Antiques Road Trip

antiques experts... RAJ: That's me.

PAUL: I like that.

VO: ..behind the wheel of a classic car.

TIM: Hold on!

IRITA: (SQUEALS) VO: And a goal, to scour Britain for antiques.

En garde!

VO: The aim, to make the biggest profit at auction.

But it's no mean feat.

I don't believe it!

VO: There'll be worthy winners... PAUL: Yes!

VO: ..and valiant losers.

I was robbed.

VO: Will it be the high road to glory...

Right, come on, let's go.

VO: ..or the slow road to disaster?

DAVID: Oh, Roo!

Oh, Roo!

ROO: (SQUEALS) VO: This is the Antiques Road Trip!

Beep beep!

Whee!

It's a bird's eye view of Cambridgeshire this morning, and I spy the bright yellow motor dubbed "the budgie" last time.

IRITA (IM): Whoop-whoop!

TIM (TM): Ah-ah.

VO: Antiques dealer and newbie road tripper Irita Marriott is behind the wheel of the said budgie - actually a fine '70s Scimitar.

And coin expert Tim Medhurst is strapped into the passenger seat, ready for their second outing together.

Timothy, Timothy!

TM: How are you feeling?

IM: Just look at this... You're really happy.

You're so happy.

I'm happy... Why would I not be happy?

I won the first auction.

VO: She did.

She smashed it...

Growing the �200 she started with and swelling her piggy to �260.76.

While Tim had mixed fortunes at the auction, and his initial 200 dwindled very slightly to �199.60.

Tim.

Cheer up.

It's only 40 pence.

VO: Ah well.

Early days.

And how is Irita getting on with the wheels?

I'm loving it.

The color of it just makes me want to smile.

It's very your personality, very bubbly... IM: Aww!

TM: ..colorful.

It's like the sun, isn't it?

Did you just call me sun?

TM: You're like... IM: Aww, Tim!

..a little ray of sunshine, aren't you?

So sweet.

VO: Our sunbeams set out from Newark-on-Trent and are ambling through the eastern counties, the West Country and even brushing the south coast, before a final reckoning at Stamford, enjoying the sights along the way.

What I love about Cambridgeshire is that you sort of just come across these beautiful villages.

Look, it's like a chocolate box.

TM: Look at that, do you like a thatch?

IM: Look at that roof.

It looks amazing.

They're all a bit spidery to me.

Are you afraid of spiders?

Yeah, my wife catches the spiders.

I just, I watch... IM: (CHUCKLES) TM: ..from a great distance.

VO: Wimp!

Well, we do need to get crawling all over those antiques, so time to get our arachnophobe to his first shop.

Knebworth is where they'll be watching their purchases going under the hammer.

But Tim is starting his search today in St Neots, once a place of pilgrimage to venerate the bones of the eponymous monk.

The charming St Neots Emporium houses over 20 dealers.

No wonder Tim is hurrying to get browsing.

What will it be today?

VO: Oh dear.

TM: I've lost my marbles now.

VO: Stay away from the china!

TM: I'll let you into a little secret.

I absolutely love Victorian watercolor boxes.

Look at this.

And look at this original label on the top here.

"R Ackermann, manufacturer of superfine watercolors, "191 Regent Street."

Look at that, imagine that in all of its glory when it was made in say, around the 1860s, 1870s.

It would have had porcelain trays fitted into the top where you could put all of your individual hand chosen colors that you wanted to use in the top.

You'd have had a section here for your paint brushes.

And you pull out this rod, pull the drawer, and inside, you've got a tray where you could put your little porcelain bowls for mixing your paints or watering down your paint, like a palette.

It's not in super condition, but the price here is �68.

And I think that's lovely.

VO: While Tim's pondering, we'll follow Irita, who is crossing into Hertfordshire on a 20 mile journey to the town of Royston... ..where she's making a stop at Wheeler Antiques.

The showroom looks full of rather fine things.

So there's bound to be something with her name on it.

IM: Not for me.

VO: Suit yourself.

I spy with my little eye...

I like that.

What we've got is a lamp base.

The base itself and the mount on top are bronze.

And the quality is actually quite good.

The faces are amazing, and they're naked.

Everybody likes naked.

It's trying to be 1930s but it is probably more like 1950s, '60s.

There is a little bit of damage on the glass.

It should have had little beading.

I like the look of that.

�55.

I know it has a little bit of damage, but it is cool.

It's a bit different.

Right, I think that's a definite maybe.

And I'm not even going to put that down, I'm going to carry it with me.

VO: Maybe she has trust issues.

Anyway, time to see if Tim's dropped anything else back at St Neots.

TM: Now that's a sweet little thing.

I quite like this.

