Voiceover (VO): It's the nation's favorite antiques experts with £200 each, a classic car... CHARLIE: (SCOTTISH ACCENT) We're going roond!

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

I want to spend lots of money.

VO: The aim - to make the biggest profit at auction but it's no mean feat.

Oh no!

VO: There'll be worthy winners...

Yes!

We've done it.

VO: ..and valiant losers.

You are kidding me on.

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

What am I doing?

Got a deal.

VO: This is the Antiques Road Trip.

VO: Yeah!

VO: Welcome to Wiltshire as our great western wanderers approach halfway.

PAUL: Is Wiltshire north of the Arctic Circle?

MARGIE: It feels like it.

VO: Ah, the joys of open top motoring through the English countryside in the spring.

In the company of Paul Laidlaw, Margie Cooper and a vintage Alfa Romeo.

MARGIE: You end up looking like something a dog has brought in.

And your mate's that weird bloke.

Is he wearing tartan shawl, looking like a fish wife?

PAUL: Yes believe it.

VO: Believe it or not our eccentric couple are actually highly respected in their fields.

VO: Margie is a silver spotter of some renowned.

MARGIE: Found it.

I think it's platinum.

DEALER: Well I'll be blown.

VO: Whilst Paul is a militaria man, he certainly knows his battle of Arras from his Elba!

Fascinating stuff these Victorian colonial wars.

VO: Trouble is their campaign has turned into something approaching trench warfare.

With ground gained at a premium.

PAUL: You are kidding me on.

That is ludicrous.

VO: They both started out with £200 but Margie has gone backwards to just £145.44.

VO: Whilst Paul has barely inched forward, with £248.62 to his name, but at least he is thinking big.

PAUL: It is only two days into it.

MARGIE: I know.

PAUL: Two days.

Anything can happen.

It turns on one lot, it turns on one lot.

VO: That's the spirit.

VO: Our trip begins close to England's most westerly point at St Buryan and heads of both north and east.

We then take a roundabout trip to Wales before arriving at Newent in Gloucestershire.

VO: Today we're starting out in Wiltshire, at Kingston St Michael and ending up at an auction in Stroud, lovely.

VO: John Aubrey the first writer to attempt to study English place names making him a top eponymous, was born here at Kingston St Michael, actually called Kingston St Minchin until the 13th century; interesting, don't mention it.

PAUL: Hey.

That will do.

MARGIE: Oh no!

A campaign bed.

PAUL: Have they got military in there?

What is the market like for that?

Does it sell at all well?

Just go.

Go.

Go.

Not only am I going, I am taking the blanket.

MARGIE: No you are not.

Leave me with the blanket.

Margie, you and the blanket have a good one.

See you later.

Hi.

DEALER: Morning.

How you doing, I'm Paul.

Hi Paul, I'm Richard.

Pleased to see you Richard.

Good to see you.

PAUL: This is your emporium?

RICHARD: Yes sir.

PAUL: Good stuff.

PAUL: We will be able to do something here I am sure.

VO: Richard has got quite a mix in here.

But what might especially appeal to Paul is the almost wartime feel about a lot of it.

PAUL: Very jazzy, isn't it?

VO: Utility, rationing, that sort of thing.

PAUL: How many posters do you have left, your civil defense posters?

RICHARD: Those, four of those.

Filton is the airfield over on Bristol, where concord was returned to... PAUL: Oh yeah.

RICHARD: And grounded, yeah.

VO: Yeah, the British proto type was build at Filton, which also gave us Bristol cars.

PAUL: How interesting.

VO: That sounds a tad encouraging.

In the window, Richard has some trench art from the Great War.

RICHARD: Actually found it; it's a dog tag and as you can see... PAUL: So it is yeah, a wrist identity.

Of course absolutely none regulation, but there was vogue for wrist identity-esq, you get them in aluminum salvaged from aircraft.

This could be a slice of a brass shell casing in all honesty.

RICHARD: What makes it a little bit more interesting is that it has got 1918 on it.

PAUL: He was fighting in Italy.

Poignant thing isn't it?

Beautifully, beautifully executed.

RICHARD: Fascinating.

VO: A series of battles were fought on the Italian front, at the border between Italy and Austria.

In 1917 the Italians were joined by Brits, who became the first British troops to cross pre-war boundaries into enemy territory.

I like that, have you got high hopes for it?

RICHARD: There is always high hopes.

VO: Is his militaria reputation preceding him I wonder?

Luckily, he has got plenty of other strings to his bow.

What is the story to the tapestry that you are using as a backdrop?

RICHARD: Honestly, I don't know.

It came in with a box of things, bits and bobs.

PAUL: It would be a pain in the neck to get out but it wouldn't be dear would it?

RICHARD: No.

PAUL: I think we can pull something out the hat here.

VO: He is not giving much away, is he?

Canny.

Ready to bargain though.

PAUL: This is me taking a liberty, I will give you 20 quid for the military stuff and that tapestry.

RICHARD: I couldn't do that.

OK.

But what can they be?

Because we can do something here, I'm sure.

£35 for all of it would be the best.

Well you know what I am going to say, don't you?

30 quid and we do it.

Easy as that.

PAUL: Cheers Richard.

RICHARD: Thank you.

That was painless, wasn't it?

