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

PAUL: I like that.

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

TIM: Hold on!

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

En garde!

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

But it's no mean feat.

I don't believe it!

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

VO: ..and valiant losers.

I was robbed.

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

Right, come on, let's go.

VO: ..or the slow road to disaster?

DAVID: Oh, Roo!

Oh, Roo!

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

Yeah.

Welcome to Yorkshire, where our perky pair, Roo Irvine and David Harper, are revving it up in the zippy replica 1960s AC Cobra.

ROO (RI): I think we're just warming up, really.

DAVID (DH): Yeah.

And the beast is warming up nicely in Yorkshire, isn't she?

Oh do you know, David, I love driving this car.

I think it's the most beautiful way to start the morning.

VO: Look at that!

And what a trendy twosome they are.

Why haven't you mentioned these?

I was just about to say, how fancy are your specs?

Do you know what you call them?

Er, poser glasses?

Fashionable.

Oh, alright, OK.

But that too, that was my second guess.

VO: She loves you, really.

Argyll and Bute girl Roo started the trip with £200... ..and after one auction has increased her pot a little, and has exactly £205 for this leg of the trip.

While Durham-based David, who started with the same amount, fared slightly better and has £228.66 to spend this time.

It'd be good if it was neck and neck.

RI: No, no, no.

DH: You sneak ahead, I sneak ahead.

No, Roo, we need one of us to race ahead.

And that one, ideally, should be me.

VO: Well, we'll see.

David and Roo set off in Grimsby, tripped around the east coast and into the lakes, and will finish off the week in Newcastle.

For this, the second leg of their journey, their items will be heading north to auction.

But the fun begins in Pickering.

Roo has dropped David off and with £228 in his pocket, the shopping frenzy starts in Pickering Antiques, where about 50 dealers offer a huge range of possibilities for our wily dealer.

Right, getting prepared.

No... No... Ah, now then, a good bit of antique kit.

Georgian, 1760-1820s, but I'm going to teach you a little bit of antique terminology.

VO: Righty-o, paying attention, sir.

DH: So take a look at that box.

Pretend you're in the trade and an antique dealer calls you.

He says, "David, I've got a fantastic George III "mahogany tea caddy.

It is gorgeous.

"However, there's one problem.

It's smiling."

Take a look at the lid.

It is warped, and giving the impression of smiling.

What a great way to describe a damaged Georgian tea caddy.

VO: More of a smirk than a smile.

Moving on.

Hello.

VO: Hello.

Look at that.

I mean, this is the Antiques Road Trip.

We're driving around in cars... VO: Vroom vroom!

DH: I'm a big lover of cars and their mascots.

But the problem when it comes to the second-hand antique market for car mascots, there are loads of Rolls Royce mascots.

So what you have to try and find is something rarer than the Spirit of Ecstasy.

VO: The Spirit first took its place on a Rolls in 1911, and is probably the most famous symbol of grace and beauty ever to adorn a bonnet.

In those days they were making model policeman, frogs, fish, anything you can imagine would have been bunged on top of radiator caps.

And there's a perfect example.

So that there is the radiator cap.

Well, I suppose she's Victorian, isn't she?

VO: Yeah, says so on the ticket.

So priced at 55.

I'm going to say it's more than likely kind of 1920 and earlier.

VO: Looks like an Edwardian mascot to me.

And I think very lovely.

She's chrome, and with some kind of silver plate.

We'll leave her there.

See what deal we can do on her.

VO: Okey dokey.

Well, let's check in with Roo, who's heading to Huntington.

And le tres chic French House, with £205 dans la poche and a spring in her step.

And no wonder.

C'est tres jolie.

Even if it is a little out of your price range.

I have to say I'm surrounded by the most beautiful French furniture.

And then I find...a clown.

And I'll let you into a bit of a secret.

I love clowns.

VO: Cor blimey!

Some might see it as ugly.

But take a look inside.

VO: It's a light fitting!

Tres bien!

RI: Do you know what this has got about it?

It's got the quirk factor.

And I think this is probably '30s, '40s, '50s.

VO: Ticket price, £40.

If I can get that for £20 to £30, someone is gonna buy that at auction.

There must be another me out there who loves clowns.

VO: If you say so.

VO: Anything else?

You know, I can spot a piece of art nouveau a mile away.

I just love the beautiful, feminine lines.

But look at that.

This is a combination of brass and copper.

