VOICEOVER (VO): It's the nation's favorite antiques experts... Alright viewers?

VO: ..with £200 each, a classic car, and a goal - to scour Britain for antiques.

I'm on fire - yes!

Sold - going, going, gone.

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

But it's no mean feat.

50p!

VO: There'll be worthy winners and valiant losers.

Be a good profit.

VO: So, will it be the high road to glory or the slow road to disaster?

Ooh!

Oh!

Yes!

VO: This is the Antiques Road Trip.

Yeah!

VO: It's the second leg of the road trip for James Braxton and new kid on the block Helen Hall.

JAMES (JB): Are you a saver or a spender?

HELEN (HH): I'm a spender, yeah.

JB: Really?

HH: Yeah.

Yeah.

JB: Join the club.

Yeah, it burns a hole in my pocket, always has.

VO: Rookie Helen is a rock 'n' roll memorabilia expert prepared to go out of her comfort zone to bag a bargain.

Oh, sewn together by the mouth.

I daren't put that on.

VO: Quite right too.

Whilst seasoned auctioneer James knows the secret to Road Trip fulfillment.

If I could secure that for a fiver I would be a happy man.

VO: They're zipping along the Welsh countryside in a very nice 1974 E type Jaguar.

JB: It's running very well, isn't it?

HH: It's a pleasure to drive, it's gorgeous.

I want one.

Very silky smooth, isn't it?

It is.

I want one.

That's it.

JB: Sold.

HH: (LAUGHS) VO: Newcomer Helen made a loss at her first auction.

HH: No!

£12!

JB: No!

You don't need that.

VO: But Road Trip veteran James showed her how it's done.

Now that is a goodie.

VO: James started the trip with £200 and after the first auction saw his war chest grow to £250.98.

Helen started her first Road Trip with the same amount, but has seen her profits wilt to just £178.70, meaning she has a bit of catching up to do.

JB: How did you enjoy your first auction?

HH: I did, I loved it.

Yeah, it was fun, yeah.

Didn't make a profit but, you know, it's not the winning, it's the taking part, isn't it James?

Yeah.

VO: Yes, that and winning of course.

Our two peas in a pod are navigating over 500 miles from Oswestry in Shropshire through the Welsh valleys before heading through southern England, ending their Road Trip in the county town of Lewes in East Sussex.

On this second leg of the trip they begin their travels in Newport, in the ceremonial county of Gwent, before crossing the English border for auction in Wotton-Under-Edge in Gloucestershire.

There may be an advantage by buying in Wales and selling in Gloussy Possy.

Well, that would be nice, yeah.

VO: "Gloussy Possy"?

What's he going on about?

The cathedral city of Newport is the third-largest city in Wales after Cardiff and Swansea.

During the Civil War of 1648, Oliver Cromwell's troops camped overnight on the nearby hills before attacking the next day.

With not too dissimilar determination - ha!

- our duo are ready to do battle for the best bargain - stand by.

First shop for James is a place called The Strawberry Water Junk Company - an interesting name for a place with an equally interesting array of antiques.

There you are, Sheffield, Helen's county.

Top of Derbyshire there.

VO: Could be useful for the trip home.

After his victory at the last auction, James's pockets are bulging with cash and he's eager to spend it.

Made a profit on every single item, but they were tiny profits.

There was nothing sensational, so I don't really want to be spending £20, I want to be spending £50-£100, and that's where the profits lie.

VO: Quite.

So it sounds like he's prepared to spend big on this leg of the trip.

Is this the sort of thing James is after?

Quite a nice dress set, isn't it?

When people wore lots of sort of evening dress and things, you would have here...

These were buttons, and you would put it through and they were dress studs, so evening dress for dinner jackets and everything.

VO: That's rather fetching on you James.

You've got six here.

Sometimes they came with cufflinks, so for your cuffs, but it's just a nice little set of dress studs there.

They're nice, aren't they?

Not the most glamorous of cases, it's a cloth.

You know, the better ones would be nice leather, but it's got a nice velvet interior with the silk.

Beautiful how they used to make these boxes.

VO: But before you get too carried away, there's the small matter of the £49 dealer John wants for them.

Could you do it for 25?

JOHN: Do it for 35.

They're rather nice.

Price, John - it's that nutty thing, isn't it?

I know, terrible.

Dear oh dear, wouldn't it be lovely if there was no prices?

VO: Oh, wishful thinking, eh James?

Could you get near my 25?

JOHN: I'll do £30.

JB: £30?

They're rather nice, £30.

John, thank you, that's very kind of you.

Thank you.

VO: Not quite the extravagant item he was looking for, but it's a start, and they are gorgeous.

Whilst James pays the good man, Helen has made her way eastward to the town of Chepstow.

She's beginning her shop at St Mary's Street Collectables.

Hello!

DAWN: Hello!