PAUL: Good man.

That is worth taking a punt at.

I tell you what I will do, I'll give you some money.

VO: Paul seems to have acquired a bit of a spring in his step from that deal.

PAUL: Am I happy?

Oh yes.

Essentially two lots there, for £30.

So £15 a lot.

So for your first £15 you get a cracking First World War Royal Engineers trench identity bracelet And Second World War civil defense posters, great but the tapestry I think is the better buy.

I had to play it down in the shop, it is a Victorian tapestry, beautifully set up - fringed, bordered, lined, the lining cloth is fabulous let alone the tapestry.

That could do me proud.

I think I could double or triple my money on each of those purchases without too much trouble at all.

VO: But while Paul's been in a nice warm shop, Margie has braved the keen spring breezes.

VO: Motoring from Kington St Michael to Lacock to visit the grand home of a great Victorian inventor.

VO: Lacock alley was once the location of a series of experiments which made owner William Fox Talbot one of the fathers of photography.

MARGIE: Oh.

You must be Roger.

ROGER: I am, you must be Margie.

MARGIE: Wow.

ROGER: It's a nice old place.

MARGIE: It certainly is.

VO: The abbey, which dates from the 13th century, was inherited by William Fox Talbot in the 1820s.

Wow.

My word.

VO: A math graduate and English gentleman with time on his hands, Fox Talbot was a true polymath, a student of everything from Egyptology to philology.

MARGIE: So when did this idea with photography begin?

ROGER: It happened on his honeymoon.

His wife, his sister was there, a typical Victorian honeymoon, with various other family members.

They are all doing sketching and drawing on the shores of lake Como and he found that he was a really rubbish artist.

So he started thinking about maybe there's a scientific solution to try and figure out how to make science create images, all by itself and that's when he got the first idea.

VO: Fox Talbot's knowledge of chemistry soon enabled him to start making rudimentary pictures called photographs by placing object between sunshine and light sensitive paper.

ROGER: So he thought if we can put the paper in a camera obscura, as they were called at the time, which was a box with a lens on the front, and expose it to the scene, perhaps the scene, the light of the scene would change the paper and give you an image.

And that is what he did.

MARGIE: Oh, it is amazing.

ROGER: This is a replica camera, it is just like the little mousetrap cameras that Fox Talbot had.

It is basically just a brass tube with a lens in it and a little wooden box.

That is the beginning.

That is it.

You open the back door.

You put your sensitive paper inside, close it back up, the lens is on, and then you find a convenient place to set it down for the next couple of hours because the exposures were extraordinary long.

Talbot's first negative probably took about two to three hours for the image to make.

MARGIE: Really?

VO: This window is the most famous in photographic history.

Fox Talbot photographed the lattice window on a sunny day in August 1835.

The negative is considered the oldest in existence.

Bit of a boring window, really.

Why did he choose that?

It is and a lot of people have commented on the fact that it is probably a boring shot but what he was looking for was something that was going to emphasis the light and the dark.

And this is a south facing window, so plenty of light, and the lattice work across it was going to leave traces behind as well so when he made the exposure after he had finished, he said that you could take a magnifying glass and you could count the panes in the window.

MARGIE: How exciting.

VO: His Wiltshire home was captured in ever more sophisticated images as the tests continued and Fox Talbot moved towards his most significant invention.

ROGER: He discovered what we call the latent image.

And that is where you take a very short exposure and the paper looks unchanged but when you put it into the chemistry, the chemistry brings up the image.

And you end up with paper negatives like this one.

But the negative was a magical thing because from that, you could make as many prints as you wanted to.

MARGIE: Wow.

Gosh that is amazing.

You would be shouting from the rooftops wouldn't you?

ROGER: I would have, yes.

But he didn't.

MARGIE: He didn't.

VO: No, the extremely modest photographer even christened his invention the callotype meaning beautiful drawing when his somewhat pushy mother might have preferred the Talbot type.

By 1835 he had created this process.

In 1836 he had a dinner party here with a number of scientists.

And it would have been a perfect opportunity for him to announce it.

But he didn't.

He didn't tell anybody.

Why?

I think that he was waiting for later developments, he was going to work on it more later.

Ah yes, he wasn't happy.

He had reached a plateau and was going to move on from there.

VO: Then in 1839 came the shocking news from France that Louis Daguerre had invented a very different method of photography using metal plates.

It prompted Fox Talbot to finally reveal his own experiments and also try to perfect the process.

ROGER: There were a number of people who were experimenting at that time on different things along this line.

But Talbot and Daguerre were the two that reached the finishing line first and had a final product to show to the public.

But Deguerre really stole his thunder.

Just a teeny bit.

He did.

Deguerre went on living for another 12 years and at the time of his death, the Deguerre type was still the king.

ROGER: But Talbot's wins in the end because the positive negative process, that is the one that we continued using all the way through the 20th century.

VO: Back to snapping up bargains, and as with photography, a spot of sunshine always comes in handy.

PAUL: This is what it's all about Margie.

MARGIE: I am shocked to say, I am quite enjoying this.

VO: Our two confederates are making their way across Wiltshire From Lacock to Hungerford in Barkshire.

VO: Situated on the border between south west and south east England, the town is a transport hub.

It's Saxon name means Hanging wood ford, and Hungerford is very fond of antiques.