I love the fact it's got both metals in there.

If you look at the bottom, now you see there you've got the beaten metal on the copper base, which is very popular around that time.

That's very much an arts-and-crafts thing.

But it does seem to be signed "LCA 1293".

1893?

VO: That would fit the period.

RI: That's priced up at £60.

A lot more than I would like to spend on it.

But I think if I can get that at the right price, that is an elegant piece to take to auction.

VO: Stephen is le boss.

RI: Stephen?

DEALER: Yep?

What amazing price could you do on this?

If you take it for £20, you ought to make a profit.

VO: That's very generous.

Roo?

That's a very kind offer and I will happily take that off your hands.

Consider that sold.

OK.

I'm off and running, but I'm going to carry on browsing.

I'll be back.

VO: Au revoir, Roo.

Meanwhile in Pickering, David has already eyed an early-20th-century car mascot, and there's no stopping him.

Real antique, that's the dream.

The more unusual... Ah!

Er, Victorian.

Look at them.

It's a lion mask with a nice heavy chain, Victorian policeman's cape chain.

So just picture the scene, that very deep dark navy heavy policeman's cape.

Probably from the 1860s, 1890s, something like that.

These two lions and the chain would hold the cape together.

How smart would a policeman look?

It'd be remarkable.

VO: Ticket price, £60.

I'm gonna keep hold of that... ..because I would like to try and do a deal.

VO: Righty-o.

Stand by, Mark.

There he is.

I found a couple of things.

So I reckon 1880.

Yes?

What is a cracking trade price for me?

For you?

Today, on those... £40.

Can we just trickle it down a little bit?

35.

I'll have 'em.

VO: That's one in the bag.

Now, what about the car mascot priced at £55?

That the lady?

That's the one?

I think the dealer will be happy with 40.

DH: Can we just make a 35?

MARK: I'm afraid not.

I think I have to stick at 40 on that one, David.

Would you?

MARK: Yeah.

DH: That's the best.

OK, Mark.

I'll have that as well.

OK, thank you.

Two very different, interesting things.

Yes, indeed.

I love them both, actually.

VO: That's £75 for the two.

The items are off to auction.

And David has just over £153 in his kitty.

Roo in the meanwhile has hopped over to Paris.

Just joking.

She decided on an art-nouveau candelabra earlier.

Anything else, mon ami?

A piece like this is beautiful.

And that's why it's £600.

Now this is obviously advertising a production.

VO: Yep.

It's the French opera La Vraie Ghismonda.

It's been kept in brilliant condition.

If you think that this is about 140 years old.

I don't know what the price is, and I'm not sure of the artist.

I don't know, I'm undecided in this one.

Stephen?

I've spotted this poster.

Stab in the dark, could this be double figures?

The absolute best would be about £80.

It ought to fetch way, way more than that.

VO: Is there a deal in the offing?

RI: So far I've got the art-nouveau candelabra at 20.

Honestly can't believe I'm thinking about this, but that lovely clown parachute.

VO: Oh yes, the quirky clown thingamajig.

Priced at £40.

That says something about your taste.

(CHUCKLES) Is that good or bad?

Oh, it's a compliment.

VO: I think we might be getting somewhere.

You could have all three for £100.

Stephen, yes, I will happily take that.

VO: Ooh la la.

The candelabra cost 20.

So let's say 70 for the poster, and 10 for the clown with a parachute.

Right, so I owe you £100.

That's 20, 40, 60, 80, 100.

Perfect.

I will see you soon.

Oh, I'm so happy with those.

VO: And with three lots and £105 still to spend, she's off.

VO: David's taking a detour from shopping in York... ..to find out about one of the city's most prolific and yet surprisingly unknown inventors.

Meet astronomer Martin Lunn.

DH: Now, you must be Martin.

The waistcoat kind of gives it away, David.

VO: Does a bit.

You lead the way.

OK, follow me.

Oh, I'm loving that shop window, Martin.

But who is T Cooke?

Thomas Cooke of York.

Born in East Riding in Allerthorpe, 1807.

He would go on to become one of the most important instrument makers of the 19th century, making telescopes, all sorts of optical equipment, engineering and mechanical equipment as well.

Basically you think of something, he would make it for you.

VO: Cook's creations stood the test of time, and his work still resonates in our world today.

And yet he came from humble beginnings.

His father, a shoemaker, expected him to follow in his footsteps.

