yeah.

-Don't you think?

Yeah, it's absolutely gorgeous.

We're sitting on it... and even eating off it, too.

Is this very valuable? I feel bad now. Is this?

Probably, and it's the funny thing about ceramics is that you can

drop it and they're broken and it's gone and I love the thrill of it.

It almost increases the thrill of use...

the use, because it can just...

-Because it could go so quickly.

-..be gone. Yeah.

So, David, what is it you get out of your collection?

It's the displaying of it.

I love displaying it, that I live with the collection and that I use it.

-And I also do open days for people, like, the Decorative Art Society come and...

-Mm-hm.

We'll do an open day and have tea in the garden. I love sharing my collection.

The collection might have gained appreciation from Bloomsbury aficionados,

but what David really wants to find out is, has it matured in value?

I've been able to buy more pictures than I could hang on the wall,

so they're upstairs in the attic, and as a justification

for buying those paintings, I call it my pension fund.

-Justification. I love it.

-Yeah.

I don't think David realises the potential value of what he's sitting on, so I've asked if I can take

a closer look at his investment.

Right, this is my little office, the place where I sit and look things

a while and decide where they're going to go, upstairs in the attic

to my pension fund pile up there or whether I'm going to hang them...

I notice, this is something I haven't seen before, a fan.

No, I know. It's really incredible.

This is almost sort of Matisse or Picasso-like in its strange...

There's another one similar in the Victoria and Albert Museum,

but they're the only two that I know of.

So if there are only a couple of those known, that must be worth, what, £2,000 or £3,000?

I should think so, something like that, yeah.

Although the Bloomsbury Group were named after their base in London, the best place to find out

more about them is here, at their country retreat in Sussex.

Wow.

'Wendy Hitchmough is curator here at Charleston House.'

There's so much art, isn't there? Everywhere you look there's a piece of art, whether it be a chair or a

piece of ceramics or a lampshade or a cushion or a table or tiles or...

It's amazing.

As a conscientious objector to World War I, the artist

Duncan Grant faced prison unless he was working on the land.

So in 1916, he and Vanessa Bell moved to this farmhouse.

It quickly became the place where the Bloomsbury Group pursued their unconventional lives.

For lots of people it was a kind of... it was a retreat,

it was a place where they could be themselves, let rip a bit.

It was a place where they could come and focus on their work,

and a great deal of work was produced at Charleston.

After breakfast in the dining room, the writers would go back to their bedrooms and write

and the artists would come to the studio and they would paint.

Influenced by the Post-Impressionist style of Cezanne, Van Gogh

and Gauguin, Bloomsbury work also embraced more modern approaches, such as Cubism.

For collectors like David, the story behind these artworks is part of the attraction too.

I also spotted this little drawing down here. This is by who?

It's by Duncan Grant, addressed to who at the time was his lover,

called David Garnett.

Who in turn ended up marrying Duncan's daughter,

so it was quite an incestuous arrangement.

But that's true of so much of the Bloomsbury Group themselves,

everybody said there was complicated love triangles, they would say.

Very complicated, and he did this in 1914.

So he was presumably working with whatever he could find, and in this case...

-Absolutely.

-..an envelope.

-Yeah.

And what did you pay for this?

Not a great deal, amount, I don't think, about £300.

But I think it's quite important and quite interesting, and I did loan it to an exhibition.

And that sort of thing can help increase the value as well as research if it's shown publicly

and put into catalogues, that's a good thing.

-It was photographed and put on exhibition, so...

-So this is part of the pension fund?

That's part of the pension fund and I think the value's gone up because of that.

It's quite a wonderful thing.

Along with the paintings, David has eye-catching ceramics and furniture made in the Omega Workshops,

a venture started by Bloomsbury artist Roger Fry in 1913.

It's a wonderful Omega Workshops famous turquoise glazed bowl.

It's an enormous piece of pottery.

It's really enormous, and there's the Omega stamp on the bottom.

The idea behind the workshops was to pay the most progressive

young artists a day rate so that they could design for Omega

and earn enough money to live on and then produce

the sorts of paintings that they wanted to produce without

having to worry about selling their paintings.

The workshops designed furniture, textiles, everything for the home.

And, Wendy, have a lot of the Omega pieces survived,

or are they very rare and hard to find?

