antiques experts... Let the Road Trip begin!

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

IZZIE: Ooh!

DAVID: You hit the roof then!

VO: And a goal - to scour Britain for antiques.

Pump yourself up... with antiques.

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

But it's no mean feat.

That's a top job, isn't it?

VO: There'll be worthy winners... AUCTIONEER: £400.

RAJ: Fantastic!

VO: ..and valiant losers.

I'm screaming on the inside.

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

The gloves are off.

VO: ..or the slow road to disaster?

The gearbox has gone!

VO: This is the Antiques Road Trip!

Cheeky!

VO: Hello, misty County Durham, and there's antiques dealer Irita Marriott and auctioneer Phil Serrell taking the road less traveled across the moors.

Look out, look out, look out.

There's a blooming cattle grid here, look.

Slow down.

Oh, my life!

Oh!

I think that's one of my fillings gone.

Oh!

VO: Has he got his own teeth?

(CHUCKLES) (PHONE RINGS) VO: Oh, phone's ringing!

Hello.

I'm so important.

OK.

I can do probably Friday late on.

Yeah, me too.

Me too.

I can do Friday.

Yeah, well, I just need to check on that.

But, yeah.

VO: I'm busy on Friday!

(CHUCKLES) Last time, Phil took the ladder to success and bought a skeleton with meat on its bones.

I'm quite pleased with that.

VO: But Irita struck it lucky... Is that right?

It says a pound.

VO: ..and used her porcelain expertise to leave Phil trailing.

I'll take it.

There must be lapwings and curlews and grouse and all sorts of things up here.

There's a grouse!

IRITA: Oh, yes... PHIL: Look at the grouse!

How cool is that?

VO: Actually a cool cock pheasant!

Ha!

The Aston Martin has been meandering up the east of the country before a final reckoning in Northumberland.

Having both started out with £200, Phil starts out today with a total of £236.16.

With three auction wins in a row, Irita's piggy is fairly stuffed with £387.16.

PHIL: Have you the first idea where we're going?

Yeah.

Barnard Castle.

Now this is getting a little bit bumpy.

Right, well, that's completely knackered that.

You've driven me into some bloke's farmyard.

VO: Oh, lordy.

(CHUCKLES) VO: They're bound for Chillingham this time, but the first stop today is Barnard Castle - if they can find it!

Ha-ha!

The castle for which the town is named dates from the 12th century and is perched above the River Tees.

This is just the kind of historic town which has good antique shops, and Phil and Irita will have one each to themselves - both owned by the same family business.

How lovely.

Be gentle with me.

Have a good day!

VO: Robson's Antiques is earmarked for Irita.

Oh, look - a window full of porcelain.

Just her thing.

And lots more inside, presided over by owner Dale.

Hi, Dale.

Morning, there.

Hello, there.

You alright?

Yeah, good!

I feel like I need to get stuck in.

I won't keep you away from polishing.

VO: Time to get in amongst it.

Meanwhile, a hop and a skip away, Phil's off to Mission Hall Antiques Centre.

He's spoiled for choice here, but there's no knowing what he'll be in the mood for.

Look at that.

So that's an old garden pump.

These here would bolt to the wall, and then you'd have a pipe coming up there with water and then the water would come out here.

I think potentially that's a quite nice garden water feature.

VO: Probably Victorian and made of cast iron.

The pump is not ticketed.

Let's have a bit of pump action, shall we?

VO: Here he goes.

Pumping iron.

I think the well's dry.

VO: That's global warming for you!

Anyway, is anything floating Irita's boat back at the other shop?

Shall we have a little rummage?

That's pretty.

Beautiful little enamel pillbox.

The enameling is superb.

It's so crisp and so, so well done.

I mean, it literally looks like a photograph.

And look at the inside.

The interior is all nicely gilded.

And there's a name right in the center.

EP Artess?

Well, my guess would be that this is French, circa 1900, and I don't actually mind that it is not silver.

It would help that it was...if it was.

But you can't have it all, can you?

And it is priced at £58.

If there's some maneuver... (WHISPERS) that could be mine.

VO: It could, but there could be more.

Carry on, while we check in with Phil.

There's the cast iron pump.

But has he found anything else?

Oh, how cute is that?

Look at that.

How can you not love a little doggie?

I think he's really lovely.

I mean, he's just a sweet little thing, isn't he?

This is possibly olive wood.

I mean, I think that's a really cool little box, look.

You've got glass eyes.

Purpose?

Well, if that was serrated, it could be for little, small vestas.

But it might just be perhaps a little pocket snuffbox, but then the snuff might fall out.