But aged about 17 years old, Cooke had ambitions to go to sea.

But to do that, he had to teach himself geometry, optics, mathematics.

And by getting little bits of pocket money, he bought books and he studied.

And this is all from a man that had no formal education.

Absolutely.

VO: The newly educated Cooke became a mathematics teacher for the children of the landed gentry.

His reputation grew and he soon found himself teaching in York, where he began to experiment with making objects from scratch.

Thomas Cooke took a whisky tumbler - empty, of course.

He knocked the bottom block of glass off, he rubbed it down, he polished it into a lens, put into a little tube, put an eyepiece at the end.

He's made a telescope.

VO: It didn't take long for him to open a shop with a loan of £100.

And the shop became an instant success.

So it was a period then, wasn't it?

An explosion in the interest in science.

That's right, and he's at the forefront of that.

VO: Wealthy individuals ordered instruments from him in such numbers that he quickly outgrew his premises.

And in 1856, opened a purpose-built telescope factory, employing hundreds of staff and kickstarting York's optical manufacturing industry.

One of Cooke's telescopes still resides in the city's observatory.

MARTIN: It's deceptively small from the outside.

Inside, it's a lot bigger.

You come follow me.

Ah, like a Tardis.

Like a Tardis, yeah.

DH: Wow, yeah, I mean, this is not the kind of telescope that you'd buy from a shop window, is it?

MARTIN: This was the sort of size telescope, he would have made these in vast numbers.

These are 4.5 inch refractors.

That lens is 4.5 inches across.

DH: So Thomas Cooke himself would have actually handled this?

Thomas Cooke would have actually made this.

VO: At a cost of 150 guineas, the telescopes were often bought by rich industrialists, and the odd royal or two.

To give you some idea of popularity, he had an order from Prince Albert.

And he took the telescope down to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and set it up so that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert could look through it.

He must have been pretty pleased to get that order.

I think he would have been as chuffed as chuffed.

VO: Optical instrument making continued in York for 170 years, but the man himself died age 62, apparently burnt out from overwork.

So what then, Martin, is the Thomas Cooke legacy?

The engineering quality of his work was second to none.

Cooke established that really importance of York, and Britain, becoming the center of the optical industry.

VO: And it was Cooke's expertise in optics that led to the design of one of the most important advancements in the burgeoning world of photography.

You don't necessarily think of photography and telescopes going together, but they use lenses.

And in the 1880s, a fella called HD Taylor, he designed what's called the Cooke portrait lens.

Up until that point, if you took a photograph or even looked through a lens, you got a little bit of color distortion around the edge.

HD Taylor designed this lens with three bits of glass.

Now as light goes through a lens, it's bent.

Then another piece of glass is gonna bend it again, and the third is going to bend it again.

So the light comes back to a focus point.

And the image is absolutely crystal clear.

So this was a major change, a major improvement in photography?

This was an enormous...

This was a quantum leap in photography.

Really can't emphasize it enough.

In the 1890s, HD Taylor sold the patent for the Cooke portrait lens to a company down in Leicestershire with the requirement being that they had to use the name Cooke on the lenses.

And they're still being used today.

VO: Indeed they are, from blockbuster movies to, well, very popular TV series.

So today, filming on the Antiques Road Trip, you and I...

Yes.

We have been using... a Cooke lens.

Never!

That is awesome!

Thank you, Thomas Cooke.

And you see that squirrel?

Oh aye, yeah.

I'm gonna shoot it.

MARTIN: Pardon?

DH: In filming terms.

OK, fine, yeah.

There you go.

That's what a squirrel looks like on a Cooke lens.

VO: Ha-ha, how lovely to bring Cooke's story into focus.

Meanwhile, out on the road, Roo's positively zooming along.

I love this car so much and I don't even want to share it with David.

This baby is all mine.

VO: Yeah, I think I'd be the same.

She's heading for Knaresborough.

VO: And here in the warren of medieval streets sits Donkey's Years Antiques.

With £105 still to spend, Roo's raring to go.

RI: This is absolutely my kind of shop, because I am a magpie.

When I see any bling, anything shiny, and jewelry, I actually, I don't know where to start.

VO: Deep breath.

You can do it, Roo.

Now, what have I spotted?

Georgian glass.

Thing is, I love all glassware.

But Georgian glass just makes my heart melt.

And you know why?

It is so decorative.