No, they are very rare and hard to find, the Omega Workshops was

only in existence for six years.

That must make David's collection of Omega pieces really very extraordinary and pretty special.

Yes, David's collection and Charleston's collection are two

of the best Omega collections in the world.

'David's collection certainly has a pedigree,

'but he wants to know if his choices have also been good investments.'

Omega Workshops' pottery and furniture rarely comes onto the market.

So to accumulate so much, David obviously knows a thing or two.

The question is, will it all add up to more or less than

the £60,000 that he estimates he's already spent on the collection?

Having been dazzled by David's artworks, I think we've been

neglecting the other collector in the house.

I fear THAT might be something Francis feels quite often, and it needs to be rectified.

For taxidermy-obsessed Nigel, there's one animal that will

elevate his collection to new heights.

I'd really like a giraffe neck and head,

but, I mean, you're talking many, many thousands of pounds.

But in order to fulfil his lofty ambitions, Nigel's going to

have to sell quite a lot of his less impressive specimens.

At least thinning out the collection will keep his wife Janice happy.

The problem is just the space, that we're running out of space now, so.

Improving his menagerie is a lifelong project for Nigel.

It might be out of the ordinary today, but once upon a time,

collecting taxidermy was considered a highly noble pursuit.

Quex Park in Kent was once home to one of the country's greatest

collectors of taxidermy, and a man after Nigel's heart.

Major Percy Horace Gordon Powell-Cotton opened this museum in the grounds of Quex in 1896.

But unlike Nigel, he acquired his animals directly from the wild.

For those of means, taxidermy represented

a thirst for knowledge and education, but it was also

a status symbol that said, "Look how successful, rich and clever I am."

Major Powell-Cotton collected more than 500 animals from Africa and Asia,

including six specimens of Nigel's coveted giraffe.

All his exhibits were created for the Major by the finest taxidermists of the period.

Taxidermy had come of age.

The most realistic animals and dramatic settings were

celebrated and prized, and their creators lauded as artists,

sculptors and biologists, and of them none were more famous and successful

than London's Rowland Ward.

Provincial taxidermists would invariably never see the animal

they were recreating and often only had a preserved pelt to work with.

Ward ensured that hunters quickly and accurately measured

the dimensions of the dead animal before skinning, allowing him

to create taxidermy with precise physical realism.

He developed a number of new and advanced techniques,

one of which was the use of clay under the skin,

in addition to the traditional woodwool stuffing.

This allowed him to create accurate muscle definition and dramatic facial expressions.

This ferocious lion attacked and mauled the Major in 1906.

He commissioned Ward to immortalise the scene with the Major represented by the buffalo.

Ward exceeded all expectation, creating something that was hailed as his greatest achievement.

The display captured the deadly beast with such a sense of drama

and accuracy that when it was exhibited in Ward's Piccadilly showroom,

it reputedly brought London traffic to a standstill.

After the Second World War, tastes changed -

as hunting gave way to conservation, taxidermy became

seen as an inappropriate way of treating our natural heritage.

Museums began hiding and even discarding collections that had once taken pride of place.

In one extreme example, Saffron Walden Museum spent three days

burning an entire collection of antique animals.

Partly because many collections have been lost,

Ward's work is now hugely sought after and fetches high prices.

Today, one of these full size Ward giraffes would cost as much as

£10,000, but something as unique as this could fetch more than £100,000.

Nigel might not have a collection to rival Major Powell-Cotton

quite yet, but he does have some items of real interest.

Taxidermy is enjoying a revival, so the potential for it

increasing in value is there, but only if he has bought wisely.

Looking at how much it's all worth.

Since I've started, I've probably spent £70,000 to £80,000 on the collection.

If it is a little nest egg, then perhaps Janice will be more

tolerant of Nigel's obsession with the animal afterlife.

But for the time being she's more preoccupied with his quest for a giraffe.

I have waved the white flag at giraffe in the hallway.

-Fortunately, it's becoming hard to locate one.

-SHE CHUCKLES

At the house with two rival collections...

We've already taken an in-depth look at David's museum calibre artworks.

And now it's the turn of the overlooked salt and pepper collection belonging to Francis.

-Wow, there's a lot of them.

-And now many are in there?

-It would be about 800.