It's a little what looks like a Spitfire made out of copper, attached to a little safety pin as a brooch.

I like to think that this was made by a serviceman, perhaps at the beginning of the Second World War, to gift to their wife or girlfriend to wear as a sweetheart brooch to remember them while they were away during the war.

It's priced at only �5.

And it doesn't really go towards me spending my entire budget, does it?

But I can see a little profit in that.

So I think, why not?

Let's buy it.

VO: So with that and the paint box, time to talk to Jacqueline.

Jacqueline.

How are you... Hello.

I've had a great time looking around.

Oh, good.

And you've got a little brooch here, the sweetheart brooch one, for a fiver.

So that's fine.

The watercolor box, you've got �68 on it.

Is there much movement on that?

What were you thinking of?

In an ideal world, and I know you're a lovely lady... Oh, thank you.

..I would say, could you do 45?

So �50 for the two, a nice round 50.

DEALER: Yes.

Yes, that's fine.

TM: Is that a goer?

DEALER: Fine for me.

TM: Lovely.

Thank you.

I knew you were lovely.

(CHUCKLES) VO: I love it when everyone's happy.

So Tim's made a good start.

What about Irita?

Oh, I like that.

It's a coalbin.

At first, I thought it might be a reproduction one rather than the art-nouveau from 1900, 1905.

However, looking at it... Let me have a closer look.

It actually has registration numbers on the copper pieces.

Well that's a definite good sign that all it is... ..is an earlier piece that's just been upcycled.

So it's been repainted at some stage.

It probably originally was green or red or blue.

I like that.

And look at that detail.

It's like a claw holding the ball on the top.

It's �45.

I like the sound of that.

VO: Yes indeed.

But madam is nothing if not thorough.

I love a good box rummage.

You just can't go wrong.

How good looking is that?

The reflection ain't too bad today either.

VO: If she was a chocolate, she'd eat herself.

So this is a little propelling pencil.

Probably silver.

It's...

Unfortunately, it's not marked.

But nevertheless, quite cute.

Quite like this chatelaine.

It looks Dutch.

It would've had a pocket watch inside there.

And then you would have that hanging on your belt.

Great looking thing.

VO: Quite a haul.

Let's talk to Miles.

Well, I've selected few bits of silver.

There's five little bits and I was just wondering what could you possibly do on those?

Right.

Erm, how about �35 for the lot?

What about the coal bucket that I looked at?

That was priced at 45.

I could do the same on that actually.

IM: 35.

DEALER: Yeah.

And the lamp, the one with the three ladies?

Yep.

What could that be?

I think that was 55.

How about �100 for the three pieces?

�100 it is.

DEALER: Yeah, sure... IM: It's a deal.

VO: Hurrah.

IM: Four, six... VO: Good work!

IM: ..eight, 100.

VO: Right, pile it in.

And let's be off.

VO: Tim, meanwhile, is on his way a few miles to the northwest across Cambridgeshire, a vast area of low lying marshland, crisscrossed by dikes and ditches.

The area around Cambridge itself, however, has for the last few decades been dubbed Silicon Fen, because this is the center of an innovative high tech industry, which put Britain on the digital map and drove the creation of affordable home computing.

At the Center for Computing History, Tim's meeting founder Jason Fitzpatrick.

How did the museum start then?

Was it your collection?

Eh, yeah, it was a collection that was kind of getting out of control.

It was a bit of a personal collection.

And it just grew and grew.

Now we have a museum with well over 1,000 different machines in the collection... Wow!

..over 13,000 bits of software that support it and everything else that goes along with it.

VO: Humans have been inventing machines to perform counting tasks since the abacus was invented in the Far East, more than 4,000 years ago.

From the 17th century, mechanical calculators were created by, amongst others, Pascal and Babbage.

In 1804, computing hardware took a leap forward with the automated system of punched cards, invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard.

There was a machine called the Jacquard loom.

Nothing to do with computers.

It was about creating textiles, and having a machine that could weave patterns into fabric.

So the cards there were used to create those patterns.

Now, if you take that way of automating the loom, that could be used to automate the calculator.

Two totally separate things going on.

Bring them together, now we have an automatic calculator.

And that's in fact what early computers were called, automatic calculators.

VO: We have to jump to the 20th century before we see anything that we might recognize as a modern computer.

During the war, scientists at Bletchley Park built a machine which used valves to perform Boolean and counting - the first electrical, programmable and digital computer in the world, called Colossus.

Now this is a very, very important machine.

It helped crack the German messages in World War II.

But that machine used valves.

So valves are one of these things, and it used about 2,500 of these roughly.

Um, and that meant that it would fill kind of this entire area.