PAUL: Wahey.

MARGIE: Wey.

We have arrived.

Ready?

PAUL: As I'll ever be.

It's big enough.

MARGIE: It is big enough.

PAUL: But is it big enough for both of us?

Margie I think the door's round there.

MARGIE: Door is round there?

PAUL: Yeah, just round there.

MARGIE: You..!

PAUL: Margie... MARGIE: Cheeky beggar!

VO: Ha.

I sometimes wonder whether Paul could be a little more gentlemanly.

Ha!

MARGIE: Ah!

Oh, my goodness!

VO: Choice won't be an issue here.

"Huge" is one way of describing the Hungerford Arcade.

Ppff!

So much to see.

It's too big.

VO: Or you might opt for "enormous"!

Amazing place.

ADRIAN: Oh, thank you - I'm glad you like it.

MARGIE: Yeah.

How many dealers?

115.

Yes.

Good gracious me!

And you're in charge?

Yes.

Yes!

VO: Our two are facing up to the task in hand with customary pluck and determination, Paul adopting his usual clockwise crawl.

Ah!

It's a mirror.

Praise the Lord!

I thought this place went on forever!

VO: Whilst Margie, after nicely swerving those elephant bookends...

I don't want to talk about it!

VO: ..seems to have engaged the services of a personal shopper.

MARGIE: Seen a funning thing up here.

ADRIAN: Yeah.

And now... MARGIE: Thought that was a bit of a laugh.

ADRIAN: Oh, it is a laugh.

Is it 50s?

MARGIE: Eh, Czechoslovakian.

ADRIAN: Yeah.

MARGIE: 28.

This is not my cup of tea.

ADRIAN: No.

MARGIE: But... ADRIAN: It's fun.

MARGIE: It's fun.

What do you think?

Take a punt on that?

ADRIAN: I think it all depends on price, doesn't it?

VO: It certainly does.

Stand by, Adrian.

Now Frances, I've got a nice lady here, looking at a boat.

How dirt cheap can you get it?

I hardly dare look!

ADRIAN: And she really needs it ever so, ever so cheap.

Actually, even given would be great.

ADRIAN: 15.

Do it, do it, do it, do it.

Yeah, OK. Fi... 15, if it's any good.

Thank you.

I'll...I'm nearly are there.

MARGIE: I'm nearly there.

MARGIE: You really worked it there, didn't you?

ADRIAN: Yeah.

VO: Yeah!

How does he rate in Margi's "Nice Dealer's Guide", I wonder.

MARGIE: Adrian is 10 out of 10.

ADRIAN: Oh!

MARGIE: 10+.

ADRIAN: Oh, lovely.

I like you!

VO: While Margie's mulling that one over, Paul's military know-how must be paying off once again.

PAUL: There's a chance of me finding something that everyone else has missed.

Don't get excited.

It's not the holy grail.

However, look at this.

Cracking little veneered paperweight - I thought it was a box - with this applied badge on the front.

And it says "wooden paperweight with monogram".

16.95.

It's certainly military.

Let's go inside and have a lose look.

VO: Ah - the long arm of the Laidlaw.

Right, we've got it.

OK, so it's all about this badge.

Now for my money, that silver, and that badge, we have the Imperial crown, an A, with a central cross.

This is the badge of the Green Howards.

VO: As our Paul well knows, the regiment got their name to distinguish themselves from another regiment also commanded by a Colonel Howard.

PAUL: Laidlaw was right.

VO: So they used uniform colors to tell them apart.

PAUL: So what is this badge exactly?

Well, it was either a silver cap badge or collar badge, I suspect.

This badge has been mounted on rather an attractive little block, to serve as a high-class paperweight on the desk of some officer or other.

But what we're looking at ain't a fortune, but it's a profit, and I'll take that all day long.

I think we hold on to that, what do you think?

Yeah?

VO: Sounds like even at the asking price it might pay off.

Margie's heard the call of a more expensive item though.

Look out.

MARGIE: That's quite nice.

That's white onyx.

It's been there a while.

ADRIAN: Shouldn't say that!

That's a little bronze bird that's been painted.

It's cold painted, yeah?

That's it, yeah, yeah.

Painted.

VO: The term refers to a bronze that hasn't had the color enameled on - simply painted on, cold.

MARGIE: I do think that cold painted bronzes do sell, although it's not terribly old.

No - it's not the...it's the really early pieces, which would demand really good money.

Yeah.

But this is...it's got something about it, it's nice and clean, and it's got...a charm.

MARGIE: It is.

It's a charming little thing, and it stands a chance of somebody else thinking it's charming.

ADRIAN: It's 65 but there is a discount.

MARGIE: And you're going to have a word.

ADRIAN: I will go and have a word.

He's a very nice chap.

Oh, is he?

ADRIAN: Yes.

MARGIE: Sounds great.

VO: Cor!

Having seen Adrian in action, I'm sure he's as good as his word.

VO: Careful.

MARGIE: Oh!

VO: Here's the opposition.

MARGIE: Oh!

Oh!

Look at him.

He's swaggering.

ADRIAN: Oh, no.

We've got to beat him... ..knock that swagger away.

Yeah.

Ooh!

VO: Oh, Adrian... ..you're certainly entering into the spirit of this.