-But this is not the extent of it?

-This is not the extent of my collection. The full collection is over 2,000 sets.

-Good Lord!

Francis has salt and pepper shakers from every decade, going back to the 1920s.

Like these, by renowned German manufacturer Goebel.

They're very sweet, the facial expressions.

-They're very similar to Hummel figurines.

-Yes, yes.

Which are very sought after,

and they've just got that fantastic '20s and '30s look, haven't they?

With that hair and those colours.

Salt and pepper shakers only really came to prominence in the early 20th century

when the invention of iodised table salt meant free-flowing, fine grains that wouldn't clog.

It's what we call in the salt and pepper world, is a holder.

That is adorable, she's got two hatboxes.

So she's holding two hatboxes and there's the bottom.

-Oh! That is so cute.

-The cork.

She's also so much in the style of the day.

You've got this stepped back, typical of the Art Deco movement.

-Yes, Art Deco movement, yes.

-And look at her hair and her hat and her clothes.

-I love this.

It was around the time of the Great Depression that novelty shakers took off globally.

Ceramics manufacturers spotted a hole in the market for small,

affordable ornaments to brighten up the home.

So, Francis, what is it that you actually get out of your collection?

I enjoy the look and the feel and the sense of happiness.

For example, this one here. Look at her.

So how much would you say that was worth?

Today it would be worth maybe £20.

How much have you spent on the whole collection, do you think?

There's quite a lot of £20, but I'm pretty sure that most of them are worth more than that.

I would say maybe £4,000.

I'm starting to understand that there's much more to salt and pepper shakers than I first thought.

-That's...

-Very happy bride and groom.

'No wonder Francis is sensitive about David's take on his shakers.'

The word "novelty" offends him

when I say his salt and pepper shakers are novelties.

He really wants them to be taken much more seriously than that.

My ambition for my collection is to put it out in the open more,

about that it's more than just an everyday, functional item.

Perhaps by taking a closer look at the world of salt and pepper shakers,

I can find a way to help Francis achieve his ambition.

-My eye is drawn to the edible.

-To the chocolates. Oh, yes.

Look at those little chocolates. So sweet, look at that.

These chocolates might look good enough to eat,

but they will never contain salt or pepper.

I'm not allowed to use them, or the guests aren't allowed to use them,

-they're just there for decorative purposes.

-Why is that?

-If only I knew.

No, he won't have salt in them, as he sees salt as corrosive on them, yeah.

-So they're strictly not to be used. Display only.

-Display only.

-This is a holder, so you have one who holds the other.

-Holding the other.

-And this one here...

-Yes.

Is what's called the hanger. You can touch it.

I can't believe the amount of subsets in the salt and pepper shaker world.

Yes, but that sort of hydrant and dog has been around for a long time, but that posture...

So that is a subsection all of its own, the leg-lifter?

That could be, yes, yes, the leg-lifter, yes.

-Yeah. Now, this is a nestler.

-A nestler, a hanger and a holder.

-Yes.

People, when they come to the house, are always drawn to his collection,

cos they're funny and novel, but he's never actually...

cos the salt and peppers have never been the centre of attention.

I've loaned some of my pieces to museums and things for exhibitions

and that's never happened to him, but I really secretly think that he'd like to do that, he'd love

a museum to come along and borrow one of his salt and pepper shakers.

I mean, when people go to museums now and see old Egyptian artefacts,

then people find it fascinating, and why can't they find these things as fascinating?

This is what you want to do, though, Francis, isn't it?

-You want to spread the word of salt and pepper shakers to the outside world.

-Yes, yes, hmm.

'I don't know if we're going to get them in a museum, but we've got

'to help Francis get the recognition that he craves for his collection.'

I'll start racking my brains for a solution.

-Can't stop looking at them, can you, Francis?

-No, sorry.

-That's OK.

Getting recognition for his collection is also something that Bob would welcome.

His 1,500 pieces of Mason's pottery have fallen out of fashion in recent years.

Getting in on the act, are you? Hmm?

And Bob has struggled to get a good price for his excess of treasures

that have been kept under his caravan home.

I was absolutely gutted, I thought, you know,

that's not selling them, that's giving them away.

Bob has given up hope of moving them on, but we think there's a way

he can beat the trend and fight the cause for his collection.