VO: In 1949, Cambridge University's Edsac computer ran its first programs, and the uses of this technology in a research and scientific context became apparent.

But business and industry were watching too.

Tea and computers, the common denominator there is a company called Lyons.

Now Lyons were a company that had tea shops across the country not long after the Second World War, and business practices needed to be looked after.

So they approached Cambridge University and they said, "We know you have a machine there, Edsac, and you're using it for scientific purposes, "but we think we could use it possibly for business purposes."

And Lyons developed a machine called Leo, based on the Cambridge Edsac.

VO: LEO enabled Lyons to automate its payroll, delivery schedules, costings, invoicing and other management tasks previously done manually.

And basically, this revolutionized their business.

So the Lyons computer, or the Leo, was commonly called the world's first business computer.

And it changed business life forever.

VO: In the late 1970s, computers developed here in Cambridge began appearing in schools and in the home, thanks to the power of the microprocessor.

This microprocessor has the equivalent of around 8,500 transistors inside it.

TM: Wow!

JASON: Erm, and it was very, very cheap.

You could buy this for a matter of pounds.

So in the '80s, we had some great machines based around these microprocessors.

Acorn Computers, we've got the BBC Micro there.

So Acorn are known for developing the computer that taught anybody that was at school in the '80s how to program.

And we have the Sinclair Spectrum.

This is kind of responsible for generating our games industry as we know it today.

They were both machines that people learned to program on.

VO: Acorn went on to develop the ARM chip in 1985.

And it is a central component of 95% of all computerized gadgets central to our lives today.

JASON: So this brings the whole story up to date.

We're talking about this thing.

These devices that you've seen around the museum, if you take all of these and add them together, they are still nowhere near the power of this smartphone.

We talked about the number of transistors in the last microprocessor we had there.

We said 8,500 in that.

But this thing has about 8.5 billion transistors in it.

That's phenomenal.

What part did Britain play in the mobile phones?

It's all about that ARM chip.

So ARM developed the core technology, and they license it out to all the companies that want to use that technology.

So it's a technology that is developed in the UK.

And it's licensed out across the world and comes back to us in the form of our mobile phones.

I really appreciate you walking me through the history, because you take for granted technology, don't you?

JASON: Yeah.

TM: And I run my business TM: from my phone and my laptop.

JASON: Hm!

And they're two little things.

And once upon a time they would fill the whole room.

Absolutely.

So I won't take them for granted again.

I'm going to hit the road and buy some more antiques.

JASON: Fantastic.

Good luck.

TM: Thanks very much indeed.

JASON: Thank you very much.

Bye.

TM: Thank you.

VO: All hail to Cambridge and the power of British computing.

Meanwhile, Irita is behind the wheel of the budgie... TM: (CHUCKLES) VO: ..and flying along those lush country lanes.

Miss Joie de Vivre is on her way south to Braintree, which has been home to humans for at least 4,000 years.

Braintree Antiques Centre is housed on two floors of the rather fine Bocking Arts Theatre.

For my Saturday night.

VO: And its treasures are in the care of owner Tom.

This looks very promising.

And look at all that china.

She loves china, our Irita.

And gold.

IM: This is lovely.

This is from my neck of the woods, shall I say?

It's what's known as an icon.

So people would have prayed, had these at home as points of prayer.

And all of this is gold gilded, gold leafed.

And all of that in the center is hand-painted.

It has got a bit of damage in the middle.

But it is a very cool thing if you like... if you like anything religious.

But the condition, that's what worries me.

Maybe next time.

Right, off it goes.

VO: Do svidaniya to that then.

Clock's ticking, Irita.

I love this.

It is a Coalport biscuit barrel.

How cute is that?

For that to have survived all these years without being damaged, and used, is just incredible.

Coalport was the top of the game when it came to porcelain from late 1700s to 1920s, '30s.

This would date back to about 1880s, 1870s.

And it has nice silverplated top with the original lid.

It is all hand-painted, hand-gilded, and it's marked to the base.

I mean, what there's not to love?

I got one better.

It's �15!

I'm just having it.

VO: Told you she loves her china.

IM: Tom.

DEALER: Yes?

I have found my bargain of the day.

Good.

And it is priced at �15.

OK. And guess what?

I'm not gonna even haggle.

DEALER: Really?

IM: Can you believe it?

No, I can't, no.

Well... believe it, because today's your lucky day.

Here is �15.

Wish me good luck.

Good luck!

IM: See you later.

DEALER: See you later.

VO: Your work here is done.

Time to pick up Tim, who seems to have come over all Essex.

We'll have some fish and chips.

Bit of tar'ar sauce.

(RP) Tartar!

Alright, Irita?

Let's get goin', shall we?

Full steam ahead.

Full steam ahead, baby.