Good morning.

HH: Hi, are you Dawn?

DAWN: Yes I am, good morning.

HH: Hi, I'm Helen.

VO: This place is well stocked with all manner of things, but can Helen find something here she likes?

I saw that, my eyes are drawn to that.

Being an entertainment memorabilia specialist my eyes are drawn to that but it's a... Yeah, it's a reprint, it's not an original.

VO: Of all the antiques shops in Chepstow, you walk into this one?

Helen's doing a lot of browsing.

Nothing seems to have captured her attention.

Oh look, a crystal ball.

What does the future hold?

Will I make a profit?

(CHUCKLES) VO: Not unless you buy something, love.

Yeah, you know, I'm thinking I might save my money.

I went all out on the first shop last time and bought sort of four items.

I'm thinking I might save myself.

Well, I'd hang on, because I had one item in yesterday that might interest you.

Oh right.

So come and have a look.

Go on then.

(CHUCKLES) Ooh, she's a good saleswoman, that Dawn!

VO: This could be interesting.

Does Dawn have something put aside that might bring Helen a bit of luck?

Then again... (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) VO: What on Earth is this?

HH: Aw, isn't she sweet?

DAWN: There you are.

She's a little bit sad.

VO: She's a little bit scary.

A doll.

What will James say if I come back with a doll?

VO: You need to catch him first Helen.

She's not unpleasant.

Some dolls are very scary, but, erm...

DAWN: They are very scary.

HH: Mm.

But she's got quite a sweet face.

I think she's pretty.

VO: That is a matter of opinion.

The one thing that can't be argued, though, is that old dolls can be highly collectable, even in poor condition.

This one is a German Heubach model, made some time between the First and Second World Wars, and since it still has all its parts, it could prove attractive to a restorer.

I mean, the good thing about her is that she has got all the original clothes.

I mean, they look like they're original to me.

And you know, there's a lovely little lace bonnet as well, which is really great condition considering the age, so you know, if someone restored that it could be a really nice little thing.

What are you going to say on it then?

The very, very, very best is £5.

Really?

It's a bargain.

Yeah.

VO: Oh lordy.

She's not really going to buy it, is she?

Er, you know what?

I'm going to take a punt on her.

Yeah.

£5, you can't go wrong, really.

You can't go wrong.

VO: Yup - Helen's just spent £5 on a somewhat disheveled doll.

I guess it has a certain charm, and of course it's worth a good deal more than that.

James, meanwhile, is heading to the town of Blaenavon, in Torfaen, to find out about an industry that was once one of the cornerstones of the Welsh economy.

He's visiting the Big Pit National Coal Museum, and meeting former miner Kerry Thompson.

Hello, James Braxton.

Good afternoon, Kerry Thompson, curator.

Hello, very nice to be here.

VO: At the end of the 19th century, Wales was one of the most important coal-producing countries in the world.

In 1913, one in 10 Welsh people were employed in the industry with many more dependent upon it.

The Big Pit at Blaenavon had a wider shaft than any other pit in the area, allowing much more coal to be extracted.

And how many people would actually work in this colliery?

Erm... with all the pits and shafts you would have associated with the Blaenavon company, there was probably about 2,000 men working.

2,000 men, goodness.

What does this coal do?

It wasn't just for people's fireplaces, was it?

Well we're talking about the age of steam, aren't we?

Yeah.

And of course coal was found one of the best ways of raising steam.

There was coaling stations right across the world, Falklands, you know, Egypt, all sorts of places, where Welsh coal was stocked for ships to come in so they could go somewhere else.

I see.

So the big liners for both passengers and cargo.

And the biggest, the best known of all of course, Titanic, that was run on Welsh steam coal.

There's a good image of this here, to show the sort of the scale of the industry.

That's just one docks, Cardiff, and that's the Roath basin, and each one of these of course is a wagon which holds up to about 10 ton.

Really?

10 tons of coal?

So there's thousands of tons of coal there just waiting, and that's just at one moment in time.

VO: More than three billion tons of coal have been extracted from Welsh coalfields, but as the 1877 Tynewydd disaster showed, that came at a human cost.

Kerry, what are we standing in front of?

Well this is one of the most famous mining disasters in Wales.

It wasn't the greatest mining disaster, cuz there was only actually five people killed in it, but this became world news in fact because of the way the accident happened.

The pit flooded.

It trapped people in two places.

They got the first bunch of five men out quite quickly, but the second took nine days to get out, without food, without water, in freezing conditions, obviously, where they were.

And they were actually trapped in a bubble, basically, of compressed air, so to dig into them they had to be very, very careful, because if they'd gone straight in of course, it's like shooting a gun in an aeroplane, isn't it?

I see, yes.

Yeah?

Compressed air shoots you out.

VO: Thankfully, most of the miners were rescued safe and well.