And every single glass is a work of art in itself.

And this one has caught my eye.

And that's...I would say about 240 years old.

Amazing when you think that that has survived.

VO: And she's taking it out of the cabinet.

Yikes.

That's beautiful.

Have a look at the glass.

Now, there are a few telltale signs for Georgian glass.

So, often you'll get a bit of an uneven lip.

And it should also not stand completely straight as well.

So it's £68.

It's nice, but I'm not sure how that would do at auction.

VO: That's a no, then.

I keep being drawn to the jewelry.

Let me have a look.

There might be nothing.

It's got to have age and it's got to have class.

It's...

There's faux pearls.

There's little carved monkeys.

VO: Very classy.

There's a spoon.

Oh, and there's marcasite.

Marcasite are these beautiful gray stones around the outside.

These are very art deco, so the roaring 1920s, '30s and '40s.

For £5, you cannot go wrong.

And I'm actually gonna take them.

VO: Ooh, and why not?

Great find there, Roo.

(GASPS) Oh my goodness.

I think I found the perfect buddy for my earrings.

VO: Do tell.

Look at that.

That is beautiful.

Again, covered in loads of marcasite.

Let's see what the tag says.

"Old silver and marcasite bangle, £28."

There we go.

Aha.

925.

Sterling silver.

I think that would make a lovely lot at auction.

If I could see if we could do it within the price.

Five and 28?

I'm gonna ask.

You don't ask, you don't get.

VO: How right you are.

Time for a chat.

Simon, I found two beautiful bits.

One was in your star buy tray at £5 - these lovely earrings.

And this marcasite bangle you've got up at £28.

Yeah.

You've got some treasure there by the look of it.

Well, I do.

I'd love to put them together in one lot.

What amazing price could you do for the two?

Shall we do 25?

Would that do for the two?

Right.

Well, I think I should pay the good man.

VO: Nice discount.

Thank you, Simon.

RI: Thanks so much.

SIMON: Thank you.

You take care.

I will be back.

VO: So, Roo has four lots under her belt and £80 to spend tomorrow.

It's been a busy old day for our terrific twosome.

No later than 10pm I'm in bed.

Are you a man or a mouse?

When it comes to night, I'm a mouse.

Slippers on by 8pm, right?

Doesn't that sound like heaven?

Alright, you convinced me.

It has been a long but wonderful day.

VO: Ah.

Nighty-night.

Morning, all!

Nice weather for ducks, as they say.

I was hoping for a little bit of sunshine on our little Yorkshire journey.

I'll bring some sunshine into your life, Roo.

VO: How sweet.

Love your buying style.

My buying style?

Yes.

You are a wild card.

Oh, hey hey.

I've been called many things.

VO: No comment.

Ha!

Unpredictable David came away with an early car mascot, a 19th century policeman's cape chain.

He's got £153 in his kitty.

Roo though had quite a shopping spree, buying an art-nouveau candelabra, French opera poster, vintage clown with parachute, and art-deco marcasite jewelry.

She has £80 for today.

Another thing about these very fashionable glasses, alright?

When it's drizzling, I've just realized, they act as umbrellas.

Aren't they good!

Can you be any more adorable?

Honestly.

VO: Ugh, that's quite enough of that.

VO: Their items will be auctioned in Newcastle later.

But Birtley is our first shop of the day.

VO: David's ditched Roo, and with £153 in his pocket, and only two items bought, he needs to get cracking in the aptly named Retro Furniture Company.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the modern antique shop.

This is it.

Stuff from the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and even into the 2000s!

VO: Feeling old, buddy?

Ooh, now this is much more up my street.

It's Victorian from the mid 19th century, 1850, 1860.

It's made from walnut, it's figured.

It's burr.

It's fantastic quality.

It tilts up like this for storage.

You can bung it against a wall when you want to use the table.

It drops down to seat four people comfortably.

It was made for a specific purpose.

And so the table has a specific name.

And its name is a loo table.

VO: Quite right.

After the loo, or lantern loo, gambling card game, which was played on such tables and was very popular from the 17th century right up to the 19th century.

It's £600.

Bit pricey.

Sadly it won't fit in the car.

'70s, '80s.

A... Oh, there's a bit of age, there is a little bit of age.

So fishermen's basket.

Nice wicker.

Look at the color.

To get that color even in wicker takes a very long time.

Several generations of use.

I love the shape.