But what can he do this time?

ADRIAN: Hello, Don.

It's Adrian here.

I'm ringing up about your cold painted bronze.

I know you've got some discounts on it.

It's 65.

Can you please give me your very best?

So you're saying 35?

They're really looking at the £20 mark.

I don't think I've got it for 20 quid.

Ah - that's more like it!

Brilliant.

Right.

£25.

Oh, right.

Is that...is that... That's the end of it, is it?

ADRIAN: That's what he said, but I got a slight feeling, if I get a squeeze out of this... ..a little...I can get the 20.

Oh, well I'll have it for that.

Oh, I'll do anything.

Oh, lovely!

I like it.

I like the squeeze bit!

MARGIE: I'm a married woman, you know.

Oh, no!

I really shouldn't be squeezing anybody.

MARGIE: Are you sure he's going to be OK?

Doesn't matter.

Oh...

Thank you very much.

VO: These two are quite a pair, aren't they?

OK, well you can go and wrap that now.

ADRIAN: Brilliant.

MARGIE: I've finished with you now.

VO: Cor!

Talk about fickle, eh?!

VO: Talking of twos, Paul's found a couple of decanters, moored alongside Margie's boat.

PAUL: This one, I'm afraid, has got a broken stopper.

That's worthless.

It's gone.

Kaput.

So why are you still looking at this?

Well, the form's rather elegant - good form, nicely cut.

The stoppers are a modern disc stopper - absolutely right for it, cuz this is a modern piece.

And we've got some etching here.

The arms are Vintners' Hall of London.

We've got the date 1671 to 1971, so it's a tercentenary celebratory piece.

VO: Vintners' Hall is next to the Thames, at Southwark Bridge, in Vintry ward.

Nearby Garlickhythe was a dock, where French garlic and wine used to be landed.

If you are a wine buff, I think that's pretty good.

But look at the bottom.

Hand-blown but engraved into the foot here is the name Orrefors, and a serial number.

Vintners' Hall, wealthy body, commissioned among the best of Scandinavian glassworks to produce this decanter.

£58 the pair.

That would've been a gift, in my opinion, but it's not a pair - it's one good one.

Now, if you said half of the 58, £30, would I pay £30 for it?

It's not an antique but it's a good thing!

Interesting.

We'll think about it.

VO: But after scouring the entire shop, he's now found something else, just a few feet away.

PAUL: Oh, that's a case for a carriage clock.

You know, a carriage clock was meant to be carried.

Press button, hidden press button to release it, velvet-lined interior, and a little window here that can be drawn out, so you can look at the clock face.

Why is there a hole there?

And a button?

There's a button because the clock that went in there was a repeater.

A repeating carriage clock's an expensive commodity.

The device would, at the depression of a button, strike the hours.

So in the middle of the night... ..we don't have illuminating digital screens back in 1880, or whatever - you fumble over, press the button.

"Ting!

Ting!

Ting!"

It's three o'clock in the morning.

If you've got a repeating carriage clock, that adds a lot more value to the whole than the £23 asking price.

That's a bargain.

Hello there.

How are you doing?

Hello, Paul.

I'm fine, thank you.

How are you?

VO: Time to enlist his own helper.

Meet Rita.

RITA: What kind of things do you like?

PAUL: Bargains.

RITA: You won't get any in there.

PAUL: No, I...I can guess as much.

VO: Rita sounds like another excellent guide.

What's her telephone manner like?

And they've taken a shine to your wooden paperweight, with the monogram on, and asked if you could it for £10.

12.50.

Brilliant.

Thank you very much, Avril.

VO: Oh, persuasive, I'd say.

Bye bye.

Hello, Paul.

How are you doing?

Any joy?

Yes.

I've spoken to the dealer about the paperweight.

OK.

Her very best on that is £12.50.

Yeah, it's fair.

It's fair.

RITA: The decanter and the carriage case... PAUL: Yeah?

RITA: You can have both of those for 30.

PAUL: That's fair as well.

Oh, you're tempting me now, Rita!

VO: I think Paul's quite pleased with those prices.

Now, where's Margie got to?

Right.

I will wait for Mr Rooter, who looks as though he might be making another purchase.

I'm going to take the paperweight, decanter and that, and I'm delighted, so I'll give you the money.

RITA: Excellent.

PAUL: I owe you £32.

Is that right?

RITA: Eh, thirty... PAUL: Eh, 42.

£42.

RITA: No.

VO: Uh, think again.

Thirty... £42.50.

That'll do me nicely.

VO: Every penny, Paul.

You've not spent many today after all.

MARGIE: Come on, time to go home.

Oh...oh, please, Mum, can I stay a bit longer?

MARGIE: No, you can't.

Come on.

PAUL: I...I want to play some more.

No.

Mummy's hand.

Mummy's hand.

Come along.

VO: Cor, she's awfully strict, isn't she?

VO: Sweet dreams.

VO: Next day, they've got Margie's bottom line firmly in mind.

What would you like to buy?

I mean, apart from the obvious, the holy grail for a pound!

MARGIE: Well, to be honest with you, if I can make a profit on the shop owner's sandwiches, I'll buy 'em!

VO: Yesterday Margie hardly got started, managing just a white onyx ashtray.

MARGIE: I've finished with you now.