Those rescuers who saved them were honored with Albert medals, 25 in total.

Usually awarded for saving life at sea, this was the first time such a medal had been awarded for saving life on land.

The mandrel there actually was owned by Isaac Pride, who won a medal, and this was the mandrel he used to cut through the last couple of feet of coal.

VO: In the 1930s around a quarter of a million men worked in the South Wales mines, but after decades of decline in demand and a protracted strike in the 1980s, nothing could halt the industry's slide, and by 2012 there were just over 1,000 workers in the industry across the whole of Wales, mainly in opencast mines.

Whilst the Big Pit may never return to its glory days, it's still here as a reminder of how Wales was built.

Iechyd da!

Whilst there's still an abundance of coal in Wales, time is running out to find a bargain.

That's why Helen's still in Chepstow, and has popped around the corner to Halfway Trading antiques.

VO: This place has all manner of things on sale, from antiques to modern jewelry.

These are nice.

Oh, you've got some lovely things.

VO: Oh!

A bit of flattery to soften dealer Kelly up for a discount, eh?

Erm, this is a nice little chair, with the cane seat.

I mean, it's unusual to get that cane intact, and it does look quite original.

It's got to be sort of, you know, '30s or something like that, from the style of it.

Yep, see, that does look like the original seat on it, possibly.

Yeah, it's unusual.

I like that.

It's sweet.

How much are you asking for it?

I was looking for somewhere around 75.

OK, we'll think about that one.

VO: Hm, she seems quite interested in that.

Oh, that would be fun for Gloucestershire.

A cider pourer?

A cider pourer, I guess?

I kind of like this, this is quite fun, but you know, copper, I don't want to pay too much for it.

Essentially, I don't want to pay too much for it.

VO: Surprise surprise.

Would you take a tenner for it?

Yeah, go on.

HH: Would you?

KELLY: Yes.

Damn, did I start too high?

(CHUCKLES) She said that too easily.

VO: Too late now - it's yours for just a tenner.

Her second item is secured, but I don't think she's done yet.

I still keep thinking about that chair though.

I do think it's nice.

I've got to be careful though, I've got to save my pennies a little bit for tomorrow.

I don't want to spend everything today.

So you said 75?

I couldn't go anywhere near that really.

I'll do it for you for £40, that's nearly half of what I expected for it.

Erm... yeah.

I'm in two minds about it.

Would you do it for 35?

VO: Cor, she's driving a hard bargain.

That's less than half price.

KELLY: 35.

HH: So 35 for the chair, tenner for the cider ladle, 45 altogether.

Go on then.

Yeah!

Alright, I'll do it then.

VO: Well done - the cider pourer and the oak chair for just £45.

Right, I better carry this chair now very carefully.

VO: Mind how you go then Helen.

As the sun sets, I bid thee nighty-night.

So, nighty-night.

It's day two on our Welsh road trip.

JB: Well Helen, this is Cardiff.

HH: Cardiff Castle on our left, beautiful.

Yeah.

It is fabulous, isn't it?

VO: Yesterday James spent a measly £30 on just one item, the six gold studs, leaving him £220.98 today.

Thank you, that's very kind of you.

VO: Helen spent a tad more - £50 total on the doll, cider pourer and the oak chair, leaving her £128.70.

DEALER: Great.

HH: Thank you.

Deal.

VO: It's their final day of shopping in Wales before the auction in England, and they've made their way to the Welsh capital of Cardiff.

JB: Well Cardiff's really on the up, isn't it?

And more importantly for them, they've got a very good rugby team.

VO: The national squad play at the 74,000 capacity Millennium Stadium, which has also played host to Cardiff's very own distinguished diva, Shirley Bassey.

Whilst diamonds are forever, time to shop is definitely finite.

Our two both start the day at The Pumping Station, and it's not for fuel.

Lovely.

Brilliant, well done, well driven.

That was a nice drive, wasn't it?

Glorious drive, wasn't it?

Yeah.

I don't want to get out of it actually.

VO: Oh buck up, you two.

This place used to be an old Victorian waterworks, and it's now home to about 50 dealers.

Nice.

With three floors to choose from, the question is, which of our cohorts will bag a bargain from dealer Keith first?

I literally could spend a fortune in here.

It's one big maze.

There we go, nice military cap.

Does it suit me?

Yet again, what I'm looking for is a bargain.

VO: What about these?

Oh look.

They're lovers.

(CHUCKLES) There's one hanging off the back there - three's a crowd and all that.

Oh, sewn together by the mouth.

I daren't put that on.

Oh!

VO: If you think they're frightening, wait till you see this.

Whoa!

"Simba, the film and television lion.

"Simba is the world's largest lion "in the Guinness Book of Records "and was Elizabeth Taylor's bodyguard in Cleopatra."

And he's been stuffed for posterity, look at him.