These fisherman's baskets are really quite cute.

That is more of an unusual shape.

I would think a stool, so you'd sit on it, nice and sturdy.

Straps for carrying.

That's a lovely old canvas, which reminds me very much of First World War canvas.

So I'm gonna date that early 20th century, maybe 1910.

So that is positively dripping...in charisma.

VO: I think he likes it.

DH: Yeah, look at this.

Fishing gear.

We've got line, floats.

Barbs.

My goodness me, you don't want them in you.

So the market for fishing gear is very good.

Top end stuff can make absolutely fortunes.

OK, let's get a price on that.

DH: Bev.

BEV: David.

Can you do me a cracking deal on something?

It's the old fisherman's basket.

It is a very pretty little item, I know, quite unique.

30, we could do.

Can it be a bit better?

Ooh... 25?

Make it 20 and let's say yes.

Sure, OK, we could do 20.

Well done.

Thank you very much.

I shall put my money there for you.

Great.

I'll go and grab it.

Thanks, Bev.

Lovely.

Thank you.

VO: Nice work, David.

And there's still £133 left in his kitty.

It was in reverse.

VO: Oops!

VO: Roo is taking a break from shopping in Durham.

A city once synonymous with coal mining.

She's here to visit one of the first trade unions, arguably a forerunner of the welfare state.

Ross Forbes takes up the tale.

Welcome to Red Hills.

This is the headquarters of the Durham Miners' Association.

This was opened in 1915.

When you look at the sweeping drive and those beautiful flowers, and that building is not what you expect at all.

No, it's probably the finest trade union building in the UK, if not Europe.

It was built with the pennies and ha'pennies of miners' contributions.

RI: Can you imagine the people coming here from meetings?

You'd feel awfully important.

VO: The union was set up to combat the horrific conditions in the pits.

ROSS: Mining would've been absolutely brutal.

Dangerous, dark, poorly paid.

Eight-year-olds would be... up until 1831, would have been working 18 hours a day.

A lot of the early mining was incredibly claustrophobic.

They were working in 12 and 14 inch seams.

Bent double, lying on your side for 10, 12 hour shifts.

When did things start to change?

1869, when this union was formed.

VO: The four founders stand proudly in the grounds of Red Hill.

John Forman... ..William Patterson, Alexander MacDonald, and William Crawford.

Miners themselves, these men were determined to take action to improve the lives of their fellow workers.

Once they had organized their union it grew rapidly so that by the time this building is opened, there was over 200,000 people, unionized in Durham alone.

VO: The first problem facing the new union was a long established contract - the bond between the miners and the mine owners that set in stone the intolerable working conditions in the Victorian era.

The bond was something every miner had to sign every year.

And it tied that miner to a colliery and a colliery owner.

They couldn't move their labor, whether they had good conditions to dig lots of coal, or they had bad conditions to dig lots of stone.

And they only got paid for digging coal.

In effect, the miners were owned by the mine owners?

In effect, yeah.

And here you have... RI: That's amazing.

ROSS: It is incredible, isn't it?

And what's happened here is the colliery clerk has written out the contract.

Right.

Beautiful copperplate.

And then he's put in the names of the hewers, which were the miners who dug the coal.

And you'll notice that each one of these is signed with an X, telling you that the miners could neither read nor write.

So how could they possibly understand the contract?

VO: For decades, individuals had been trying to abolish the document.

Men like Tommy Ramsay, a miner and activist who breached unionism in the 1830s and '40s.

He was a primitive Methodist, as many of them were.

So they were non-conformists, and it was, for them, God's work to tame Victorian capitalism, make things better for their people.

So he would march through the county, sleeping in hedgerows, Bible at his heart, and he'd call people to meetings with that.

RI: Could I handle it?

ROSS: Please do.

This was presented to the Durham Miners' Association by Tommy Ramsay in 1853.

So it's older than 1853, we know.

Now, it is safe to use, it won't fall apart?

It won't fall apart.

OK. And do I just...

It's made of stern stuff.

OK.

So am I.

(CHUCKLES) It's a wonderful noise.

So he rallied for the greater good of the miners.

He did indeed.

As if he were to touch that piece of history.

VO: The bond was finally abolished only three years after the union was formed.

Quite an achievement.

And the beauty and gravitas of this building perfectly reflects the ever-increasing influence and power of the union.

RI: (GASPS) Wow, this is not what I was expecting.