VO: That cost a mere £20 and a squeeze, which means she has plenty to buy and £125 to spend today.

VO: But it was a very good day for Paul, with a bargain tapestry, a paperweight, an Orrefors decanter, a carriage clock case, an identity bracelet and some posters all included in his haul.

We can do something here, I'm sure.

VO: That little lot set him back just £72.50, leaving almost £180 for a rainy day.

Speaking of which... MARGIE: Paul!

PAUL: Margie... MARGIE: Can I have permission?

PAUL: What?

MARGIE: To put the hood up?

Hey!

Cozy in here now.

PAUL: Oh... MARGIE: Oh, I'm happy now.

VO: Well, if you're happy, Margie, we're happy.

VO: Later, they'll be making for an auction in Gloucestershire, at Stroud, but our next stop is back in Wiltshire, at Semley.

VO: Dorset's very close by.

Just stand on Gold Hill at nearby Shaftesbury and you can see it, stretching to the south.

So it's no surprise that cattle and pasture dominate the landscape around here or that Margie's shop once had quite a different usage.

Hello.

Morning.

Hi.

We have coffee for you.

MARGIE: Oh, my goodness!

You realize how cold it is in that car?

It's freezing today!

MARGIE: Margie.

TRIX: Trix.

Hi.

MARGIE: Trix.

VO: Drink that up quickly, Margie, because we don't have until the cows come home, you know.

MARGIE: Right.

Just getting the geography.

VO: Oh, yeah?

Three floors to explore, and with this being an antiques center, potentially a lot of dealers to call.

MARGIE: Ooh!

That's a nice little thing, isn't it?

£60...each - I thought they were a pair.

Oh, life's full of disappointments.

VO: Although there's always time for Frankie Vaughan impressions, obviously.

MARGIE: #Give me the moon... ..give me the sun, and it's too dear, so I'm putting it back!# VO: Hm.

Needs some work, I'd say, Margie.

Now, that looks the part!

MARGIE: They're rather nice, these Scottish brooches.

It's not very old.

It's 1980s.

Edinburgh silver.

But they do sell, and they're very attractive.

So it's £39.

Yeah, it's quite nice.

I wonder if she's got anything else.

VO: Margie's picked up the scent here.

MARGIE: That's a bit older.

That's 1920s.

Yeah.

Glasgow.

Celtic one.

So that's 30.

£30.

VO: Trix is poised to call the dealer, when a third one turns up.

MARGIE: They're coming down in price!

This is 1950s.

And it's down...this is down to £20.

And it's Glasgow hallmarked again.

I'd love to have a little...what is called a "parcel", in this trade.

VO: I'll bet you would, Margie!

You have £125, and they're £89, so let's hope Trix can do her magic.

TRIX: Hi, Carol, can you give me a ring for some prices on some jewellery, please?

MARGIE: Oh, she's not there.

Well, that's a cracking start!

TRIX: I'll try the mobile.

VO: Oh, dear.

Just I'm drained at the end of this program!

VO: With Margie on edge and the phones on the blink, it's all down to Trix.

Go, Trix, go!

TRIX: The trade price... MARGIE: Yeah?

TRIX: ..would be 80 but as it's you...

..I think we could go to 50.

MARGIE: Oh, that's very kind of you.

TRIX: Would that be OK?

MARGIE: Oh, yeah.

TRIX: Would that help?

MARGIE: Yes!

Yes.

Thank you... TRIX: That's great!

MARGIE: ..so much, Trix.

That's fine.

Oh, they're lovely.

VO: Well, that's a great relief, and Margie's decided to auction each one as a separate lot - not that she's finished in here just yet.

MARGIE: It's a travelling leather case.

You can... For...em... Well, I suppose...

It's for hunting or drinking, is this..?

VO: Sorry?

TRIX: I've ever seen one like... ..with the shaped bottles before.

MARGIE: No, I haven't.

No, it's just a travelling case for bottles for... TRIX: ..for decanting something.

MARGIE: ..decanting something.

VO: Well, that's perfectly clear then!

No?

OK. What we do know is the ticket price is £44.

It's too much for me to make a profit.

VO: Cheers.

Would 15 quid buy it?

I don't know but I can find out.

Can you?

Is it a ring job?

It is a telephone job.

OK.

Thank you very much indeed.

VO: Crikey, Margie!

You're bargain-crazed today!

TRIX: Hi, Susan.

It's Trix at Dairy House.

Your little travelling case with the three bottles, it's marked at £44.

Wondered if you could possibly do it for 15?

Uff-uff-uff-uff.

TRIX: OK. She said that the very, very best could be 20.

MARGIE: Yeah, I was... What I was thinking was 18.

TRIX: She said could you possibly go to 18?

I'm sure she'll be very grateful.

Alright.

Thank you.

We've done it!

Trixie, we've done it!

TRIX: Yeah!

Great!

MARGIE: I'm beginning to feel like Attila the Hun here!

VO: Yeah, and he's not noted for his love of antiques and collectables but we know what she means, eh?

MARGIE: So I'm going to just settle up now.

VO: Would Attila ever have said that?

MARGIE: Ah, that's OK. Got my brooches and I got my little leather case, and I'm off.

VO: Now, while Margie's been busy buying brooches, what's Paul been to?