-Today's the day, Bob, I feel it.

-Good.

-I feel it in my bones.

We have a plan, Bob, we have a plan, yes.

A cunning plan, Bob.

We're not just going to help Bob sell his crockery,

we're on a mission to start a mini revival in Mason's that will

hopefully help the long term prospects for Bob's lifelong love.

Off we go, Bob.

Mason's may be out of fashion, but vintage is very much in vogue.

We've got a feeling that this might twist your melon, as they say.

My goodness. What do you think?

Oh, lovely. Oh, beautiful, yes.

Bob's eyes are literally scouring... scouring...scouring the place. Bob, this is Vicky.

-Hi, Vicky.

-Hi, Bob, lovely to meet you.

-And you.

-Thank you.

Vicky rents out and sells vintage tableware,

and this has became much more popular over the past few years.

Really, really fashionable at the moment, very fashionable, especially with weddings, yeah.

Vicky and her vintage-loving customers are exactly

the sort of people who could appreciate Mason's.

I just love the colours.

But she's never even so much as glanced at Mason's before.

Vicky, immediate reactions?

Wow, absolutely beautiful. The colours are stunning, yeah. Great.

-That's a new fan of Mason's to welcome to the fold...

-Thank you.

-Great.

..and the possibility of some future business.

Next, we're heading to an antiques centre to meet another potential Mason's convert.

We've brought you to meet Sarah, who runs this rather marvellous cafe.

-It is, yes.

-Is it fair to call it a cafe?

-Tea rooms.

-Tea rooms.

-Vintage. Vintage tea rooms.

-Yeah.

'Sarah's part of a growing trend in tea rooms where the big

'selling point is that tea tastes better in vintage china.'

Bob, that's something to bear in mind, your stuff will

actually reach a new audience and also be used and enjoyed.

And it's a shame for them to be in a box really, isn't it, not being appreciated.

It is. Exactly. Exactly, yeah. I must admit, I never thought of that.

-So, over 200 years of history.

-Yeah.

-Is it something that appeals to you?

-Very much so, thank you.

-This could be the start of something big.

-Lots and lots of ceramics to sell.

-That would be nice.

Not only has Bob tapped into a new market, but his Mason's will be

exposed to Sarah's vintage-loving customers too.

We might not have sold all of Bob's boxes,

but the comeback for Mason's starts here.

So, how do you feel, Bob?

Been a good day overall, I think.

It's certainly opened my mind to the new possibilities you've come up with.

I think it's a way forward, yeah.

Last order of the day is to let Bob know what the collection is worth on today's market.

-Home sweet home, Bob.

-Yes, gorgeous.

-There they are, the dogs.

-Ah, there, the doggies.

-Hello, dogs.

The majority of Bob's collection

is from the desirable era of Mason's - 1800 to 1825.

In years gone by, even restored items in a rare pattern could fetch

a good price, but that's no longer the case.

Now only rare and desirable patterns and shapes in pristine condition

have kept their value, and in fact, some have increased.

Now, Bob, in these four books, what have we got?

All the information of my collection.

-This is your Mason's life?

-It is indeed, yes.

-Amazing.

-Yeah.

But we counted through the number of pieces here

and we know that you've got about 1,500 pieces in your collection.

-Crikey.

-Yep.

-I would never have thought there was 1,500.

What Bob hasn't logged is how much the collection has cost him,

but he conservatively estimates he's spent around £40,000

and he's preparing for the worst.

As you know, we had a valuer work through your collection

in detail, using your excellent record books as a source.

His opinion was that the collection would fetch, at auction,

somewhere in the region of £10,000 to £12,000.

Mm. That doesn't surprise me, yeah. It doesn't surprise me.

All is not lost.

Fortunately for Bob, auction isn't the only way to sell.

Our expect valuer found that Bob has collected some very rare items

that are fetching much better prices elsewhere.

Bob, we valued your collection at auction at around £10,000 to £12,000.

If you were to sell it in a retail environment,

we believe that it would fetch in the region of £28,000.

Crikeys!

That's a bit more like it.

Yes, that makes me feel much happier.

Bob has invested in some stand-out items and his pride and joy is this incredibly rare bowpot.

-You look very fondly upon it.

-BOB LAUGHS

Although he paid £1,800 for it, it's kept its value because only five are known to exist.