I would not mess with that.

VO: Yeah, wise move Hels.

Yesterday, James said he wanted to spend big to maximize his profits.

I wonder if he's found something to really sink his teeth into.

I like this table.

Now why do I like this table?

For all intents and purposes, it's just an occasional table, not a particularly interesting shape, but the interesting thing, the thing that catches my eye, is it's got something extra to it, and that extra are these.

Now, there is absolutely no reason to have these, because structurally they're all supported by this secondary tier, this platform tier below, but these are just extenuating the design.

It is after a chap called, um, Edward William Godwin.

VO: Godwin was an architect designer in the mid-1800s who not only designed great public buildings, but also the furniture that would have gone in them.

And although this table isn't one of his, the maker has been influenced by Godwin's neo-Japanese work.

And what's it priced at?

£55.

It doesn't seem expensive, £55, for something that is after such a famous designer, so if I can get that, if I get it for £35, I think there might be a good profit.

VO: I think he likes it.

James has spotted the dealer's phone number on the wall.

Hello Jackie, it's James Braxton.

You've got a rectangular, two-tier occasional with the ring-turned legs.

What could you do it for?

Is there some movement there?

OK, well thank you very much indeed, £35 it is.

Thank you, bye.

Very good.

In fact, funny enough, I thought I was going to offer £35.

55, £35, erm, and, er... sold.

VO: He seems happy with it.

Helen meanwhile is still browsing upstairs.

This cranberry glass sugar sifter, this type of sort of pinky red glass is called cranberry glass because of the color.

These are nice because they're silver hallmarked lids.

Might go down quite nicely at auction.

VO: Helen did well selling one of these at the last auction.

Is she thinking it's a safe bet then?

So that one's nicer because it is hallmarked silver.

Do you know your hallmarks off by heart?

Um... most.

Do you?

Brilliant.

You're the man.

Looks like a Birmingham one.

Mm.

Gonna be solid silver, that'll be.

Yep.

HH: So it's got £38 on it.

DEALER: Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm sure we could come to a... decision regarding the price...

I'd like to make a really cheeky offer.

Right.

And say 18 and see what they say.

HH: See what they... DEALER: Er... ..come back with.

DEALER: It's a bit tight.

HH: It is a bit tight.

VO: Helen's looking for £20 off.

She's not shy, is she?

Keith has to run it past the dealer who owns it.

I wonder if they'll take Helen's offer.

£20 and it's yours.

OK, alright, OK, I'll think about that.

I'll put it on hold while I... Cuz I haven't seen the rest of the store, but thank you, I appreciate that.

VO: Hm - clearly the extra £2 the dealer wants is crucial to Helen.

While she considers it, James is still browsing, presumably still looking to make that big purchase he's after.

Feel the weight of this, this is a real slab of earthenware.

Known as an encaustic tile.

VO: Encaustic tiles are ceramic tiles actually inlaid with patterns in different colored clays, so that when the body of the tile is worn, the design remains.

The great race in the 19th century was churches, and so it was the race between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church, and people built these fabulous churches, and people like Pugin, the great designer, was very much at the forefront, he was building masses of Catholic churches.

And these were used for the pavements, for the thoroughfares of churches.

VO: But this is a lovely design, a great repeat design, something that Pugin would have designed.

Just really nice detail here, you turn it over here, clearly marked, Minton and Co patent, Stoke-upon-Trent, center of the ceramics industry.

Great item.

If I could secure that for a fiver I would be a happy man.

VO: A fiver?!

What happened to your strategy of spending big then James?

But we do want to see you happy.

Question is, can Keith make it happen?

Keith, this is the baby.

Right, OK.

It's unmarked, hasn't got a price on it.

I'm rather hoping that I can get it for a fiver, but we'll see.

Terracotta tile, yeah, it is, yeah.

He's interested to know if he could buy it for £5... £5 is fine.

Great.

Thank the man.

Fiver for that, and also I rang Jackie...

Right, OK. And she agreed 35 for the table, so... OK, thank you very much.

40 in all, that's really kind, thank you.

VO: There's that happy face.

My goodness, that man likes a bargain.

Now, can Helen find something to put a smile on her face?

Ooh, that's pretty.

Love that.

Is that heavy?

Let's see if I can get it out.

This is a gorgeous fire screen.

But look at the design of it, it's gorgeous, it's typical arts and crafts style.

Very much hanging onto the art-nouveau movement a little bit.

I'm a big fan of arts and crafts things.

It was very much sort of in the British tradition, um... ..you know, going back to craftmanship and quality and working with wood and copper and natural materials, and I really like that sort of Britishness of it as well, you know.

Decent condition, doesn't look like it's had any bits welded back on or anything.

I like that a lot.

What are they asking for it?

78 quid.

So, ooh, yeah, I think I'd want to try and get it for about 50 if I can.

