TV show lots dominate the top spots at sale

THE arrival of TV cameras at the Moore Allen & Innocent salerooms in Cirencester last week was welcomed by auctioneer Philip Allwood: and not just because it afforded him another spot in the limelight.

Philip, a regular face on programmes like Bargain Hunt, Cash in the Attic, and Real Deal, threw open the saleroom doors to housewives’ heart throb Paul Martin and his Flog It! crew.

And when antiques from the show went under the hammer on Friday, April 3, they achieved five of the top eight prices of the day – including the coveted top spot.

Billed as a less retrained version of the Antiques Roadshow, Flog It! participants are encouraged to submit family heirlooms for valuation. Unlike the Antiques Roadshow, the owners are then given the opportunity to make a quick buck at auction.

As the cameras rolled, a 1920s promotional poster created for Shell, encouraging motorists to explore the British countryside – filling their tanks with Shell fuel as they went – sold within its £1,000 to £1,500 estimate to clinch the top price of the day.

And a Regency tortoiseshell veneered tea caddy raised on ball feet sold for a sum towards the upper end of its £500 to £700 estimate to take third place.

Meanwhile, a Victorian three piece tea set in the aesthetic manner sold well above its £120 to £180 estimate, as did three early 20th century postcard albums containing pictures of Gloucestershire, which had been estimated at £100 to £150.

And a pair of head and shoulders oil portraits, Young Boy and Girl with Hats, also exceeded the £200 to £300 estimate placed on them by the show’s resident experts, Kate Bliss and James Lewis.

Exactly how much the items achieved when the gavel fell will be revealed when the show airs on BBC2 later this year.

Philip said: “The Flog It! crew brought some interesting items that excited bidders. Many of those antiques would normally have been kept back from our general sale and submitted for our selected sale or picture sale, so to find them dominating the top of this week’s scoreboard is no real surprise.”

A Victorian three piece tea set	A 1920s promotional poster from Shell
Philip Allwood of Moore Allen & Innocent (second left) inspects a Regency tea caddy with James Lewis, Paul Martin and Kate Bliss from BBC2’s Flog It