I mean, that really is wonderful.

'We leave Bob hopefully feeling more optimistic about the future for his Mason's.'

-It's been a pleasure, Mel.

-It's been so great.

-Yeah, lovely to see you.

-Yeah, and good luck with it.

Thank you for my new-found appreciation of all things Mason's.

-Thank you, Bob, I'll remember that.

-Yeah.

-Thank you, yes.

I think Mark and Mel have helped with the lateral thinking.

I would never have thought of going to those two places,

thinking that they would be remotely interested in Mason's Ironstone.

So, hopefully, they could well have opened up another little market for me.

I'm heading back to the house with two rival collections in an attempt to restore harmony.

I need to get David on board to help me make

Francis's salt and pepper shakers the highlight of the house for once.

It would be great if David would allow us

to maybe pack away the pottery on the mantelpiece, if we could

-maybe move the television, he said redesigning your living room.

-Yep.

David regularly organises an open house,

inviting Bloomsbury Group aficionados to get a closer look

at the collection that dominates every room.

Oh, you're putting them outside, you're banishing them.

Tonight I want the other collection in the house to have the same type of attention.

We have space, Francis.

Well, next is the extraction of the salt and pepper shakers.

In order to increase the profile and value of Francis's collection, it's his turn to have an open house.

Right, fruit and veg - over there by the dinner ware.

I've invited a select group of antiques experts,

food historians and ceramicists to take a look at the salt and peppers.

Francis will get such a thrill out of having his pieces all over the house, but I just...

I just wonder at the end whether he'll let me move them, put them back.

So you think the salt and pepper shakers might be there to stay for some time?

-I'm slightly worried, yeah.

-How worried?

-Slightly.

For our guests to understand the importance of these everyday objects, they need to understand

more about the historical significance.

Can you see that little crown mark there?

-Yes, yeah.

-With the WG? That's early Goebel, so that's pre-war Goebel.

The 20th century saw a global market emerge in salt and pepper shakers.

Collectible manufacturers include German company Goebel,

the intricate designs by '50s Australian potter Jean Darbyshire,

and cutesy animals created by '60s American company Fitz and Floyd.

They look like they're huggers, but they're not. The ones with their hands put out.

-So they literally sort of interlock into each other?

-Yeah.

Popular culture dominated designs in the second half of the century, but these were often made unlicensed

and as a result, many characters could look sometimes slightly odd.

-Oh, it is good to see them back out again.

-Yeah? You feel excited about this?

Makes me feel very excited. Go on put it out.

The finishing touch is our research, displayed to inform our guests about the stories

behind these little works of art.

-Brilliant.

-How do you think it looks?

I'm anxious about people coming over, because I'm afraid something might break.

But I'm... That's all right, that's fine, I want people to touch it,

I want people to handle it. Yes, that's fine.

The salt and pepper shakers are out, finally, in their categories.

I hope when people come look at it, it excites some interest.

It's show time and our guests are beginning to arrive.

These are the people who could influence the value and notoriety of Francis's collection.

Welcome to Francis's collection.

I must introduce you to Beth and Beverley, who are two of the most notable ceramics dealers in London

and very good friends of mine.

This is Helen Johannessen, who's a ceramics designer for Yoyo Ceramics.

This is Madeleine Marsh, who's a food historian and antiques expert.

How long has it taken to do this?

About ten years, maybe.

I'm really impressed that Francis is embracing this opportunity to show off his knowledge.

This is the '30s, up until the '80s, '90s.

The majority of these were made in Germany and Japan in the early and mid 20th century.

We hope creative minds will be stimulated by the imaginative craftsmanship.

So this is what's called a hanger because you have one that hangs on the other.

In the last ten years of designing tableware,

I haven't designed a salt and pepper shaker!

I actually feel quite inspired to perhaps go and make something.

But after a couple of hours, have they been won over?

It's the best collection I've seen for a long, long time.

This is such a fantastic collection. They've got such joie de vivre.

You have a broad smile, Francis. Are you enjoying this evening?

Very much so. It's just so fascinating to get feedback.

-So do you think this will encourage you to do more with your collection?

-Oh, yes, yes.

I love the signs that say "The Francis Collection",

cos I never thought of it like that before.