VO: You can only ask, but it looks like Keith might already know the answer.

My buyer made a phone call...

Right, OK. ...to Mandy, and apparently price - she wouldn't take lower than £60.

Really?

Oh... OK, what are we going to do?

No lower than 60 - she's not budging, is she?

No.

It's a bit high, it really is a bit high, but if she's not here then we can't have that conversation, can we?

No.

I think I'm just going to go for it because I like it.

Right, OK. And I'll keep my fingers firmly crossed.

60 quid.

Alright, it's a deal.

OK, thank you very much.

It's a deal.

And then the sugar sifter as well, I think I'll go for that too.

Right, OK.

So that's £60 plus £20, so I owe you £80.

DEALER: Right.

HH: Thank you very much.

DEALER: OK.

Thank you very much.

HH: Brilliant, thank you.

VO: James is still shopping and has made his way to Avalon Antiques.

Hello, how are you?

Very well.

James.

Nice to meet you, I'm Gitty.

Gitty, very nice to meet you too.

Gitty, I need to buy two items...

Right.

..taking them to auction in Gloucestershire...

Yes.

And hoping to make some money.

Hoping to make some money.

VO: I think she knows the game.

I've watched this program occasionally DEALER: on the television.

JB: I know, I know.

VO: A fan, eh?

Isn't that nice?

Not very often.

VO: Ah - maybe not.

There's no business like showbusiness, eh James?

Can I look at your Delft bits?

You can.

I thought you might want to look at those.

There are three of those.

So what have we got?

Three of them?

Well they're different.

I mean, there's not a pair.

VO: Delftware typically is blue and white decorated pottery made in or around Delft in the Netherlands from the 16th century onwards.

These look like they're a bit later, probably 19th century.

DEALER: Actually, they're quite alike, aren't they?

JB: They are quite alike, aren't they?

With this molded detail.

You've got the sort of molded cartouche and then the peonies.

DEALER: There's bits of damage on both of them but they are that age.

I mean they are the age that they are, they're going to have a bit of damage, aren't they?

JB: They are.

And sometimes with Delft... DEALER: It doesn't really matter.

It doesn't.

It sort of slightly reassures you that it's of... Genuine!

Quite.

It's got some age, hasn't it?

It's suffered the rigors of time.

VO: Something I think we can all relate to, eh, James?

JB: Rather nice, aren't they?

DEALER: Mm.

With the insects there.

I quite like those.

That's a possible candidate.

Right, that's a possible candidate, OK. VO: One to consider, but James doesn't seem quite ready to commit, and he doesn't seem too keen on anything else.

With the shop closing soon, will he find something he likes?

You can go and have a large gin and tonic shortly.

I'll need it after the prices you're charging!

Oh!

VO: Aw James, I know you didn't really mean that.

I'm sure you've got something out the back, Gitty.

GITTY: You can't... You can't... JB: Go on.

Let's go, let's go and rootle.

You can't rootle in the back!

JB: Course we can.

GITTY: There's no space.

There's always room for rootling.

VO: Yeah - get rootling.

As you do.

Feel like a mole down there.

GITTY: (CHUCKLES) JB: I like these portraits.

Shall we have JB: a quick look at that?

GITTY: Yes.

VO: I do love a successful rootling, but I suppose it all depends on the price.

Built 1960s.

I quite like this sort of, this title plaque here.

Yes.

"Trent Maritime Company Limited, London".

GITTY: It is rather nice, isn't it?

JB: Isn't it?

VO: This painting of the cargo ship Duke of Mistra is by George Wiseman.

Wiseman was a pierhead artist who painted many ships in the 1950s and '60s, often working from shipyard plans to ensure accuracy.

A nice watercolor.

It's just a really nice... GITTY: Yes.

JB: ..clean item.

It's all framed, exactly as it would have been done, nicely held down, really well protected, so that's a way to keep a watercolor.

Don't let your backing get exposed, and they've got a great bit of marine ply on it, haven't they?

Yes.

You know, beautifully over-engineered, as you'd expect a shipbuilder to do.

Now is this 80, 100, is that the...?

No, I'm... GITTY: Oh, I don't think so.

JB: Oh dear.

Isn't it?

This is 230.

But I'm sure we could do a bit better than that.

You'd have to do a lot better than that.

I thought I might!

(THEY CHUCKLE) VO: You HAVE been watching the show.

James still has £180.98 left, which is clearly burning a hole in his pocket, but it looks like he's keen to do a deal for the painting and the vases, which are priced at £98 each.

See Gitty, I'm still drawn to these, I might be making the most terrible mistake here.

That's alright, I'll let you.

With all this damage.

GITTY: I would do the two for 140, and I think you'll make on that.

How near to 80 could you get on that?

I can't do 80, no.

I could do...

I could do 120.

JB: 120.

Well if you have that for 120, I will do those for 120.