VO: Quite.

Nighty-night.

Well, I have to say, it is so nice being back in the driver's seat.

(ENGINE REVS) Oh, yeah.

Do it again!

(ENGINE REVS) VO: Oh, behave!

I feel a bit like we're the Starsky and Hutch of the antique world in this car.

(CHUCKLES) Whoa!

VO: Yesterday, Tim fell for a paintbox...

Imagine that in all of its glory when it was made.

VO: ..and a �5 sweetheart brooch.

It's actually really cute!

My favorite thing about it is that he's used a safety... IM: Is the pin.

TM: ..a safety pin...

It's a safety pin on the bottom that is literally soldered to the back.

What it's going to do in auction is this.

VO: Cheeky besom.

(CHUCKLES) Bomb dive!

VO: He has �149.60 left to spend... ..while Irita just kept on spending and scooped up a biscuit barrel, a coal box, a lamp and an assortment of silver.

I love a good box rummage.

Ooh!

A chatelaine.

Yes, but it is for a pocket watch.

Do you know what?

I haven't seen one like that before.

Remember, this is part of a lot.

Oh, you didn't buy it on its own.

Wow!

IM: No, no.

TM: OK.

It comes with four other things.

What did you pay for your job lot?

35.

35 for them all?

IM: For this... TM: Oh, dear.

..and four other silver things.

Right, I may as well go home now.

VO: And she still has �145.76 of silver change left to spend.

Are you a metal detectorist?

I am not but my husband's very much into it.

Oh really?

Oh, he's a kindred spirit.

I love a detector.

Yeah, so I've handled ..one before.

TM: Have you?

IM: Ding-ding-ding-ding.

I'm very, very lucky with my detector.

I find all sorts of ring pulls and buttons... Ring pulls!

(THEY CHUCKLE) Ring pulls is all I ever get.

And my wife goes out and finds the Roman silver coin and... IM: Really?

TM: Yeah.

Oh, wounder!

Just my luck though.

Just my luck.

VO: Well, Lady Luck may smile on Tim today as, having dropped Irita off, he travels the B roads further north into Essex.

His destination is the pretty town of Halstead, once a flourishing center of textile production.

Townsford Mill is the charming home of Halstead Antiques Center, which has two large floors, housing pieces belonging to over 100 dealers.

And our coin expert is parking at the door, all the better to sprint in in his characteristic fashion.

Yes, there he goes.

And what might be whispering "buy me" today?

Cuz that is very, very pretty.

Immediately when you see this, you think Liberty, art-nouveau Liberty.

But this is by a maker called Levi and Salaman.

The anchor mark which is the assay mark for Birmingham, the lion passant which means it's English standard silver, and also the date letter for 1911.

So it's over 100 years old, slap bang in the art-nouveau period.

Look at that beautiful art-nouveau decoration there.

And it looks like it's got its original green liner as well.

There are serious collectors for art-nouveau objects, and mustard pots and silver.

And this is in really nice condition, and �75.

Quite excited about that.

I like it.

VO: Me too.

Anything else to your taste?

Isn't that charming?

I think that's lovely.

It's what looks like some kind of spice cupboard.

And quite often these cabinets have a lovely little aroma to them.

If you give these a good old sniff... ..you can smell the spices.

VO: Mm!

Old Spice.

TM: Can't tell whether that's dust, must or spice.

And looking at the paint and the wear and the construction, I think it's probably around 1900.

Price-wise, we're looking at �48.

I think if I can negotiate, try and get it down a little bit, I might be in with a chance.

Cuz I need to play catch up here.

That could be a spicy buy.

VO: And owner Mark is standing by to receive all offers.

Hello, Mark.

Hello.

I've managed to find two nice little things.

The cupboard is probably a spice cupboard, isn't it?

Yeah, I would think so.

And also this absolutely beautiful nouveau...

It is nice, I would like it myself.

Well, we've got 48 on the cabinet and 75 on the mustard.

Do you think there's some wiggle room there?

DEALER: 63 on the mustard.

TM: 63 on the mustard.

And the death of it would be 38 on the cabinet... 38.

So we're looking at 101 for the two, yeah?

DEALER: Yeah.

TM: �101.

DEALER: Sounds good.

Every pound counts, doesn't it?

�100 and another pound.

There we are.

DEALER: Lovely, thank you.

TM: Thanks very much, Mark.

Cheerio.

VO: And that, as they say, is that.

Suffolk is a county of ancient villages renowned for their lovely pinkwashed buildings.

Irita is heading northeast to Kersey, to find out more about this distinctive color - Suffolk pink - which seems to come in some variants.

It is such a beautiful village.

It is.

VO: The question of what is traditional and authentic is the subject of some debate.