But isn't it just so sweet?

And that's priced up at £80.

I think I've got to try and buy it for around 40, 45 quid if I can.

But I actually really, really like that.

I'm going to ask the question.

VO: Do I see a bit of a resemblance?

Ha-ha!

Anyway, time to talk to the dealer.

David, as ever, you've got some good things here.

There's a little bulldog.

Ah, the little French bulldog.

Yeah.

And I saw you've got an old pump.

I'd like to buy the two.

Would 55 quid buy them?

65.

60 quid.

DEALER: Yeah, go on then.

PHIL: You're a gentleman.

DEALER: OK?

PHIL: I'll take.

VO: Very generous.

20 for the pump and 40 for the bulldog, leaving Phil with £176.16.

Thank you.

Good, good.

VO: There he goes, look.

But has Irita struck gold yet?

Well, Dale, what a treasure trove, honestly.

There was a little, tiny, French enamel pillbox.

Oh, right...

I think that was £58?

Oh, right.

Um, that'd be 45.

I'm giving you some cash.

DEALER: Lovely.

IRITA: £45.

I'll pop it there for you.

DEALER: Lovely.

Alright.

IRITA: Thanks.

Was a pleasure.

Pleasure to meet you.

VO: Well, she seems happy with that.

Onwards and upwards.

(ORGAN PLAYS) VO: Hark!

The sound of Phil's next North East stop now, Meadowfield near Durham, where we can tune in to one of the oldest and biggest musical instruments in the world - the organ.

Andy Scott works in a small, specialist industry, keeping alive the skills which build and restore these magnificent instruments.

That was just fantastic.

And by a local man, if I'm not mistaken.

Absolutely, Sir Edward Elgar and his Pomp And Circumstance March in G. Watching all your hands and the feet all going like billy-oh here, it's a really impressive sight, you know.

Patting your head, rubbing your tummy, tapping your feet and doing a dance, all at the same time.

PHIL: So, I'm guessing now, but organs, what, do they go back to the four... 15th, 16th century?

The organ as we know today rather evolved, but the original organ was invented by the Greeks - ANDY: the hydraulis.

PHIL: Really?

ANDY: Yeah, that's right.

PHIL: The hy-what?

The hydraulis.

VO: Dating to the third century BC, the hydraulis used water to create music from a set of pipes.

Small portable organs operated by air developed in secular and religious settings, but the huge and complex machines, which appeared in churches from the 14th century, sometimes needed 10 men to operate the 20 bellows which powered them.

Everybody associates an organ either with kind of Blackpool Tower or with the church, don't they?

Yes, you do.

And the organ in Blackpool Tower is basically exactly the same as this organ here in the church, although it's in a secular situation.

Still with pipes, still with wind.

Plays a very different repertoire, very secular repertoire, which you can also play on an instrument like this.

But organs in churches, as we know it today, they've always been small instruments like this.

This is an average parish church size organ, so it's quite a small instrument.

When you say pulling the stops out, that's all those kind of, what looks like the choke on a car.

Like an artist has a palette of paint for their color, in...on an organ, we have a palette of musical sounds.

So we can pull out this one here, we get a nice flute tone.

And if we pull this one out here, it's called open diapason.

And this is the classic sound you'll hear in church for ANDY: accompanying hymn singing.

PHIL: Go on, then.

That's where that phrase "pull out all the stops" comes from...

Pull out all the stops.

..to do something of great effort.

Er, pull out all the stops, you make a big sound.

And how old is this organ?

ANDY: This organ was built in the 1880s by Harrison & Harrison, the local firm here in Durham, which I work for.

Our workshop, we have a good balance of restoration alongside building new instruments.

And at any given time, we could be restoring two or three instruments.

At the moment, we've got the organ from Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral... PHIL: Really?

ANDY: ..in being restored, alongside a huge organ we're building for Greenwich, Connecticut, in America.

VO: Building and maintaining organs involves very particular skills, which Thomas Harrison would have learned as a 12-year-old apprentice in 1861.

The firm he founded is still training and employing people in all the traditional processes which make up this highly specialist work.

PHIL: If you're going to be a good organ builder, have you got to be a good engineer or a good musician?

ANDY: That's a difficult question.

A bit of both, really.

We have lots of our team out there who aren't interested in organs or organ music, but they're fantastic craftsmen.

Precision engineers...

Precision engineers, in the drawing office and so on.

And then there are a handful of us who actually do play as well.

There's more people today actually play the organ here than there were back in 1861.

So that's really cool.