This is absolutely breathtaking.

ROSS: It is.

This is the pitmen's parliament.

It's the... where every delegate from the colliery used to come and talk about matters of the day.

You'll see all of the seats have a number on.

That number corresponds to a colliery.

But not just the colliery, also a community.

So when this building was opened, there were 188 collieries and communities represented in this room.

Coal mining really was the heart of this region.

It was this region.

It was County Durham.

County Durham was the biggest deep mine coalfield the world will ever see.

VO: The DMA could not halt the death of coal mining.

But from this parliament it left behind a greater legacy than even its founders could ever have imagined.

From here, they decided to use their own money to build libraries, to build sports grounds, to build community hospitals, aged miners' homes, and on and on.

So from here, they were taking decisions which sort of were the prototype for the welfare state.

VO: Impressive indeed.

From 1896, when four men with vision and passion refused to accept the will of those more powerful than themselves.

Over the next century, the miners of Durham became a force for change and support for working people throughout the country.

Bishop Auckland is David's next destination, where he'll peruse the wares of Antiques on the Green.

Very nice, too.

David has £133.

And with only three items, he's trailing Roo in the buying stakes.

DH: I think what you've got to try and find these days in the business here of antiques, is something unusual that you don't see every day.

It's a bed.

It's a double bed.

Obviously, it's a miniature bed made for dolls.

But look at the style of it.

So it's post-First World War, pre-Second World War.

Falls into that kind of art-deco period.

Made from oak.

And I think it's scratch made.

In other words, it's a one-off.

And I think it's absolutely charming.

No price, but it can't be expensive.

20, 30, 40 quid.

If it's anywhere around that sort of figure...I'll have it.

VO: Sounds like a plan.

Hang on, David.

Your competition has arrived.

Gunpowder flask, no price on that.

It's a shame it's got that crack.

DH: ..chest of drawers... RI: The arrow is pointing to David's "yak yak yak yak yak yak".

VO: Well, he did get here before you.

He-he!

Now that is the kind of map I like to see.

That has got so much age to it.

Where are we, the castle?

This is actually a map of Durham.

Ordnance Survey map, 1860.

But if I wanted to buy it... £950.

Worth every penny, but I don't have 95,000 pennies.

I'll see if David's got any, I can borrow some.

VO: Ha-ha!

Very unlikely.

Ooh, he's gone outside.

What are you doing?

I want to offer you a lift.

RI: No, thank you.

DH: Come on!

RI: No, thank you.

DH: Come on.

That seat is looking quite wet.

I'll take you round West Auckland.

RI: (CHUCKLES) Oh!

VO: Well, she did warn you.

RI: That's exactly why I didn't do it.

VO: Oh, do stop messing about, you two.

Oh, very good.

VO: Sensibly, Roo's back inside.

What's new with you, Roo?

I do have a soft spot for enamel signs.

I love them.

But unfortunately, dealers like me know their value, and they're often priced accordingly.

Easily into triple figures.

Lovely colors.

It's that custard yellow and that red, and that rich blue, but it's got so much rust on it.

There's no price.

So let me go find Alistair.

Alastair?

DEALER: Yes, Roo, how can I help you?

Can I borrow your good self for one second?

VO: Alistair's the proprietor.

I do love my enamel signs.

But my concern is the condition.

Can it be £25?

Could probably do 40 for you.

If you could do 30, I would just say yes.

And take a punt.

For you...

This time... Yeah.

VO: Now, that's a good deal.

Very kind.

Thank you so much, Alistair.

DEALER: Okey doke.

RI: You're a star.

No problem, and good luck.

VO: With five items in the bag, that's Roo all bought up.

30.

Now you just need to get that off the wall.

VO: Meanwhile, her compadre's got something up his nose.

Genuinely, sometimes you can smell age.

Certainly when you open a Georgian chest of drawers, you can smell that dust and the ancient oils and waxes.

And just time, you can smell it.

And these fellas... genuinely smell of wood smoke.

It's a softwood, almost like a balsa wood.

Tribal mask.

Obviously African, probably Congo.

I would say Central Africa.

All cut out by hand.

You can see the hand cutting.

And in the Congo with these hair masks, often used by young boys as they transition from childhood into manhood.

I'm thinking they're kind of mid 20th century, maybe into the 1970s.

I just absolutely adore them.

And I want to buy the bed.

And I would love to buy these fellows.