And to help separate fact from myth, Irita is going to take a closer look with Jane Gosling, chair of Suffolk Historic Buildings Group.

Jane, would you say this is the traditional Suffolk pink?

Well, Suffolk pink is a range of colors really that have evolved over time.

Originally, the colors would have come from ocher, ground colors, ranging anything from a light terracotta right through to a dark burgundy.

But in the last sort of half century or so, the color behind us has come to represent Suffolk pink.

VO: It's often said hereabouts that in centuries past, the colors were traditionally produced by the addition of a range of natural and readily available ingredients to the limewash.

How would they have gone about it to actually back in the day create this color?

There are lots of myths that surround where the colors came from.

There are all sorts of stories about berries and things.

Now, you think how many berries you would need to paint an entire house.

You'd need orchards full.

I can see different shades of pink in the village that might be more traditional than this.

Would it be possible to have a look at one that is actually more in keeping... JANE: Yes, there are lots of... IM: ..to what it used to be?

..examples in Kersey.

This village, like many in this area, became very wealthy through the cloth trade, and so they could afford to build these beautiful buildings.

These two houses show us the range of colors that you can get.

It's more of a Suffolk terracotta than it is Suffolk pink.

It is.

It's a lovely soft limewash, it fades beautifully.

It's lovely and natural.

If I would go to my local DIY shop, could I pick up one of these colors?

You could probably pick up a similar color, but it wouldn't be in the traditional limewash.

It has to be a pretty good specialist to deal with that.

VO: And in the neighboring town of Sudbury, third-generation limewash manufacturer Ted Ingilby is just such a man.

Irita is off to see if he can shed more light on what authentic Suffolk pink is and how it might have been made.

Hello, Ted.

Hello.

Ted, you have an amazing workshop here.

How long have you been mixing paints for Suffolk pink?

About 40 years.

IM: Wow!

TED: Roughly.

I'm...

I'm never quite sure.

I was wondering, is it really that impossible to recreate the paint that was made in the 1700s?

So we looked at all the possibilities, and of course everybody's...

Even now I get people who say, "Oh, they used pig's blood!"

So I went to the butcher's, got some blood, got a liter of our limewash... ..added the blood in and stirred it and watched the color come up until I got almost that sort of color at the top... That.

OK.

Put it out.

Next morning, I went back to have a look at it and the sample had disappeared.

Are you saying it's a myth?

They've never really used blood?

Somebody may well have tried it but they wouldn't have been stupid enough to try it again.

Do your magic.

VO: One substance which was readily available in the 18th and 19th centuries was brick dust.

Could this have been used to create Suffolk pink?

Ted is going to try it out.

So we got the limewash there.

Yeah.

This is a readymade white limewash, containing tallow, putty and water.

OK. We're gonna put some brick dust in.

IM: OK. And then... (SCRATCHING) Now, you can hear how coarse that brick dust is.

Yeah!

It scrapes against the glass... Yeah, because you've got some rather large particles there.

This is the first time you've ever mixed in limewash with brick dust?

Yes.

So you...you, just as much as me, have no idea what the outcome will be?

No, that's why I said "we'll try it".

That seems like a lot of effort to do all of that for a whole entire house.

But then, it's a serious job, looking after old buildings.

That's true.

VO: Time to try it out.

It doesn't feel what I think I would think paint is, or what painting feels like... No, this isn't paint, it's wash... Yeah.

But I love the color.

Are you impressed?

I like it, yeah.

I'm going to take this and I'm going to compare it to the houses in the village... TED: Fine.

IM: ..to see how I've done.

TED: Yeah.

IM: How we've done.

Well, you mixed it.

I only painted it.

I love it.

Thanks for teaching me all these amazing facts about paints and letting me do this.

Let me... Let me just get one more stroke...

But this is limewash, not paint.

Thanks for reminding me that.

VO: Ted and Irita's handiwork looks a little paler than some of the houses we saw earlier.

Irita's taking her swatch back to Kersey to compare it and show it to Jane.

Jane, what do you think?

Oh, wow!

That's not what I expected at all.

(CHUCKLES) Is it better or worse?

I think it's better.

It actually looks far closer to the color that we've been saying isn't Suffolk pink.

Erm, and Ted produced that how?

We used lime and brick dust.

OK. Quite a lot of brick dust, may I add... JANE: (CHUCKLES) IM: ..went into that.

It's a very different color to the ocher colors.

Yeah.

But who's to say that's not authentic?

Now I've seen it next to the house, it's actually better than I thought IM: it was going to be.

JANE: Yeah.

VO: Well, Suffolk is definitely in the pink.

But it seems there is no consensus about what the shade should be, and the variety that exists probably just makes the county's buildings all the more beautiful.