Clearly in thrall to the Alfa's vintage charms, he's motored from Wiltshire into Somerset.

Mind the jogger.

VO: Making his way from Semley to Farleigh Hungerford and a medieval... VO: ..castle beside the River Frome.

Hello.

Is it Amanda?

AMANDA: It is.

Hello, Paul.

How are you?

I'm Paul.

Great... Nice to meet you.

Great to see you.

VO: The castle, which has no connection with their Berkshire destination, was built in the late 14th century by a Sir Thomas Hungerford.

Although it's been a ruin for almost 300 years, you can still detect the outline of the original quadrangular design.

It had a tower on each corner, so four high towers, you can see by the one in front of us, the Lady Tower.

Everything was self-contained inside.

There's a great hall, there were kitchens down at the bottom, a bakery, and a little courtyard in the middle.

PAUL: This must have been chosen because it is defensible.

AMANDA: It looks as though it's a good defensive position, but it's not particularly, because although we are on a small hill, there are higher hills all around.

It was a status symbol.

PAUL: It's a "des res", is it?!

AMANDA: It is indeed.

PAUL: Right!

AMANDA: You know "Look at me.

I've got all this money.

Here's my castle."

Actually he did get into trouble for crenellating his castle without permission, which basically he got away with - he was fined a pittance as far as we know.

PAUL: The crenels are the battlements, the little steppy bit that we associate with castles.

AMANDA: Yes.

PAUL: So he needed the king's permission to that.

AMANDA: Yes, he did, yes.

You had to have... PAUL: But was naughty and didn't ask.

AMANDA: No, he didn't.

VO: Sir Thomas may have got off lightly thanks to his close relationship with the powerful John of Gaunt.

He was also the first recorded Speaker of the House of Commons.

His son, Walter, the first Baron Hungerford, who fought at the Battle of Agincourt, set about expanding Farleigh Castle.

AMANDA: Walter Hungerford enclosed all the buildings with a curtain wall and a moat, enclosed the chapel, and built a new one up the road for the local parish, so that this one was solely for the use of the Hungerfords.

VO: Fortunately, that little chapel has survived a good deal longer than any of Sir Thomas' towers.

PAUL: Oh, my word!

This is lovely, isn't it?

AMANDA: So here we are.

PAUL: Oh!

Oh, what a lovely space!

VO: Dominated by a huge mural of St George and the dragon, it remains the best place to get a sense of what 15th century life was like here.

I am an anorak of armor, that's what I study in the dark hours.

And I love seeing the mail, and the plate, the greaves and sabotons.

And to see a picture like this from the time... AMANDA: Yes, it's wonderful, isn't it?

PAUL: Tremendous.

AMANDA: It was almost certainly commissioned by Sir Walter.

On the wall to the right of George, just there... PAUL: Mm-hm?

AMANDA: There's a very faint image which is called the Kneeling Knight.

There's a very faint trace of the Hungerford arms, and we think it's probably Sir Walter.

PAUL: Ah, I see.

St George was the patron saint of the Order of the Garter.

PAUL: Uh-huh.

AMANDA: Lord Walter was admitted to the Order of the Garter.

PAUL: That's high status, isn't it?

PAUL: Those are the... AMANDA: Absolutely.

..the knights closest to the king.

Yes, absolutely, and a real honor.

VO: But it didn't last.

In the 17th century, Sir Edward, the last of the line, not only fell out of favor but also spent and gambled away the entire family fortune.

He sold Farleigh Castle in 1686, and it soon fell into decline, with the walls used as salvage for other great houses.

The anthropomorphic lead coffins of the final few Hungerfords can be found in the crypt.

PAUL: Are there remains inside these coffins?

AMANDA: There are.

There are probably only bones now.

The bodies were embalmed and then encased in the lead coffins, and then the lead encased in wood.

PAUL: And was this a common practice?

I've not seen anything like this before.

It's not particularly common.

There are other lead coffins but this is the best collection that there is in the country.

PAUL: And they date to... AMANDA: The Civil War.

PAUL: Mid 17th century.

AMANDA: Yes.

PAUL: My word.

The others, we think, are probably the spendthrift's family, so the last Hungerford, who wasted all the money.

PAUL: Mm-hm.

These look like child-sized.

AMANDA: Yes.

PAUL: This one here is very lifelike.

AMANDA: It is.

And the features... You can see the nose looks as though it's been broken.

It may seem a bit strange, but whenever I open up in the mornings or close in the evenings, I always say "good morning" and "good evening" to them.

PAUL: Ah.

That's...

It's respect, isn't it?

AMANDA: It is respect.

PAUL: It's their castle, after all.

AMANDA: It is their castle.

Think we should say goodbye.

I think we should.

Goodnight, ancestors.

VO: Now, I'm not sure anyone is likely to make a king's ransom at the auction but what did they buy?

Well, Paul picked up: a tapestry; a World War I identity bracelet; some civil defense posters; a leather clock case; a decanter; and a Green Howards paperweight.

While Margie bagged: an ashtray; a travelling case with bottles; and several silver brooches.

I think Margie could be looking at a clean sweep of profits.

Yikes!

MARGIE: The Swedish decanter - that won't do brilliantly.

PAUL: The little ashtray - key word there: "ashtray".

They are unloved objects.