How is that?

So that's 240 in all.

To you, yes.

JB: And I know I haven't got the budget for that, but I could buy something cheaper I suppose.

180.

Go on.

What, for the two items?

Yes.

So that would be 90 for that and 90 for that?

I think you've been very fair and I'll very definitely do it, thank you very much indeed, Gitty.

VO: Fair?

That's nearly £200 off, and almost all his cash gone.

Not a bad way of rounding off James's shopping though.

JB: And I'm all spent up.

I could do That's good.

Bar 98p.

(THEY LAUGH) VO: Earlier, James was hearing about how coal once drove the Welsh economy.

Helen is now off to hear how the subsequent increase in trade helped Cardiff grow from a tiny village into a major city.

She's visiting Butetown History and Arts Centre.

Hi.

Neil?

Yes, Neil Sinclair.

Hi, I'm Helen, lovely to meet you.

Oh, pleased to meet you too Helen.

VO: At the start of the 1800s, Welsh coal was in demand throughout the UK and the world.

However, most Welsh ports were small and ill-equipped for international trade.

Rich landowner John Crichton-Stuart saw an opportunity.

And so who was John Crichton-Stuart?

Well, he was the second Marquess of Bute.

He owned the land.

This was a waterlogged marshland, or tidal in some ways, so hardly anybody lived here, but it was on this land the Marquess decided to build a large dock to export the coal that was coming from the South Wales valleys.

VO: Only a few thousand people lived in Cardiff at the time and they struggled to find local laborers to do the work, so decided to bring over 200 men from Ireland to build the port.

HH: So here we are.

NEIL: Yes.

HH: Here's the docks.

NEIL: Down at the seafront.

Mm-hm.

VO: When the west dock opened in 1839, Cardiff's global trade links grew.

The arriving trade ships brought people from all over the world, some of whom settled within the community.

The ships are going as far away as China, and when the ships returned there'd be Chinese crews on-board, and then they would... You know, after they did whatever it was they were doing on the dock, they would come into the community, but many of those seamen that came from every country you can imagine married locally, and so this was their home port.

VO: The rich merchants and business owners who depended on the port initially lived right beside it, but as the dock expanded so did the levels of dirt and pollution.

They abandoned their dockside homes for places further away, leaving their homes to the new emerging community.

NEIL: Well now, Helen, we're down at Windsor Esplanade, and fortunately for us these houses are still intact.

But this is where the sea captains and the boatswains lived back in the seagoing days of Cardiff docks.

VO: Tiger Bay became a melting pot of people from all over the world.

It was one of the first truly multi-ethnic cities in the UK.

Neil's grandfather, James Augustus Headley, was born in Barbados, but came to the Bay in about 1897.

The Bay became his home and two generations later is still home to Neil.

So what was it like to live here in the docks?

Cuz you grew up here.

It was the most wonderful experience.

Now that I look back on my life, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Erm, I lived on a street which had many nationalities.

We were...

Despite our disparate ethnic backgrounds, we were all Welsh.

VO: Since the mid-1800s, Tiger Bay has been welcoming people from all over the world.

Today it's been completely transformed and is now known as Cardiff Bay, a center for leisure and commerce.

150 years after it was first built, it's still finding new ways to bring people to the area.

Thank you for having me.

It's a pleasure to meet you too.

HH: Alright.

VO: As the day draws to a close, it's back to the History Centre to reveal all.

Dun-dun-dunn!

JB: A bit of color here.

HH: Mm-hm.

So I thought it was wholly appropriate, we're going to a landlocked county, to buy a marine scene.

Excellent, OK, yeah!

Very appropriate.

JB: So there we are.

HH: So what's the ship?

The ship is just a shipping ship.

It's just a cargo... "Shipping ship"!

VO: I think that means he has no idea.

But it's a cargo ship, and commissioned by the then owners, it's got a nice sort of title plaque here telling you all about it.

1960, going past Dover Castle.

Nice.

And I'm all in.

98p left.

Really?

What did you pay for those?

£90 for those two.

£90 for the two.

They're nice though, aren't they?

£90.

Yeah.

VO: Helen seems impressed, but what will James think of her lots?

OK Helen.

Right, OK. Dun-du-dunn!

(GASPS) Look at this.

She looks quite a nice doll.

HH: Well... Yeah.

JB: Good eyes.

I kind of, I was coerced into buying her.

VO: Don't you mean possessed?

But actually, she's all there.

Her legs and head aren't attached to the body.

JB: OK. HH: But she's all there, the hair's there, the clothes are there, and she's a Heubach doll that if she was complete and nice condition, they can make about two or three hundred quid.

Really?

The good ones, so... And how much did you buy it for?

Fiver.

F... Aw!

That's a good profit.

So it was rude not to really, wasn't it?

That's good.

That's very good.