TM: How's it looking, Tony?

It's looking promising.

Ooh!

Might get... Might be able to go buy some antiques in a minute.

VO: Meanwhile, looks like the Reliant wasn't.

Are we done, Tony?

Maybe.

Ooh!

Fingers crossed nothing falls off again.

(ENGINE STARTS) VO: Thank goodness for a man with a spanner.

(ENGINE REVS) That's the sound.

Oh!

VO: The sound of a '70s tiger in the tank.

Hopefully nothing will fall off before he makes it as far as Long Melford, where he and Irita will be sharing the last shop.

One more item.

Ooh, let's see what I can find.

VO: Go forth and multiply.

Melford Antiques, Interiors & Lifestyle Centre is a former granary building owned by Graham... ..and housing four floors of fine wares.

Quality, quality, quality.

The only problem with that at the moment is that quality usually has a price tag on it.

Pff!

And I don't have much money.

VO: �48.60 to be precise.

The search is on.

Ah, here's Irita, hotfooting it in now in a rush to grab the last bargain.

TM: Sh!

VO: What's going on here then?

TM: Blargh!

IM: (SQUEALS) Good job I wasn't holding a piece of porcelain or something, I would have dropped it!

God... VO: Right, play time's over.

IM: Whoop!

VO: Let's focus on some antiques.

Oh, I like the look of this.

Now this is something I would have in my own home.

This is French.

Plant pot.

It would have originally had a liner inside.

So when you water things, the water wouldn't leak out.

However, the liner is missing.

Also... it appears the handles are missing.

But saying that, it doesn't really detract from it that much.

The more I look at it, the more I appreciate the detail in it.

For example, look at these little flowers.

The detail is just amazing.

It is - let's have a look...

It is �75.

I think I would realistically want to pay 40, �50 for it.

But I really like that.

And I like the size.

Look at that.

VO: I'm looking!

And she's off to see Graham.

Graham, could I just have a quick word with you, please?

Course you can.

I really like the pewter planter.

Yeah, lovely thing.

Very nice... And that is priced at 75.

What do you think that might be able to be?

50 would be the very best.

Pewter planter it is, at �50.

VO: That's her all set then.

Come on, Tim, keep up.

That's a really nice little box.

And do you know what?

That is absolutely packed with history.

If you think about the early 19th century, you think about potentially the Napoleonic Wars.

And French soldiers were held in prisoner of war camps, and to basically subsidize their poor rations, they were allowed to make things and sell them.

Look at this wonderful woven straw work here.

It would be lined with wood or made of wood and then woven over the top with these exquisitely done weaves.

At a glance you could almost think it was enameled.

It's just so nicely done.

The price on here is �45.

There's a little bit of wear and tear.

But overall, the straw work is basically complete.

And I do wonder if I can get that down to say around �30, I can't see how I can lose on that in an auction.

There must be somebody there.

a collector of prisoner of war work items, or little boxes, or anyone that's just interested in the Napoleonic period, that might be interested to buy this.

VO: Yes.

One for the collectors.

What deal can Graham do?

Graham.

How are you?

DEALER: I'm good, Tim.

TM: Good.

What have you found?

I've found this wonderful little prisoner of war work box.

I'm just wondering, is there movement on it?

We can do 35 on that... 35.

OK.

Thank you very much for the generous deal.

There we are, I'll pop it there.

DEALER: There we are, Tim.

TM: Thanks very much, Graham.

DEALER: Thank you very much.

TM: Lovely to see you again.

DEALER: And you.

TM: Take care.

Nice to see you.

Bye-bye.

VO: Their work here is done.

Are you happy, Mrs Marriott?

Oh, very happy.

What about you?

You're always happy.

I know.

Are you ready to sell our wares?

TM: Oh, yeah.

Exciting stuff.

IM: Come on then.

TM: Come on then.

TM: Here we go.

(ENGINE STARTS) TM: Beep beep!

VO: Beep beep yourselves.

Night-night, you two.

TM: What a beautiful house.

I know!

It is absolutely stunning.

VO: Well, hello Knebworth House.

(CHUCKLES) TM: Hold on!

That is what I call an arrival.

VO: Good grief.

Our rowdy plebs are rocking up to the Tudor Gothic pile turned concert venue for the likes of Queen, The Stones, and Pink Floyd.

We're standing in 15th century history here.

Yes!

You would love to live here, wouldn't you?

Yeah.

I think my brolly might be history in a minute.

Oh!

Oh, already!

Come on!

VO: Crikey!

He-he!

Irita and Tim will be watching their antique purchases going under the hammer at Tring Market Auctions, where the sale is taking place online, by phone and on the book.

I believe it's going to be yours, sir.