MARGIE: I really envy him his carriage clock case.

They're like hen's teeth, and what a marvelous thing to have found for £10.

Who's going to come out on top?

It's me again, isn't it?

VO: Ha!

Ha!

VO: After starting out in Wiltshire, at Kington St Michael, this leg of our trip concludes at an auction in the Cotswalds, at Stroud.

MARGIE: I think we've got a good day ahead.

PAUL: Yeah?

MARGIE: The sun is shining... PAUL: Aw.

MARGIE: ..the car is beautiful... ..the company could be better... VO: Tucked away at the meeting point of five valleys, the town's woolen mills once produced military uniforms colored Stroudwater Scarlet.

Lovely.

Plus - one of the aforementioned valleys is the bucolic Slad Valley of Laurie Lee's "Cider with Rosie".

Our auction though is bang up-to-date.

MARGIE: Online, we're online.

Oh-ho, oh-ho-ho, ho-ho!

Yay!

God bless the internet!

Yeah!

VO: Welcome to the Stroud Auction Rooms, where the bad news awaiting Margie is the undeniably military flavor of today's sale.

So what does auctioneer Nick Bowkett think of what our two have to offer?

NICK: 16 it is.

My favorite lot of Paul's is definitely the Green Howards paperweight.

And if you were a collector of that regiment, I think you would almost certainly want to own it.

Out of Margie items, I think probably the plaid brooch, and we have had interest from Scotland.

Margie's probably going to swing it, I think, but a lot will hang on the paperweight.

VO: Well, I wonder what they'll make of those views in the pews?

MARGIE: I've got to get into the black today, otherwise you're going to have a really grumpy partner.

VO: First under the hammer is Margie's ashtray.

Cold painted bronze.

Can't go wrong with that, can you?

Birdies.

£40 for it somewhere?

40 I'm bid.

Straight in there.

PAUL: Oh, straight in the internet.

£40.

42.

42 now.

45, 45, net bid.

45.

Eight.

50.

MARGIE: Oh.

AUCTIONEER: £50.

50 it is.

Five.

Selling then at £50.

Sold.

MARGIE: Oh, brill.

Brilly-brilly.

Yeah!

Nice result.

Well done.

VO: Things are looking distinctly chirpy already.

Ha!

VO: How many Green Howard collectors are online, I wonder?

It's going to make 20/25 on a bad day.

On a good day, 45 quid?

AUCTIONEER: ..at £25.

£50 to start.

50 bid, straight in at 50, net bid.

PAUL: How did that happen?

AUCTIONEER: 50 I have.

Five.

For five.

£50.

Five.

55.

On the phone at 55.

60.

Five.

65.

70.

MARGIE: Oh, you've got a telephone bid.

PAUL: Come to daddy!

I'm frightened to look!

AUCTIONEER: 75.

80.

Five.

MARGIE: This is awful!

AUCTIONEER: 90, five, 95, 100, 100, 110, 110, on the phone, got 120, 120.

130.

MARGIE: Oh, you...

I can't believe it.

130 on the phone, 130, £130.

All credit to you, mate.

All credit to you.

VO: Well said, through gritted teeth!

Would it help if you just punched me, square in the face, right now?

Do you want to?

Do you want to?

I'll take these off.

Come on.

It's alright.

It's alright.

I can take it, I'm a big boy.

No, no, no.

I'm trying to be a good sport.

It's difficult!

VO: Now for Paul's bargain tapestry - a piano shawl, apparently.

But I think they're missing it.

Oi!

Pay attention, you lot!

AUCTIONEER: Someone open up the bidding for me.

£20.

20 I'm bid.

Thank you.

On the net, straightaway.

22.

22 now.

25.

VO: Come on, you two!

Pay attention!

28.

At 30, £30.

Any advance on £30.

Two, thank you.

35, 35, Eight I'm bid, 38 now, it's on the net.

VO: Really!

Look at them!

38 VO: Another nice profit... ..completely missed by our experts!

VO: Next it's Margie's bottles and case... ..possibly for a dressing table, we now think.

Two identical bids.

I'll take the first.

PAUL: Oh... And £20 it is.

MARGIE: Oh.

AUCTIONEER: £20.

22, 25, 32, £32.

Takes both my commission bids out.

35, 38, net bid, 40.

Rooms quiet.

It's on the net at 42 now.

45.

Oh!

That's doing... That's doing better than it should.

On the net at £45.

Fantastic.

VO: Yes.

Someone out there really wanted them.

Good stuff.

VO: More militaria now.

Paul's civil defense posters with local interest, plus the Italian front trench art.

I can open the bidding up at £30.

30 I'm bid.

Oh, he's off again.

32, net bid.

35, 35, at 38, 40, 40 it is.

42, 45.

MARGIE: Oh, I'm getting... AUCTIONEER: 45 MARGIE: Oh, no.

AUCTIONEER: Commission against... MARGIE: Surrender!

Surrender!

AUCTIONEER: £50 now.

Five, five, 60, £60.

£60.

five, 70, 70 I'm bid.

MARGIE: Oh!

I'm selling at £70.

MARGIE: What am I going to do with you?

VO: Eh, answers on a postcard, please!

Ha!

MARGIE: I'm going to go home and buy a big book on militaria.

PAUL: And hit me with it!