And what's lovely, I think, is that you've got all the sorts of tools and... and bits and bobs here that would have been used through the years.

Do you think you've got anything Mr Harrison would have used?

Absolutely.

We still have Mr Harrison's voicing tools, and many of the tools that are used here in the metal shop and in the voicing room have been passed down from generation to generation.

So you're kind of using these tools that have been handled by your predecessors.

It's quite magical.

VO: Organ pipes are made exactly the same way they were when Thomas Harrison started out.

We take a piece of pipe metal like this.

It would be cut out to a scale for the diameter of the pipe we want and we put it on the mandrel like this.

PHIL: On the what?

ANDY: On the mandrel.

PHIL: Mandrel, yeah.

ANDY: And hit it.

I think I can probably clout that.

I'm probably quite good at smacking things.

ANDY: Yeah?

PHIL: Yeah.

Well, have a go.

Go on then.

Living the dream here.

You sure you can trust me?

I hope that's not valuable, that bit.

No, no.

We'll just melt it down.

Stand back.

Let me at the mandrel.

VO: That looks good, Phil.

It's quite therapeutic, isn't it?

And then you just keep going like that?

You can roll it round, yeah.

And, um...

I've now noticed there is a minor problem here.

How do you get it off?

ANDY: (CHUCKLES) Just slide it off the end.

Ready?

OK, that comes off the end...

Lift...lift it up and slide it off.

VO: Once made, the pipes are voiced for tone and tuned for pitch.

This is Andy's area of expertise.

Well, these pipes have already been voiced and they've already been cut to length and we're going to do a bit of tuning here.

PHIL: Right, OK. ANDY: So this is basically an organ in miniature.

(PLAYS A FLOURISH) What we can do is we can shorten the pipe to make it come into tune.

So when... That wobble, it'll get smaller and smaller.

(VARYING TONES) Just like that.

Dead easy.

Your turn.

Oh, you might regret doing this, Andy.

So, that goes there...

So, if you play the two black notes that have got the... ANDY: That's it.

PHIL: Ah.

ANDY: And... (DISCORDANT NOTES) VO: Pass the earplugs!

PHIL: That sounds... ANDY: Pick the reed knife up.

That sounds absolutely awful.

And the one that's sticking out like a sore thumb up in... PHIL: Like that?

ANDY: ..up in the air.

If you go to your left a bit, left a bit, left a bit.

That's the one.

Now hold the note while you do it.

ANDY: Oh... (VARYING TONES) That's better, isn't it?

That's close enough.

By George, he's got it.

Is that right?

Close, yeah.

You may... You may have it in you...

So, is this the point where we negotiate my pay here or...?

Absolutely.

I'm sure we could make a tuner out of you yet.

And when do I go out to Connecticut to help install this new machine?

January alright?

Show me the way.

VO: It looks as though the traditional craft of building and restoring organs is alive and well, being safely passed on to future generations.

VO: Irita has been traveling ever further north on her way to her last shop of the day in Boldon Colliery.

She'll be rocking up at Laurie's, where there should be something for her among a good collection of antique, vintage and retro.

There she goes.

I'm guessing your name's Laurie.

You alright?

What gave it away?

(THEY CHUCKLE) Am I alright to have a browse around?

Have a good look around.

Take your time.

OK, thank you.

VO: Get fishing.

(CHUCKLES) We should get this for Phil.

He likes a good wall.

Or so he says.

VO: Hadrian's Wall - just 73 miles, Phil.

I'm headlining.

There's no need to look anywhere else if there's something blue on a shelf, because that is so me.

I just love this color.

So, so pretty.

French, little glass vases.

And what makes these is their enamel decoration.

Oh, it's just so cute.

Trailing flowers.

Oh, I love these!

VO: They look late Victorian or Edwardian to me.

What is there not to love?

Well, maybe the price.

But we'll get to that.

I'll keep on looking and see what else I can find.

VO: I'm positively tingling with anticipation.

Hey, this is what I need.

Ha-ha!

Ready for the war!

No, seriously... (CHUCKLES) If you wanted to do exercise in 1900s or prior to that, this is what you probably would have had.

So these clubs are actually referred to as Indian clubs because that's where they originated from.

That's where they were discovered by the British, hence the name.

However, these are quite cool.

I really like them.

It's not often you see more than two in a...in one place, and there's four here.

And basically the way it worked is they were often weighted and they could have varied from very, very light, like these ones, to very heavy - up to 100lbs.

And you would have a bunch of people in the room and you would be throwing these in a particular pattern from person to person, depending on their ability.