It's going, I shall sell it then for �20.

VO: Irita spent �165 on five lots.

What does auctioneer Stephen Hearn think is winner?

The assortment of small items of silver.

An interesting box with some interesting items that might do quite well.

VO: Tim parted with �186 on his five lots.

Stephen?

The Second World War sweetheart brooch.

Although it's tiny, it will attract a lot of interest I think.

It will, for what it is, sell quite well.

VO: Maybe it will fly like Tim's brolly.

Have you ever watched an auction in the rain under a brolly?

No, it will...

There's a first time for everything.

There definitely is a first time for everything, and... TM: OK. IM: ..this is my first.

Count us down then.

IM: Ready?

TM: Yeah.

Steady... go.

VO: First up today is Irita's art nouveau coal box.

So it's probably had a little bit of... IM: It has been repainted.

Yeah.

TM: ..let's say, er, sympathetic restoration, hasn't it?

Ooh, I like that.

That's a good way IM: of putting it.

TM: It's nice.

32.

And five.

Eight.

40.

40?

I'm in profit!

You're in profit!

50 I'm bid, five... IM: Oh, 50!

STEPHEN: 60 I'm bid.

60!

At �65 I'm bid for it... Go on, go on, one more.

STEPHEN: Going then for... IM: I know you want it.

..�65.

VO: A smoking start.

TM: Woohoo.

IM: Whoa!

TM: Not bad.

IM: 65!

TM: �30 profit.

IM: I know.

VO: Will Tim do as well with his watercolor paint box?

It's next.

I have a real soft spot TM: for Victorian paint boxes.

IM: I know you do.

I'm actually quite nervous on this one... IM: Fingers crossed!

TM: ..cuz I love it.

Good.

What about �50 for it?

He's a man after my own heart.

�30?

Yes, 30 I'm bid... TM: Oh, come on... IM: 30 bid.

We've got a long way to go.

Five.

38.

40 we're bid, and two.

There you go.

At 48, and �50 now... Oh, you're in profit!

And five.

And 60.

IM: 60!

TM: Keep it going.

60.

I shall sell... TM: One more, come on.

IM: Go on.

I shall sell then for the �60, then.

VO: That'll do nicely.

That's a great profit.

Well done, Tim.

Thank you.

It was a well deserved profit.

(HE CHUCKLES) VO: Time now for the Coalport biscuit barrel much beloved by Irita.

I really fancy a biccy.

Yeah, so you will like my biscuit barrel.

I do.

I think it's got that Victorian charm.

STEPHEN: What about �40?

TM: Ooh.

40 would...

I'd take that.

�20.

�20, shall we kick it off?

IM: Why does he keep going down?

STEPHEN: Anyone got �20 for it?

That's not the way an auction works, is it?

It's meant to go up.

15?

Alright then.

15 I'm bid now.

Oh, he's bid 15.

STEPHEN: At �22.

22.

Well, I'm in profit... TM: You're in profit... STEPHEN: At �22 then.

Oh, it deserves to make two, three times that!

It's going, I shall sell at �22.

VO: A few crumbs there anyway.

I'll take that.

Together with a biscuit and a cup of tea.

VO: With lemon please!

To make me feel better.

VO: And next up is Tim's spice cupboard.

OK, let's hope for a top drawer profit with this one.

Tim, you and your one liners.

Genius!

Right, here we go.

40 I'm bid, straight in... IM: 40 bid... Profit.

TM: Ooh!

At �40, and two anywhere... Come on, a bit more.

At 45, thank you.

IM: 45.

TM: Yes!

48 now.

48.

50 we're bid.

At �60.

STEPHEN: �70.

IM: 70?!

Tim, you're a jammy dodger... And five now then.

At �70... TM: Come on, keep it going!

IM: Well done.

No?

Then I shall sell for the �70.

Thank you.

VO: Nearly double.

You don't look happy at all, do you?

Look at you!

Ecstatic.

Well done.

Thank you.

VO: It's the turn now of Irita's pewter planter.

Mm, elegant thing.

I bought it with heart because I would have had that in my house.

But I don't quite know whether people out there have quite the same taste as I do.

Is it going to get to 30?

Yes, it's got to 30.

IM: Oh, 30.

STEPHEN: 32 we're bid... TM: It's a start, it's a start.

IM: It's a start.

STEPHEN: 38.

�40.

TM: Ooh... IM: 40.

STEPHEN: 45.

48.

IM: 45, 48.

STEPHEN: 50, and five... Somebody likes it.

No?

At 55... IM: 55.

TM: 55.

55, sir.

I'm going to sell... Go on, one more...

It's going at �55 then.

VO: A fiver is a fiver.

# I got a profit, I got a profit!

# This is your happy dance, isn't it?

Yeah.

