VOICEOVER (VO): The nation's favorite antiques experts, one big challenge - who can make the most money buying and selling antiques as they drive around the UK?

Oh, you're such a temptress.

How much can you sell it to me for?

Is that your very best you can do?

VO: By the end of their trip they should have made some big money, but it's not as easy as it sounds.

And only one will be crowned champion at the final auction in London.

This is the Antiques Road Trip.

It's the end of the week and our last show on the road with the two antiques alpha males, James Lewis and David Harper.

James Lewis is an auctioneer and a fan of classic gentlemen's interiors.

JAMES (JL): 30 quid, the two, and you've got a deal.

JL: Deal.

DEALER: Thank you, sir.

VO: David Harper is an antiques dealer with a passion for 19th century Japanese pieces.

DAVID (DH): I'm happy if you're happy.

Exactly, making each other happy, that's what antiques dealers do best.

VO: James and David began their journey with £200 each and have taken competition to a new level.

Was it 120 or something?

Ah, you're wrong, 110.

VO: James has played it cool and steadily built up some great profits.

Fantastic!

Fantastic!

VO: From his original £200, James now has a mightily proud £756.49 to start today's show.

Meanwhile, David has gone in all guns blazing and has made even greater profits.

Brilliant!

VO: He's turned his £200 into a whopping £774.10 to start today's show.

I'm going to tell him that I'm going to spend all of my money to encourage James to spend all his money in the hope that he loses loads!

VO: James and David started their road trip at the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland and are heading southeast across England.

On today's show they're leaving Nantwich in Cheshire and heading for their final auction of the week in Market Harborough, Leicestershire.

First stop of the day is Stoke-On-Trent.

DH: Well, James, this is our last jaunt together.

Oh.

The last... Are you going to miss me?

Sometimes.

(THEY LAUGH) VO: Stoke is the hallowed homeland of British ceramics and part of the world famous Potteries - five interlinking towns which were the capital of pottery production in the 18th and 19th centuries.

There were once over 300 individual manufacturing companies and over 2,000 chimneys.

JL: I think I know a couple of the guys that are here.

DH: Oh, that's always handy if you do.

VO: The Potteries Antiques Centre is a vast emporium with plenty of space for our two experts, but James is very well known to dealers in this part of the world, so David is keeping a close eye on him.

Nice Minton fruit bowl.

I know you're not supposed to see what I like, but seeing as you are next to me!

Typical Staffordshire dogs James and we had to see them, didn't we?

Yeah.

VO: While David's back is turned, James slips off to scout for good stuff.

JL: Bill, how are you?

BILL: James, how are you?

How about some Carlton Ware?

I've got a couple of nice pieces with green.

They're a bit plain, but you can have those for £40, the two.

40.

OK, what else have we got?

What else are we looking at here?

How about the silver?

Silver?

Yeah, how about that?

Nice little tea set, there.

VO: It's hard to imagine, but tea was once so expensive in England that it was only drunk by the very privileged few.

And the drinking of tea became both an event and an art, hence the solid-silver service.

JL: What would be your best on it?

BILL: 150.

Does that help you?

JL: Cor!

110 any good to you?

No.

No.

It cost a bit more, I'm afraid.

Could you get any closer to it?

My absolute best would be 145, but that's just... That's doing my best for you really.

Yeah.

(SIGHS) I think it's just that bit too much for me.

VO: James is clearly playing hardball, but I think he's tempted.

Meanwhile, David's spotted an ornamental glass piece.

That is described as art deco, but no date on it.

Now, art deco being 1925, it couldn't be any earlier because it was formed at the Paris Exhibition of 1925, so does that mean it's art deco in style or art deco in period?

If it's period, I'll have it.

What I'm looking for here is 75, 85 years of, kind of, just moving around and scraping.

But there's no real... Little TINY faint marks, scrapes, scratches.

I think it's just probably too good, too fresh.

VO: It's amazing that something being TOO good means it's NO good.

Well, that's antiques for you.

Just across town is Portmeirion Pottery.

Its name is taken from the Italian-style Portmeirion village in Wales.

This pottery has been making English ceramics in Stoke since 1960.

James arrives to meet Julian Teed - creative director and once assistant to founder and legendary designer Susan Williams-Ellis.

JULIAN: In my opinion she's one of the best designers, if not THE best, of the last century.

Very sadly she passed away two years ago.

JL: Aw.

JULIAN: And...

I feel as if she was like my mum.

JL: Aw!

JULIAN: She was... She was a wonderful person.

Her father, Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, he started the Italianate village, Portmeirion in North Wales.