MARGIE: Can I do it in a week?

VO: Now, can Paul decant some more profit with this?

I can open the bidding up at £10.

10 I'm bid.

At 12, 14, 14, and I'm out, 14, 16, 18, room bid, 22, twenty...no, decides not to.

28, 28, and it's selling then... 30, £30.

30 it is now.

32.

PAUL: Cheap decanter though.

Nice decanter.

MARGIE: Decanters don't sell very well.

PAUL: Mm.

Thanks for that.

Where were you when I was buying it?

40.

38, and selling at £38.

MARGIE: Wouldn't have got more than that.

VO: Certainly nothing to sniff at there.

Paul's got his nose in front.

So it's these brooches, these silver, Scottish...

I bought these... ..with you in mind, Mr Laidlaw.

VO: Time for Margie's big brooch sale then.

She's especially pinning her hopes on this one.

Got a lot of Scottish interest in it, and opening the bidding up at £40.

PAUL: He's got a lot of interest... ..Straight in at 40, straight in at 40!

AUCTIONEER: £40.

Two anywhere?

42, 45, 48, 48 I'm bid.

50, five, 55.

It's about what it's worth now.

AUCTIONEER: 60.

Five.

At 70.

MARGIE: Oh.

AUCTIONEER: It's on the books... MARGIE: Oh.

AUCTIONEER: ..75.

80 anywhere?

80, five, 85.

For 90.

90, five.

PAUL: You've done it!

VO: I've never seen Margie look so euphoric.

Hey, it is a good one.

..I'm bid.

For 120.

120.

130, 130 is with me.

PAUL: I feel queasy.

AUCTIONEER: £130.00 MARGIE: Oh, it's... Yeah!

PAUL: Margie... ..what just happened?

VO: Margie's just made her biggest profit on the trip so far.

Good girl!

It's not worth that!

I can't believe it's worth that!

VO: Now, brooch number two.

Can she do it again?

£20 for it?

20 bid.

20, net bid.

22, 25.

PAUL: Oh, look at this.

Here we go.

AUCTIONEER: 25 on the net.

Room's quiet.

30 it is.

£30.

£30, 32, 35, 35 now, eight... Do you not think he's laboring this?

Do you not think he could go a bit quicker?

AUCTIONEER: 42 now.

42, 45.

48, no?

45.

No?

Up to 50 now on the net.

For five.

I was enjoying this.

It was... A minute ago... Not so long ago, this was a good auction.

I'm hating it now.

AUCTIONEER: 70.

£70 now.

Net bid.

I'm selling then, on the net, at £70.

That'll do.

VO: It certainly will.

It's a mad, mad, world of antiques, isn't it?

PAUL: Yeah.

MARGIE: It's a mad, mad world.

But I prefer it when it's mad going my way.

VO: Paul's worried.

How much her third brooch bring?

Start the bidding at £20.

20 I'm bid.

Thank you.

20 it is.

And two.

22, 25, 20, 28, 28, 30, 30 I'm bid now.

32, 35 I have.

35, 38, takes the book out.

MARGIE: Mm!

£40, new bidder on the net.

£40.

Aw, here we go.

40 it is.

It's going away then, on the net, at £40.

42.

AUCTIONEER: Someone else came in.

42, selling at £42.

VO: Well done, Margie.

Quite a result there, girl.

PAUL: You paid... MARGIE: Yeah!

PAUL: ..£50 for three brooches and turned it into 250!

Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs!

VO: Margie's about to win this auction.

Only Paul's highly fancied carriage clock case can stop her.

20 bid.

Net bid.

MARGIE: Here we go.

AUCTIONEER: 22 MARGIE: Your own clock dealers on the net.

28.

30, 32, 32 I'm bid.

32 now.

40, 48, 48.

MARGIE: I told you.

PAUL: Come on.

I need it badly.

AUCTIONEER: £50.

It's on the net and selling £50.

He missed...

It went to 55 there.

Oh, did that come in after the..?

PAUL: It did, aye, it did.

Take it.

55.

55.

It came in before I dropped the hammer.

£60 then.

60 I have.

PAUL: Come on, come on!

AUCTIONEER: £60.

Selling then at £60.

MARGIE: That was... ..that was money in the bank from the minute you bought it.

PAUL: Thank you.

VO: Margie's had an amazing auction but that late drama means Paul's just pipped her to the post.

There was a rough patch in the middle for me, I don't know, and I came over all uncomfortable for some reason!

Come on, let's go.

VO: Margie began with £145.44, and after paying auction costs, she made a profit of £188.34, leaving her with £333.78 to spend next time.

Well done.

VO: Whilst Paul, who started out with £248.62, made, after paying auctions costs, a profit of £203.02, so he now has £451.64 and a substantial lead.

We should salute him.

MARGIE: That was brill!

PAUL: Brill?

Anybody would think based on that we had some idea what we were talking about, Margie!

MARGIE: What a great auction.

PAUL: Yeah, but one thing, moving forward... MARGIE: Yeah?

PAUL: See if a brooch... PAUL: ..it's over between us!

VO: Next on Antiques Road Trip... Brrrr!

VO: .."Raider of the Lost Artefact"... Yeah!

VO: ..versus "Paul Laidlaw and the Basement of Doom".

The last guy was here a very long time.

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