Let's see if I can do a deal.

VO: After his encounter with Roo, Alistair's taking a well deserved tea break.

Hello, David.

Can I talk to you about some things?

The child's double bed, or the doll bed?

What could that be for me?

Got 45 on it, David.

Ouch.

I think we could probably... We could let you squeeze...squeeze us to £20 on that.

Well, 20's fine.

VO: Oh, he is a rascal.

Any more for any more?

Here comes the tricky thing.

Right... DH: Four African masks.

I'm not sure how old they are.

Me neither.

VO: Blimey.

So could I buy them for 60 quid?

We have got £65 each on them.

Ah!

Right.

Erm, but we did have a lot of them.

DH: Ah.

DEALER: And we've sold a lot.

So will you take my 60 quid?

Could you do...80?

I'll meet you halfway at 70 and I'll have the bed.

You've got yourself a deal, David.

Fantastic.

I owe you £90.

Thank you, Alistair.

VO: What a ding dong!

(WHISTLES) Their items will be off to auction, and our companiable chums are all shopped out.

You know, the north of England is known for good fish and chips, and mushy peas.

VO: I think someone's hungry.

Do you know, David, I've had another lovely couple of days with you.

We've had a blast.

Yeah.

We haven't crashed the car.

And then we have the auction to look forward to.

VO: Yeah, happy days, eh?

But first, time for some shuteye.

Auction day is upon us.

And after a jaunt around Yorkshire and the northeast, our terrific twosome are in Halifax, where they'll park up, tune in and view their items going under the hammer.

What a glorious backdrop.

DH: It's pretty cool, isn't it?

Look at the stone as well.

RI: I could get used to this.

DH: Oh wow!

VO: No wonder David and Roo are dressed up to the nines.

I'm seeing you in your lovely private detective getup.

You and I as private detectives would be pretty rubbish.

We wouldn't exactly blend in with the natives, would we?

No, we wouldn't, we wouldn't.

We can be the PIs of the antique world.

VO: Hm, that would be Sherlock Georgian Holmes and Nancy Drew a Picasso.

Newcastle is home to our auctioneers, Thomas N Miller's.

They'll be taking bids online, in the room, all left with the auctioneer Guy Macklam.

Have any of Roo's goodies, costing £155, caught his eye?

The clown and parachute, I've sold these before.

They do turn up at salerooms from time to time.

It's got a few condition issues with it but overall it looks the part.

Somebody will hang it up and make a good feature of it.

VO: David spent £185 on his five lots.

Guy?

GUY: The cape chain's a nice original thing.

It's a 19th-century item.

It's collectable.

People like militaria and things like that.

but it doesn't have a big wow factor, I think, so it might struggle.

VO: We'll see.

You ready, you two?

DH: Well, it's all down to what other people think.

It doesn't matter what we think any more, Roo.

RI: It doesn't.

DH: It's down to what they think.

Shall we find out?

Let's find out.

I'm really excited.

Come on, then.

VO: Roo's art nouveau candelabra is first on parade.

I'm bid £40 for it.

DH: 40?!

RI: (EXCLAIMS) Don't let it go in the maiden bid.

Come on.

At £40, last chance.

Maiden bid, that's good enough.

VO: A quick but tasty profit there.

RI: I wasn't expecting it to be the first and the last.

It's always a bit of an anticlimax because when you get a really good first bid, you think, "Yes!

DH: "My life's gonna change!"

RI: It's gonna run.

VO: You do!

Now, will it be the pits or the podium for David's early car mascot?

What dare I say for this?

£100 surely.

DH: Ooh, go on!

Ouch.

GUY: It's got to be 40 then.

DH: Ouch!

GUY: 40 bid.

45.

40, fantastic.

OK. Come on!

At £50 bid, many thanks.

50 bid.

55.

60, 65, 70.

GUY: Internet, are you bidding?

RI: Brilliant.

Stuck at 70, final chance.

RI: 70.

DH: That's fine.

RI: That's good!

£30 profit.

DH: 30 margin.

Very good.

VO: I should coco.

Did you give her a name?

DH: No.

RI: Desdemona.

(CHUCKLES) Really?

VO: I wonder what she called her vintage clown and parachute oddity.

Oh dear.

He's come off his chute.

£50 then.

DH: Whoa!

No.

GUY: 25?

Any advance on £25 for the lot?

30 bid, competition on the net.