It's kind of like a modern day Zumba.

You know, with weights and dancing and jumping and all sorts, and everything has a pattern and a rhythm.

And I quite like them.

They are very tactile.

You could often, and they do often, get mistaken for juggling clubs.

But don't be fooled, because they're not.

I really like these.

There's no price though.

Why is everything I'm looking at not priced?

Am I going to be really disappointed when I have to ask for the price?

VO: There's only one way to find out.

I need to know the price.

Laurie?

DEALER: Yes.

IRITA: Hello there.

I'm very... DEALER: Hello.

IRITA: ..carefully placing these back before I smash something in the shop.

It's alright - all breakages can be paid for.

Er, now, they haven't got a price on.

How much are they?

They are just £20 for all four.

Fiver a club.

You can't grumble.

OK, well, that sounds good.

Also, there is a pair of blue vases just behind me.

DEALER: The little pretty ones.

IRITA: Yeah.

Just £15 on those.

So 35 quid for the two?

That sounds fine to me.

I'm not going to even haggle.

Brilliant.

Thank you very much.

IRITA: There you go.

DEALER: Great.

I shall grab these and be on my merry way.

Thanks very much.

IRITA: See you later!

DEALER: Cheers.

Bye.

VO: And with £307.16 left in her pocket, she's off to pick up Phil.

Have we been on this road before?

No.

Are you sure you know where you're going?

No.

Only... Only twice today.

Well, those things there - those roundy round things - they look very, very familiar to me.

Well, we've seen probably a million of those on the way.

Really?

Right.

OK. VO: Hone up those navigational skills and see you tomorrow, maybe.

Night-night.

And it looks like they're back on track this morning in rural County Durham.

Baa!

Maa!

Look, they're all running away from us.

PHIL: Baa!

I don't think they're that impressed, Phil.

Can you speak sheep?

VO: Baa-baa yourself, Johnny Morris.

So what's the story today?

Right, Phil, should we make a plan that we both are really, really, really going to try and spend every single penny we have?

Well, I always do try.

In fact... IRITA: I'm sorry.

PHIL: ..if you recall, last time I did.

You did spend.

Yes, you did.

And I think it was somebody else that didn't.

PHIL: Are you gonna... IRITA: OK, let's spend the lot!

There you are.

You heard it here first, folks.

She's going to spend the lot.

VO: What did they spend their money on yesterday?

Irita is left with £307.16 after buying two enamel vases and a set of Indian clubs... Ha-ha!

VO: ..and an enamel box.

IRITA: I bought a box.

PHIL: Little box?

Yeah, a little box.

Did you buy a box?

I bought a little box.

VO: He did - that bulldog.

Oh, Phil!

I think he's really, really lovely.

Phil, it's a little bit RUFF around the edges.

Yeah.

Ruff!

It's a dog.

Ruff-ruff!

Well, no, it's actually made out of dogwood.

(CHUCKLES) No, cuz you can tell by the bark.

(CHUCKLES) VO: Oh, woof!

And after also splashing out on a water pump, our British bulldog has £176.16 left.

So, what does the day hold?

Let's see how much you've spent at the end of the day, then, eh?

OK. You little profit sit... sitter-onner, you.

IRITA: I'm not!

PHIL: Go on, look at you.

IRITA: I'm... PHIL: This is an innocent look, isn't it?

"Me?!"

I never...

I never said I'm innocent.

VO: Oh, children, children, do settle down.

Ha-ha!

They're headed to the North East coast this morning, to Whitley Bay, with its lovely beaches and views to the lighthouse of St Mary's Island.

After dropping off Irita, Phil's going to try his luck at the charmingly named Owl and the Pussycat, which looks packed with interesting things, and there's David at the ready.

The challenge was to try and spend all his money - so get to it, Phil.

This is one of those shops that it really does pay to look, cuz there's something for everybody in here, I think.

This is an interesting little thing.

I mean, vesta cases are pretty common.

We all know that.

Most of them are silver - they make between kind of £40 and £60.

And sometimes you get poorer examples that are in brass.

And this is, from looking at it, a late 19th century example.

It's in brass and so should be worth an awful lot less.

But the thing is, this has got the Masonic cipher on it, the square and the compass just here.

That's what that is.

A little Masonic vesta case.

So this is quite nice, cuz if you flip it open, you can actually see that that...

I think this is quite an old one.

And you've got the striking plate just along here.

That's priced at £49.

What's it going to make at auction?

Well, it's probably going to do 30 to £50, but it's just an interesting thing, and I think it might be the type of thing that is going to appeal to a Masonic collector.