And seeing as we're going to Gloucestershire, this is a cider ladle.

OK. With a, you know, "cider" on the front.

Very good, very good, cider.

Paid a tenner for it, which was probably a bit much, but never mind.

Helen, it has been hot, hot bodkin in Wales.

Let's hope the weather's not so good as last week so it brings the bidders out.

I know, we need that.

Anyway, in the meantime, ice cream?

Yeah, on you.

With 98p.

(CHUCKLES) VO: Before you go and chill out, tell us what you really think.

Um, difficult to know really whether, who's got the best kit.

I think he paid quite a lot for his boat picture.

You know, it's not that vintage a piece, it's fairly recent.

The doll.

I think that could make some money, that.

Only a five pound note, and the eyes looked great from where I was standing.

VO: Just how close were you standing?

After shopping in Wales, it's time to head to England for auction glory in the town of Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire.

VO: The town sits in the Cotswold area of outstanding natural beauty.

The question is, will it bring an outstanding profit to our jolly chums?

This looks very good, good omens.

Great building.

It's quite hard getting out of that in a skirt, you know.

You should try it some time.

VO: What, skirts or cars?

The scene for today's auction is the Wotton Auction Rooms.

The company has been in business since the mid 19th century and at this wonderfully restored church for over 30 years.

Auctioneer and all-round good egg Philip Tauberheim is in the podium today.

What does he think about our team's items?

The dismembered doll, which has actually been giving the staff a bit of a heebie-jeebie moment, but she will string back together.

There are girls out there that will string dolls back to life, so I think we've got a chance with that, but it's in the worst condition you can possibly imagine, but the head is sound, so that's the important thing.

James's shipping portrait is good.

I wish it was 1860 rather than 1960 but it's well produced, so we'll see on that one.

If I were a betting man, who would I put my money on?

I think it's going to be a very tight run race.

I think there will be just a few pounds between it.

It's a copout really, but I think it'll be a very tight race!

VO: James began this leg of the road trip with £250.98, and has gone on to spend £250 on five auction lots.

Yet again, what I'm looking for is a bargain.

VO: Helen started with £178.70 and has parted with £130, also for five lots.

Thanks for that, it was nice to meet you.

VO: It's one of the hottest days of the year, and it's going to get even hotter as the auction begins.

Hold onto your hats.

VO: First up is James's encaustic tile.

What do we say, £10 to start for it?

10 to start?

10?

£5 I'm bid, thank you, at £5 I'm bid, at £5 I'm bid, at five.

£10 I'm bid, £15 I'm bid.

At £15 I'm bid, at £15.

PHILIP: £15 and it's sold at 15.

(GAVEL) JB: 15.

HH: It's a profit, that'll do.

JB: Got away with it.

HH: Ha!

VO: An opening profit of a tenner straightaway for James.

HH: It's a profit James.

It is a profit, I'm not going to argue with that.

VO: Can Helen do better with her cider ladle?

£10 lot, 10 to start.

Oh come on, don't start it at 10, come on.

Just the weather for it, isn't it?

£5 I'm bid, at £5 I'm bid, at five, at £10 I'm bid.

Yes, come on, come on.

At 10, at £10, 15 anywhere?

At £10 value bid, cheap enough little lot going through, are you sure?

At £10 this time, at 10.

(GAVEL) HH: (SIGHS) JB: 10.

HH: Well... VO: So no major loss for Helen.

Can James entice the bidders with his mahogany table?

30 I'll start, at £30 I'm bid for the table, at £30 I'm bid, 35 I'm bid.

Good bid for the table at 30.

35 I'm bid, 40 I'm bid, at £45 I'm only bid, bid lies there at 45, you're out now at 45, 50 on the wings I'm bid, all finished then at £50?

(GAVEL) HH: There you go.

JB: Got away with that didn't I?

Another small profit, there you go.

VO: There's a healthy £15 profit for James.

HH: Someone's got a bargain, I reckon.

JB: Someone's got a bargain.

HH: Yeah.

VO: Can Helen make her first profit of the auction with her screen?

40, 20, £20 you bid me, thank you, at 20 I'm bid, at 20 I'm bid, at £20.

Bet you a bottle of wine that it's going to make under!

Oh, it's going up, it's going up, it's going up.

JB: Well done.

PHILIP: 50 I'm bid.

JB: 50!

PHILIP: Five I'm bid.

Come on, one more.

Commission!

At £55 I'm bid, £55 and it's sold then.

JB: Tantalizingly close.

JB: Someone has got a very nice thing there.

A great bargain, haven't they?

VO: Just a fiver short, but there's still time to make that back.

Can James increase his profits with the pottery vases?

30 for the two, at £30 I'm bid for the two, at 30, I'm only bid for the two of them there, at 30 I'm bid, 35 I'm bid, thank you madam.