I think... It's been great, it's fantastic.

The house is transformed.

-Do you think now that your collection is sort of more equal?

-Equal.

It's the fact no-one mentioned anything about David's collection to me.

-We've changed it.

-Yes, most definitely you've changed it. And thanks for that.

The night has been a success, and although it might be a while before salt and pepper shakers

are fetching record prices, there is some good news about their value.

I think any collector would be lying if they didn't say that there's

just a little bit of interest in the financial value in an item.

-Absolutely.

-Yes, mm-hm.

Francis thinks he's paid around £4,000 in total for the whole collection.

We believe that if it was sold in an online auction environment,

it would fetch something in the region of £8,000 to £10,000.

That's quite good. I never expected it would be that much.

'Now it's the moment that art collector David has been waiting for.'

The collection of Bloomsbury Group art pottery and furniture has cost David around £60,000.

We've had two independent valuers look at the pension fund and they've come up with a price.

We believe that your collection,

if offered on the open market at auction,

would fetch around £150,000.

No, that...

No. God.

And our valuer has said the top end of the estimate,

so if they sold absolutely at their best prices,

you'd be looking at a value of £176,000.

Can I swear?

That's a real shock. That is a real shock.

Oh. Yeah. I mean, it's brilliant.

It's brilliant, but it is quite scary, isn't it?

Well, collecting is great, isn't it?

-Clearly.

-I love it. I love it.

I love it. It's fantastic.

David has collected extremely rare items, like this Duncan Grant fan, which he says he paid £1,000 for.

Thought to be one of only two in the world, it could fetch up to £2,500.

David paid £6,000 at auction for this set of Omega Workshop chairs that he uses every day.

Now they're worth up to an astonishing £30,000.

-Thank you very much, bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

I think it's brought us closer as collectors somehow.

I even understand my collection better, but I certainly understand yours as well.

I can understand the value behind your collection. That's a trip to Italy.

THEY LAUGH

It's not.

Taxidermy collector Nigel wants to crown his huge collection with a stuffed giraffe.

But with a home bursting at the seams with deceased beasts

and with wife Janice at the end of her tether,

Nigel must sell before he buys.

And the heat is on, because we now have a deadline.

Have you found one?

Yes, I have and it's reserved, subject to how well we do today.

And is it the whole giraffe?

No, it's shoulder, neck and head, because that's 9' 6" high.

So, Janice, this is... this is good, isn't it?

-I mean, this could thin out.

-Well, yes, yes, it's going in the right direction.

Well, we haven't sold it all yet.

We might be lucky and take some home.

-Busy day ahead.

-Yes, hope so anyway.

-We hope so.

We need to sell £6,000 worth of taxidermy fast,

and I think we're in the perfect place.

We're here at Spitalfields Market, which I feel is

a sort of fantastic area for selling to a new buyer for taxidermy, a sort

of younger buyer in many instances, who are using these pieces..

-Yeah, trendy. It is now, isn't it? Trendy.

-That's it.

I don't want to be trendy, I've never been trendy in my life.

Nigel, you are the epicentre of trendy.

-No, I'm not, no, no, no.

-With that hat, come on.

-No.

HORN BLOWS

-Open for business. Sale on.

-BLOWS HORN

The artistic types that frequent this part of town don't

follow trends, they set them, and taxidermy is in vogue.

I love the Bambi. Fell in love with it.

And, it seems, not just for the home.

You're going to sew it on the back of a coat?

-Yeah, potentially, I don't know whether it's too heavy.

-Today is a two-pronged attack.

While Janice and I man the stall... £125.

Nigel and I are off to the pub to see two men about a dog,

a cockerel, a ram's head and a crocodile. Here we go. Hello.

-Hello, hello.

-Nice to see you. This is Nigel.

-Hello.

Kevin and Fraser are owners of this trendy gastropub.

It's just one of a growing number that are using

taxidermy as an eye-catching ploy to pull in the punters.

Wow, Nigel, this is pretty amazing, isn't it?

Wow, I've got some competition.

Can I just ask you, two lovely young chaps as you are...

-Why, thank you.

-What got you into taxidermy?

It started off by picking up furniture for the pubs,

because a lot of the furniture is relatively old.

So we bought pieces

and then the same people who sell that had the odd piece of taxidermy.