So I'm just going to bear that in mind.

VO: Might be one in the bag then.

Anything else?

Now, this is alien territory for me.

Jewelry.

VO: Go on, stretch yourself.

I recognize that name.

So...

This is a really lovely little enamel brooch by a man called David Andersen, who is Norwegian.

It's beautifully enameled.

If you look, he's actually got the veins of the leaf that are underneath the light blue coloring.

I've seen these brooches in green and this one's in blue.

This is priced at £75.

At auction it's going to make, I would think, £40 to £60.

This is completely out of my comfort zone, but I do know that 1950s Scandinavian jewelry is really quite sought after.

I think it might be time to talk to David.

David, I...

I'd like to buy two things from you.

You've got the David Andersen Norwegian brooch.

I'm not really a brooch man, but I'm struck with this because it just matches the color of my eyes.

Aw!

VO: An unlikely pitch for a discount.

The brooch is priced at 75, the vesta at 49.

So you could have the brooch and the vesta for 65.

I'm going to take those, cuz I think - I hope...

I think they're going to give me a chance, aren't they?

You'll do well on those.

I hope so.

I hope so.

And the brooch'll look great on your scarf in the meantime.

VO: David, you're wicked.

There we are.

Thank you very much indeed.

That's great.

Thank you very much.

I'll take me brooch and I'll take me vesta.

DEALER: Right.

PHIL: Thank you very much.

Alright.

Thanks, Phil.

VO: 25 for the vesta case and 40 for the brooch leaves him £111.16, and he can pay for his own 99.

Just along the seafront, Irita is on her way to visit the spectacular domed Spanish City, which dominates the Whitley Bay skyline, and which was recently brought back from the brink of demolition to its former glory.

Local historian Ken Hutchinson helped to rescue the building and is waiting for Irita on the steps.

Morning, Ken!

Good morning.

What a beautiful day.

Welcome to Whitley Bay and welcome to... IRITA: Thank you.

KEN: ..the Spanish City!

What an unusual building.

KEN: Yes.

IRITA: Tell me more about it.

Well, this is Whitley Bay's iconic building to rival the Tower at Blackpool.

This was the one that Whitley Bay built to put the town on the map.

VO: The railway arrived in 1882 and the town was transformed into a holiday destination.

In 1908, Charles Elderton built pleasure gardens with temporary structures painted to look like exotic Spanish streets.

People flocked to thrilling rides, theatrical performances and fairground attractions at what became known as Spanish City.

Plans were soon under way for an ambitious permanent building.

This dome here, which at the time it was built, was the second biggest dome in the country after St Paul's.

But to do it, they used a new technique, which is a French technique called the Hennebique concrete, which sets very quickly.

It's very light, it's very durable and very, very effective.

And that's how they managed to do this so, so quickly anyway.

VO: Unbelievably, work began on the 75 foot dome in February 1910, and it was finished 60 days later.

Ha!

Opening in May of that year, Spanish City boasted a menagerie, a theater, tea rooms and all the fun of the fair, attracting locals and holiday-makers alike.

So really, it was a place to be.

It was the...

It was the place to be.

There had been, er, an assembly rooms built about five years earlier in the town for the... for the local gentry, and I think this was the latest bit to really sort of show off the town.

VO: Spanish City survived two world wars, always adapting to the times.

It became the Empress Ballroom and later a bingo hall and social hub in the heyday of seaside holidays in the postwar decades.

But from the late '70s, as holiday-makers departed for real Spanish cities, the building fell into disuse and disrepair, its very existence threatened.

It was in 2010, the building was opened up for heritage open days where people can visit buildings that are normally closed.

And there was 12,000 people queued up outside of here, including me, to have a look inside, because nobody had seen the inside for so many years.

And everybody was blown away with the potential.

And, you know, I think the council then decided, well, that 12,000 was about 10 times more than anybody got elsewhere in the country in terms of visitors.

So not only were the council trying to do it, but all the population in the area were behind it as well.

VO: Funds were raised, restoration began and the doors reopened in 2018.

People say, "Why keep these old buildings?"

Well, come here and see - that's why you keep it.

You can't build buildings like this nowadays and you can't get the quality that we've got in this building.

Thank you, Ken.

It's been a pleasure learning about it, and we shall see you soon.

Good.

Thank you.

VO: Hear, hear.

A century after it was built, Spanish City is once again the jewel in Whitley Bay's crown - a much-loved and important piece of history, saved for the future.

VO: Phil's back on the road again, making his way inland to the big city and last stop of the trip - Newcastle upon Tyne.