Come on, come on, up it goes.

45.

Bid 50.

And five.

And 60.

At £60 I'm bid for them, your bid sir at £60 I'm bid, at £60 I'm bid.

Five anywhere now?

At £60, and at £60 and they've sold.

(GAVEL) JB: No.

HH: Oh, 60 quid.

JB: Oh!

Oh, I'm sorry James.

Don't worry, it was slightly expected I think, unfortunately.

VO: Oh dear, bit of a blow for James there but he can still make it up if he does well with the rest of the items.

Revenue is so hard to earn, but it quickly goes, doesn't it?

VO: The heat is on for Helen's chair next.

At £10 I'm only bid, thank you, at £10 for the chair I'm bid, at 10, at 15 I'm bid, 20 I'm bid, 25 I'm bid, 30 I'm bid.

Come on, bit more, bit more.

35 I'm bid, at £35 I'm bid.

One more, one more.

At £35 I'm bid.

£35 then.

(GAVEL) (BOTH SIGH) VO: Broken even, and sadly therefore no profit.

I think you're keeping your powder dry, Helen.

VO: As people succumb to the heat, new auctioneer Joe Trinder has taken over and he looks like he's wilting already.

Ha!

Helen's cranberry glass goes up next.

Straight in at £30, do I see 35?

Yay!

Yes!

35 I have, thank you sir, and 40, and five for you now, 45 I have, and 50, and five will you?

No?

Selling on the book at £50.

Come on!

Do I see five anywhere now?

Selling for £50 if you're sure.

(GAVEL) JB: Well done.

Yay!

You needed that Helen, well done.

HH: I did.

VO: A nice £30 profit.

That more than makes up for Helen's losses so far.

JB: Wow, that's a great profit.

HH: There you go.

JB: 20 quid in the bin, eh?

Nice!

VO: Next to set sail is James's shipping picture.

Who'll start me at £60 do I see for the lot?

Come on, £60.

£60 for you now sir?

60 I have, 60 I have.

Telephone bidder.

Do I see five anywhere now?

Do I see five anywhere now?

Selling for £60.

Five I have, five I have, thank you.

And 70 now sir?

ASSISTANT: £70.

JOE: 70 will you now?

70 I have, and five, and 80 will you now?

80 I have, and five will you now?

Yes, at 85, 90 to come back in now sir, £90, HH: Whoa!

JOE: £90 and selling.

Selling on the phone at £90, £90 and selling, anyone to come back in at five?

Thank the lord!

JOE: Selling at £100.

(GAVEL) Wow!

Brilliant, well done.

JB: Oh!

A result, a result!

HH: That's really good.

VO: The good ship has found its port, giving James a welcome profit.

The auctioneer has changed again - ha!

This time Nicholas Ewing is on.

James's last item is next, the six gold studs.

NICHOLAS: 20 is bid.

HH: Someone's on them.

30 sir?

35, 40, 45, 45, 40's bid, 45 anyone?

£40 to go, nice little set for £40, 45 anywhere?

On my left at £40, all done at 40?

(GAVEL) JB: Well done.

£40.

How much was it?

£40.

JB: Another tenner in the bin.

HH: Well, there you go.

VO: After costs, there's a small bit of profit there for James.

I would say you're slightly in the lead at the moment.

And everything to play for.

Everything to play for - it's all riding on that crazy little squished-up doll.

VO: That's right, it is.

But will it enchant today's bidders?

NICHOLAS: Say £20, this doll?

We can say £20.

£20 for it.

10 then?

Give me 10 for the doll, surely.

£10 for it?

£10.

Seriously.

15 anywhere?

£10 only, 15?

Oh come on!

£10 and going, forcing ahead.

15 sir, 20 now.

15, gentleman's there.

Going at 15.

No.

NICHOLAS: Selling at 15.

(GAVEL) Oh, it's a bargain.

That was a bargain, wasn't it?

A bargain.

VO: You're not kidding.

A tenner profit for Helen on the broken doll.

HH: Well, I think I'm... JB: That was... ..just about even-stevens - we'll have to do the sums.

VO: It seems close.

Time to tot it all up.

VO: James started this leg of the road trip buoyantly with £250.98, but after auction costs he made a loss of £32.70, leaving a meager £218.28.

VO: Helen, meanwhile, started this leg of the trip with £178.70, but after auction costs gallantly made a profit of £5.30, thereby winning this second leg of the road trip with £184.

So not too bad for me.

Diabolical for me I'm afraid.

I think you definitely took that leg.

OK, you ready?

Better had be.

VO: Good on Helen - her first win of the road trip.

Things are looking up, and with three auctions to go, this could be close.

VO: Next on the Antiques Road Trip, James works up a sweat.

Hoy!

Oh!

VO: And the heat is on for Helen.

I'm feeling the pressure.

I'm feeling the pressure.

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