It is, isn't it?

VO: Will Tim be happy next with his straw work box?

Now I absolutely love this.

I think it's really, really cute.

It deserves to make a good profit.

Shall we say �40 for it?

�30, �20 bid.

TM: Oh, come on.

IM: Don't go down.

STEPHEN: 42, 45, 48... TM: Ooh!

STEPHEN: �50 now.

50 bid.

IM: Oh, you're in profit!

At 52.

60 I'm bid.

TM: Yes!

IM: 60.

At �60 is bid for it.

At 60... TM: Keep it going.

IM: Go on, a bit more.

TM: Come on, don't stop.

STEPHEN: No?

OK, STEPHEN: then I'm selling.

IM: Go on, one more.

At the �60.

Thank you.

VO: Jolly good.

Well done, Tim.

Thank you, Mrs Marriott.

VO: They look neck and neck.

Will Irita's lamp swing the balance?

Do you reckon this will light the auction house up?

IM: Yeah.

TM: Yeah?

Let's hope it wasn't a shady deal.

TM: Hey-hey!

IM: Hey!

How much shall we say for that?

�40 for it?

Oh, come on.

�30 for it.

Oh, that's what you paid.

Surely there's �30 out there for that one.

STEPHEN: 10 I'm bid for it.

IM: �10?!

Oh no!

15 I'm bid.

18... That's what you owe me for lunch.

No more than expected.

At �15... No more than expected, �15?

At the �15 then.

Thank you.

VO: I thought she said everyone likes a naked figure.

So you paid 30... At the end of the day you can't win them all.

Alright?

VO: Take him with a pinch of salt.

Or should I say mustard?

I think this could do really, really well.

Thank you.

I have my fingers crossed for you, cuz it was a good find.

I've got my fingers and toes crossed.

This is my favorite thing.

I love it.

�50 for it.

�30 for it IM: Don't go down.

TM: Oh, don't be silly.

Three of you.

Five.

�60 now.

IM: Go, you're in profit... At �65.

At 65, I'll sell then.

At 65.

Thank you.

VO: A tiny wee profit for a tiny wee pot.

TM: It wasn't its day, was it?

IM: No.

He was keen as mustard, I was keen as mustard... none of the buyers were keen as mustard.

VO: Irita's last chance to overtake now.

Mirror and assorted silver pieces.

This is the lot I think that's gonna blow me out the water.

I can see this making, what, 100, �150.

Here's a nice little collection here.

IM: It is.

TM: Very nice.

Look at that one.

�20 I'm bid.

30 then, at 40.

Going.

Five I'm bid.

48, and at 50.

Well, I'm in profit.

Five, and at 60 now.

And at five now, and at 70... How can you not be?

..and at five.

And at 80 now, and at five now.

TM: Ooh.

STEPHEN: 80 I'm bid... Whoa, whoa, whoa.

No, no, don't stop... 80 I'm bid for this little collection.

Oh, I can see this lot making more than that.

At 80 I'm bid.

Five anywhere?

IM: Go on.

STEPHEN: At �80... TM: Oh.

STEPHEN: ..no furthermore.

OK, then I'm selling at the �80.

Thank you.

VO: Still, her biggest profit of the day.

Somebody's going to be very happy buying that, aren't they?

Very.

And �45.

Can't be sniffed at.

All goes in my kitty.

VO: Piggy actually.

And last up is Tim's sweetheart Spitfire brooch, which cost him a fiver.

I thought I'd go with it because I liked it.

It had a story and also I can't really lose much, can I?

But it's going to make 20 quid, isn't it?

I hope so.

Spitfire brooch, where do we go?

�50 for it.

IM: 50?!

TM: Oh, come on!

32 I'm bid.

Oh, what?!

STEPHEN: To you, sir.

38... IM: What?!

40 now.

STEPHEN: �50.

TM: Yes!

Yes, 52.

55...

Turn it around and see that there's a pin on the back of it.

And five now then, at 60.

I'm gonna have a lip on in a minute.

Going down to you, sir, for the �60.

STEPHEN: Thank you very much.

VO: Whoo!

Tim is flying!

TM: �60!

IM: Right, so I'll just IM: put that there... TM: Oh!

IM: ..and walk away, shall I?

TM: Bye!

IM: �60?!

�55 profit.

Woohoo!

VO: Irita took the laurels last time and has done rather well this time with a new total, after auction costs, of �290.10.

But Tim has come back fighting and made the bigger profit this time.

After saleroom fees, he now has �271.90 and can claim the day.

There's only �20 in it.

So it's anybody's game.

It's a close one.

We're a good match, aren't we?

Should we go and buy some more stuff?

Yes, please.

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