Geordieland has seen invaders come and go since the Romans arrived in the second century, and Phil and Irita will be combining forces today in a raid on Fern Avenue Antiques Centre.

It's a big place with 20 dealers, and Phil's the advance guard.

Time for a thorough scout.

Maybe some local knowledge can be gleaned from dealer Dennis.

How are you doing?

I'm fine.

Yourself?

Yeah, it's a pleasure to see you, matey.

PHIL: Pleasure to see you.

DEALER: Good, good.

Now, I'll tell you where I am, look.

I have got £111.16, Dennis.

DEALER: Wow!

Now, let's have a walk round.

That little Charles Windsor chair.

Is that any good for that?

No.

So what about that pine settle, then, Dennis?

Again, that's a no.

VO: I'm away for a tea break.

Oh, I tell you what, she's a cheeky figure, Dennis.

What's that all about, then?

The... the bronze figure?

PHIL: Bronze?

DEALER: Yes.

Let me just pre-empt this.

That's a no.

That's a no.

Yes, definitely...

Right, OK, I think...

I think I've got the general idea.

This is all going wonderfully well, this.

I don't want you to say a word here, Dennis.

Not one single word.

That is a really, really Serrell thing, that is, that barrel.

And can that be bought, Dennis?

PHIL: "No."

DEALER: No.

PHIL: No.

DEALER: No.

It is a lovely thing, though.

VO: While Phil and Dennis meander fruitlessly, here's Irita, hot-footing it to the shop, looking purposeful.

Watch out, Phil, she means business.

I think I need some light in my life.

What about a lamp?

This appears to be, like, marble.

Well, it is cold to touch and it does feel like it, but it would have had to be hollow inside to be able to allow all the wiring to go through.

And the casting on the rams... Oh!

Oh.

That one's shifting.

The casting on the rams' heads is rather nice.

And the bottom's quite nice.

The little hooves.

It isn't always whether it's really, really old or what the quality is like.

We're selling the look.

And if you had a beautiful flat... ..and you needed a lamp next to your sofa, ta-da, there's your look.

Now, it has no price on it.

What would I want to pay?

I would definitely not want to pay more than £100.

Because of the age of it.

If it was older, I would've been happy to pay twice as much as that.

However, this might be worth asking about.

Because to have that marble and the beautiful casting...

I think it's quite a quirky and fun thing.

Definitely keep that in mind.

VO: A classy and green way to light your home and recycle.

Good.

Now, where's Wandering Willie got to?

PHIL: What about that sign?

Is that... That's an old one, is it?

That's an original.

Came off a Methodist chapel.

Yeah, you could be in luck there.

PHIL: Really?

DEALER: Yeah.

I'm not guessing I'm going to get any change, am I?

PHIL: That's all I've got.

DEALER: I...

I can do that, for you... PHIL: Yeah.

..for £110.

Really?!

And then with the change, you can get a cup of coffee.

Dennis, take the money.

Go and take the money.

Thank you very much.

I'm going to have a look at my sign.

DEALER: Right.

PHIL: What have I done?

VO: I think that was a deal, and he's cleaned out.

So, I mean, I just bought a sign that says, "Welcome to Market Drayton Methodist Church.

"Sunday Service 10:30am to 6:00pm."

Who on Earth is going to buy that?

Well, I mean, I just have.

I said to Irita, "I'm going to try and spend all my money," and I've done it, bar £1.16.

Be interesting to see if she has.

VO: Ha-ha!

Let's find her and ask.

So have you spent all your money yet?

No.

Have you?

Yes.

IRITA: Oh, well, good on you.

PHIL: Yeah!

IRITA: I'm working on it still.

There was a deal.

I'm working on it!

VO: Come on, then.

We're all agog.

Oh, what have I got?

Lots of different boxes.

Little cigar box.

Oh, that looks like a money box.

Do you think I can find a sovereign in there?

Nope.

Not so lucky.

Oh, now, that's nice.

This is something I would refer to as folk art, because it has that feel that it has been handcrafted.

Very plain, simple, walnut snuffbox.

I love the color.

Love the color, and it looks as if it would be Georgian.

Look at all this wear.

This is something you can't fake.

You just can't make this up.

It is from years of being handled in your hand and used.

I can see a tiny bit of damage, but I like the top.

It's so crudely and naively done.

Spears and swords and shields and guns.

I wonder, what's the meaning behind all of that?

There's no date.

There's no name.

There's no remark of who made it, where it was made.

But I can tell you one thing - it's been loved, it's been used.

It has had life.

And I really like that.