-Yes, but it's interesting, isn't it, the aesthetic of a pub is sort of leather, wood...

-Yeah.

-And...and...

-Yeah.

-Fits in with the area, doesn't it?

-Taxidermy seems to fit in with it, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

It's become a much more popular thing for pubs to do.

Jays always come in pairs and I've got a jay.

-So this would make up your pair.

-Yeah.

-Do they look like they might get on?

-Maybe.

-How much are they?

-£125.

-Look at that.

-That's a head.

Every single piece, of course, is unique.

-Wow, they're real.

-They're real, exactly, this is the real deal.

-Last piece. Ram's head.

-A ram's head.

-Lovely.

-Are they speaking to you?

-They're staring at me.

-Yeah, that one is!

-Every single one.

-Will you do them for £80?

-So what are we looking at?

The fighting cock I was hoping for sort of £600 to £650.

Well, that about £500,

that £295 and that, I think, is an absolute steal at £250.

-£100.

-OK. Yeah, fine.

-Yeah? OK.

If we said £1,500 for the lot?

I think in this pocket I might only have about £1,250.

What time does the pub open? Because we can wait for you to take some money.

I want to take care of Bambino.

-Excellent.

-Great.

-I'll shake hands at £1,450.

-He's merciless.

We haven't brought rubbish, we've brought good stuff.

-Yeah, you have a deal. Thank you very much.

-Thank you very much. Lovely.

-£110 cash.

-OK, that's brilliant. Thank you very much.

-That's fine, all right.

-£50 it is.

-Thank you, I wish you all the best with the...

-Excellent work.

-Hope they keep your business going well.

-I hope it keeps you nice and warm.

-Yeah, I guess so.

I'd like to see him when he's finished it.

-Perhaps he'll send us a photograph.

-Cutlass in hand.

-Yes.

We need to have a little tot-up. You two first.

-£1,450.

-£1,450 for the four.

-Yeah.

-OK, Janice, how did we do?

We're up to £450.

-So that's..

-£1,900.

-Just shy of two grand.

-Good day out.

-Come on.

-Yeah.

-That's a third of the giraffe.

-Good day out.

-It is, yeah.

-That's legs, tail and left flank.

-Yeah, that's right, yeah.

-Other than that it's a head and shoulder mount.

-That's pretty good though, isn't it?

-It's brilliant.

-That's exciting.

-We had a good day out and we have taken some money.

-Yeah.

After a hard day selling, we might not have raised enough

for Nigel's giraffe, but perhaps we can still give him

some good news with the valuation of his collection.

Can you remind us how much you paid for your collection?

£100,000.

-£100,000. £100,000?

-Mm.

Our valuers put a price on the head of each of his 500-plus animals

and it's time to share the tally with Nigel.

Your collection of taxidermy is worth around £175,000.

-LAUGHS

-Well done.

-Lovely.

-Brilliant stuff.

There's more news than that.

Our valuer feels that if you are able to sell them

at the height of their market, the top end of the estimate range he gave us was just over £210,000.

Oh, blimey!

Amongst Nigel's collection are some ferociously good investments.

This sought after Rowland Ward leopard posing on a branch was bought for £2,000.

It's now worth up to £5,000.

And Nigel's unforgettable centrepiece, one of only a handful in the country,

the nine foot standing polar bear.

It originally cost £6,000 but could now fetch a cool £15,000.

I'm delighted with the result,

but it's actually the future that's the most exciting aspect to me.

These things are just beginning to be appreciated by a new audience.

-Chosen well, Nigel, haven't you?

-Hmm, it's been worthwhile then, hasn't it?

-You've bought well.

-Excellent.

-So, Nigel, Janice, thank you so much for letting us loose on your collection.

'Having left Dr Doolittle with less animals that do little,

'we've also helped his wife Janice win back part of her home.

'Not bad for a day's work.'

-Mark. Do you realise you've got a skunk on your head?

-Where?

Next week, the man who's had to buy the house next door to house his collection, but still has no room.

Not more than 2cm apart.

-Ah, it goes on forever.

-Where?

The Star Wars fanatic with the 35,000 piece collection.

-I've threatened him with skips before.

-It has gotten out of hand.

And the woman who will be blown away by the value.

You're joking? Really?