DH: 30?!

RI: Told you!

I've got 30 already.

All out in front.

30 on the net.

Goodness me, three times your money.

VO: Well, I never.

VO: Oh, David's 19th-century policemen's cape chain is up next.

£20 on the internet.

Oh, come on, room.

Any advance on 20 in the room?

No!

It will creep up on the internet.

DH: No!

Going now?

20.

I can't bear it!

VO: Well, it just didn't arrest the bidders.

RI: Do you think maybe people just didn't know how rare it was, and...?

Well, obviously not.

Or maybe I made a mistake.

VO: (CHUCKLES) More art nouveau now.

It's Roo's Parisian opera poster.

50 is the start, 60 is the start.

GUY: 70 is bid, in fact.

DH: Ooh!

Any advance on £70?

Come on, it's got to make more than 70.

DH: Come on.

You're all out in front, £70.

Come along, internet.

£70, this is your final call.

70 hammer.

VO: At least she wiped her face.

Someone will take that, sell it on for £300.

DH: They may well do.

RI: Mark my words.

Sadly it wasn't you, was it?

RI: (CHUCKLES) DH: Argh!

VO: Meow!

Right, here's David's early 19th century wicker fishing basket.

£30 to start me.

Where's 20?

£10 to go for £4 off at six bid.

Oh!

Any advance on only £eight?

Come along, internet.

Give me 10, surely.

I've got 10 in the room.

10!

Hope for more here.

Your money, madam, at 10.

I've got 12 bid, competition, we've lit up.

14 bid.

Come on.

It will creep up, definitely.

Come on, internet, for goodness' sake!

16 bid.

The bid's on the net.

That's ridiculous!

VO: And it's his second loss in a row.

Well, there you go.

20 quid was its worth.

RI: Whoa!

DH: Whoa!

RI: David, excuse you!

DH: (CHUCKLES) I think the Koi carp are protesting.

VO: VO: Maybe they're just happy to see Roo's art-nouveau marcasite earrings and bracelet.

Really pretty.

Look at that.

30, the estimate we gave it.

Start me 20.

GUY: For £8 bid.

RI: Ah!

I've got £8, sterling silver, can't be right.

10 bid.

I've got 10 on the internet.

Where are the buyers?

We'd hope for more than this.

Come along.

We might well get it.

12 bid.

Come along, internet.

14 bid.

Competition, 16 bid.

18 bid, 20 bid.

Oh!

Oh.

GUY: Any advance on 20?

DH: Oh, oh, oh.

(GAVEL) BOTH: Ooh!

GUY: 20 bought it.

VO: Ouch!

DH: Where's the fountain?

RI: I think it's shocked.

It's not listening?

That's a loss!

It's stunned into silence.

VO: Snoozing, maybe?

It's David scratch-built doll's double bed next.

We're up and running at £16.

DH: Oh... RI: (EXCLAIMS) I've got £16 for the lot, take two more internet shortly.

Any advance on 16?

No!

Selling at £16.

The bid's on the net.

This is your final call.

DH: Don't do it.

GUY: £16, going.

Oh!

VO: And it looks so comfy.

Well listen, at that price, you couldn't lose too much.

VO: Moving on.

Roo's final lot is the vintage enamel sign.

50, five, 60 bid on the net.

65, 70, the net.

I wasn't expecting it to fly that much.

Yeah.

70 already.

Need to push on now, surely?

£70 off it already.

DH: That's really good, Roo.

GUY: Any advance at 70?

VO: Hurrah!

Are we back to winning ways?

I'm happy with that.

VO: Can David's African tribal masks, his last lot of the day, follow suit?

20 bid, we're up and running.

Any advance on only 20?

Oh, come on.

25 bid.

30 with me.

30 on the book.

All done?

GUY: Any advance at 30?

DH: No!

That is devastating.

VO: It really isn't David's day, is it?

Ooh!

Would it be OK if I just jump in?

RI: (CHUCKLES) DH: Seriously.

Have I got to save you?

Cuz I can't swim.

VO: David started the leg with just over £228, and after a rather bumpy ride has £168.30 to take forward.

While Roo, who began a little behind with £205, has leapfrogged into the lead with a smidgen over £238.

The battle is on!

Shall we go before we get a drenching?

RI: Yes.

DH: Shall we?

I think I'm already a little bit damp behind.

RI: Which way are we heading?

DH: Follow me.

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