VO: Time to spend that money.

IRITA: Dennis?

DEALER: Yes.

I've seen this little box and it has £85 on it.

And it says trade 10, which takes you down to 75... DEALER: Yes.

So that'd be £70.

IRITA: OK.

If that's any help to you.

While we're at it, there was a lamp on the top with a... A floor standing one with like marble middle... Yeah.

Globe, yeah...

Yes, yeah.

Rams' heads on the sides.

DEALER: That has got to be £100.

IRITA: OK.

I can't do it for any less.

170 for the two.

OK, well, that's a deal.

Let me get you some money.

VO: Not quite cleaned out.

She still has £137.16.

Well, thank you very much.

It's been a pleasure.

More than welcome.

Thank you.

VO: Done.

Oh, Phil, take me for a ride, will you?

PHIL: Absolutely.

IRITA: (CHUCKLES) Do you know, this is my penultimate chance to shine, isn't it?

Well, I think you have all the opportunities to shine today, darling.

VO: And they're off.

Next stop - auction.

Bonsoir!

Et bonjour, Northumberland.

PHIL: This is a very impressive place, isn't it?

IRITA: Yeah, my home.

PHIL: Really?

(CHUCKLES) You coming round for dinner?

Are you gonna... Yeah, are you going to cook me supper?

VO: Only if she can cook your goose as well!

That is just unbelievable.

Well, this is what you call a roundabout on the front of the house, Phil.

This is glorious, isn't it?

Absolutely glorious...

It's so beautiful.

I don't think I can afford the entry fee here.

(CHUCKLES) VO: Chillingham Castle was given a license to crenellate in 1344, allowing fortification against raiding reivers and warring Scottish and English armies marching back and forth over the border.

Today, the buildings and formal gardens are peaceful.

PHIL: Do you know what?

I could live here.

Could we afford electricity bills and heating bills?

Absolutely... absolutely not.

Probably couldn't afford the rates, either.

VO: While Irita and Phil have traveled here to watch the auction on their tablets, their items have been sent to Battle in East Sussex, where they're going under the hammer at Burstow & Hewett, with bidding on the phone, online and in the room.

And the auctioneer today is the excellent Mark Ellin.

Irita spent £250 on five lots.

What's Mark's pick of her purchases?

The opaline vases are probably late 19th century.

Nice, brightly colored and hand-painted, and I think they would fit in with a modern interior.

I think they should sell.

VO: Phil spent £235 on his five lots.

Mark?

So the wooden sign is the challenge item of this selection here.

Em, I'm not quite sure who this is going to appeal to.

It could be a man cave item, but I think that's wishful thinking.

It's, um...

It's a sign and... we... we hope for great things.

VO: And auctions work in mysterious ways.

How many people are going to want an eight foot church sign, really, in retrospect, at £110?

VO: We'll start praying and we'll find out.

30.

30 here in the room... PHIL: Yowzer!

MARK: £30 bid for it.

30.

£30 I'm bid.

Any advance now?

Bidding's here in the room at 30.

At £30.

Come on.

Surely there's more bids.

There's more bids, Phil.

MARK: At £30.

IRITA: Don't panic.

Wanna open a church?

Jamie, no?

£30 I'm bid.

It's here in the room at 30.

Anyone else bidding on this one?

And it's going here in the room.

Anyone else bidding?

All done?

It's got to go.

The bidding's here, and selling at £30 then.

Philip Serrell is leaving the building.

VO: Bye, Phil.

Argh!

Phil!

Please don't go.

VO: He'll be back!

But time waits for no man.

It's the enameled vases now.

50 straight in.

55, we're up to.

That's a good price isn't it?

I'll take 55.

Here in the room still, at 55.

Any other bids for these?

Selling now, then.

Are you all out online?

And going.

At 55, they're going then.

I mean, there was no medium, was there?

That was short and very sweet, wasn't it?

I mean, like, very sweet.

VO: More than three times what they cost.

Well done, you.

IRITA: Well, £40 profit.

PHIL: Yeah.

I'll take that.

VO: Let's see if Phil's plumbing holds up next.

It's the water pump.

I'll take 40 for this, for the pump there.

Anyone like that for 40, for the pump?

Come on!

30.

30 online now.

£30 I'm bid for it.

£30 here.

I'll take 35 if you like.

£30 I'm bid here on the net now.

At £30.

PHIL: At least it's a profit.

IRITA: It is.

And selling at £30 then.

Where are you going to find another one?

Where would you want to?

I mean, that's a top result in Serrell World, isn't it?

VO: I am saying nothing.

£10 is £10.

VO: Under the hammer next is Irita's enamel box.

And the bidding here is at 40, online now.

£40 bid.

Oh, no.

Bidding's here...

It's got to go.

The bidding's here at 40.

No more bids on that?

Anyone else like to bid?

With the net bidder still, and going online at £40.

It's selling at 40.

(CHUCKLES) Well, you can't win them all.

Let me just say, stop press, phone up the newspapers, Irita Marriott has made a loss.

IRITA: (CHUCKLES) VO: Yes, but only a tiny one.

How has that happened?

That doesn't happen, does it?

Oh, it happens all the time.

Lordy, lordy.

It's when I go with my heart that it happens.

VO: Yeah, Phil bought the next lot with his heart.

Let's see if the wooden bulldog loves him back.

70 bid, straight in.

70 on this one.

70 bid for it online now.

£70 bid.

IRITA: Keep going!

Come on!

MARK: £70.

80 we're up to now.

80.

£80 bid.

Bidder from America.

Any more bids?

Fair warning now, selling online now at 80.

It's going at 80.

I think I might be a bit disappointed with that.

VO: What?!

The pooch doubled your money.

As we've just said, you know, it's...

It's made... made its money on the day, PHIL: hasn't it?

IRITA: Mm.

Can't argue with an auction.

VO: Will they be fighting now over Irita's treen snuffbox?

40 I'm bid.

£40.

40 we're up to.

50.

60.

70.

70 is bid.

Ooh, don't stop.

Bidding's here still, at £70.

80.

Bidding's still here at 80.

Any more bids for that?

At £80 then.

Bidding's here, still currently at 80.

And selling now.

Last chance, it's going.

Any more bids?

At 80, it's selling at 80.

MARK: 80.

IRITA: Well...

If that hadn't been damaged, I think that would have made a lot more.

VO: Well, it wasn't a loss.

£10 profit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're absolutely right.

VO: Well, let's see if her lamp shines.

It's next.

Start me at 50, for the lamp there?

50 online now.

Well...

I've not lost it all.

£50 online.

Bidding's here at 50.

60 we're up to now.

At 60.

£65 bid.

Oh, he's really having to work.

MARK: £65, I... PHIL: Trying hard, isn't he?

Still with you online, and it's going.

65.

It's going at 65 then.

(GIGGLES) Oh, no!

Phil!

VO: Ouch!

Ouch!

And thrice, ouch!

That hurt.

Yeah, I should think it did.

Time now to see whether Phil can recover any ground with his Masonic vesta case.

I'll take 30 on this vesta case here.

Say £30 for it.

Would you like to bid on this one for 30?

25 then.

Don't go down!

25.

30.

40 we're up to.

40.

There you go.

45.

50 now we're up to.

It's still on MARK: the internet at 50.

IRITA: Come on!

It's £50 currently.

Keep going... Online now.

For the last time, going at 50.

All done?

PHIL: He's doubled my money.

VO: Well, that's a result then.

He has doubled your money.

Yeah, so I'm quite pleased with that.

VO: Next up, Irita's last lot - the Indian clubs.

And we're straight in at 40.

45.

50 we're up to.

55.

60.

Bidding's here still.

At 60.

Anyone else need a pair of these?

Or two pairs?

We're up to 60 at the moment.

And selling...

I'll take it.

70.

No?

Here at 70, the bidding's here still, at 70.

That's a top price for those.

Any other bids for those?

Last chance.

Going now at £70, they're selling then.

Oh, I think I've just been clubbed.

VO: Looks like it.

That's a top price.

That really, really is a top price.

That was a good... That was a good price.

PHIL: Yeah, phenomenal.

IRITA: I didn't expect that.

VO: Phil is expecting a good return on his last lot now - the David Andersen brooch.

We're up to 40.

50.

60 we're up to online for this one.

60 bid for that.

At 60.

60... We've got a flyer!

MARK: 70 we're up to now.

IRITA: Woohoo!

70.

£70.

Do you want to bid again for that one?

Come on.

It's yours on the website currently, at £70.

Is that the last bid?

Selling now, then.

Fair warning.

It's going.

All out?

And going at £70 here, then.

MARK: 70.

IRITA: Woohoo!

I'm beginning to wish I bought four or five of those.

VO: Well, you didn't.

Hey-ho.

Happy days.

That's a very good result.

VO: Phil almost spent the lot but lost a gamble on that church sign, to end up after auction costs with £214.36.

Irita is still on a roll, winning again, with a new total after saleroom fees of £391.36.

Only one more to go.

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