I didn't know that!

VO: As a talented designer, Susan wanted a business for the pots she was already selling in her father's Portmeirion village.

Susan used to buy products from a company called Gray's Pottery.

JL: Yes.

JULIAN: She was fed up with the service she was getting, so they bought Gray's - they bought a small company so they could have exactly what they wanted.

The Gray's factory was where we're standing now.

JL: On this site?

JULIAN: On this site.

VO: So, Portmeirion became the company name and now employs hundreds of local people in its one and only factory... We make stuff out of mud.

Brilliant!

..producing 20,000 pieces of pottery per day, four million per year, and you're not going to believe how they print the plates!

Yup, that simple.

JULIAN: Quite amazing isn't it?

JL: Brilliant.

VO: Many of Susan Williams-Ellis's classic designs are still in production today, including the world famous Botanic Garden and Magic Garden.

JULIAN: When she died we had to, obviously, tidy a lot of things up.

One of the fantastic things we found was this... ..coffee pot.

This is a biscuit piece that Susan would have sat in the garden at Bank House with her pencil and hand drawn that design.

She actually created Magic Garden... Magic Garden.

..on that pot that you're holding in 1962.

I always hate to bring value into this sort of thing, but what is THAT worth?

JULIAN: I would say it's priceless.

It's going to be thousands, isn't it?

I-I-I wouldn't be able to put a price on it.

VO: Well, that could be the most expensive thing you've held this week, James.

Better put it back!

The road trip's calling.

Moving on, our experts leave Stoke-On-Trent in the dust and follow their destined path to Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

JL: It's the heart of Ashbourne.

DH: Right.

JL: And it's a...

It's a lovely market town.

DH: It's very pretty.

JL: Yeah, it's great.

It's got a great atmosphere and lots of antique shops, and that's the key.

Good.

What direction are they in, then?

They are all that way.

Now we're deep into the Peak District, David might need to up his game because this is James Lewis country.

Steve, what have you got really handy?

The idea here...

I'm around with my friend James Lewis, he's a local boy.

STEVE: I know James.

DH: You know James.

Best if we talk don't about James really.

Mind you, we could.

Have you got any interesting information?

VO: Well, I'm sure there's nothing to tell... much!

Brian, how are you?

Good to see you.

How are things?

VO: Unless using your local contacts makes good gossip.

I've got a nice little parcel by a man called James Orrock.

Oh, OK. Is he local?

BRIAN: He worked for a while in Nottingham as a dentist.

JL: Oh, that's why I know the name.

Very much in the style of Cox, Constable.

Yeah.

Oh, that's a bit of fun.

BRIAN: It's good color on it.

JL: Yeah.

VO: Born in 1829, James Orrock worked as a dentist before becoming an art dealer, a famous champion of British painting and a prolific watercolorist himself.

JL: So how much is that?

BRIAN: 150, how's that?

One... Oh.

How about 60?

90, but that's the death on it.

Do you know, at 90 quid, I think I'll take it.

80, 90.

James Orrock is a really good local artist.

When I first started as an auctioneer in Nottingham we sold lots of works by him in our saleroom and the best thing is that it's a Leicestershire subject - and where's the auction room?

Slap bang in the middle of Leicestershire.

VO: James's local knowledge could turn out to be quite profitable.

If David wants to stay ahead he'll have to have some bright ideas too.

STEVE: A French chandelier?

DH: I like French chandeliers.

You've walked past one there.

Slight damage to it, as usual.

DH: What have you got on that?

That could be yours for... DH: Trade.

STEVE: ..£60.

£60 - well, fair price for a chandelier.

There's always a really good market for French...

They're really flash, almost like mug's eyefuls.

They look like a million dollars, it looks like it's bronze.

VO: Chandelier comes from the French word chandelle, meaning candle, as the original medieval models were lit with candles.

Designs developed during the 18th century and as glass blowing grew so glass was used more to embellish the fittings.

OK.

So, date wise I would '30s?

'40s?

What would you say?

It does look very much in that period.

I think it's a good-looking thing.

I mean, would 20 quid buy it, just as a chancy number?

VO: £20?!

Will there be ANY dealers in this part of the world actually wanting David or James back in their shops?

Can we do it at 40?

Oh, Steve, we can't.

I can't see it.

DH: Do it for 25 and we're done.

STEVE: Oh dear!

Go on, you know you want my money.

I don't want it that bad.

You do, go on!

STEVE: £25.

DH: Good man.

Thanks very much.

VO: He's done it again!

The words "full price" just aren't in David's vocabulary.

Let's hope the next shop's been warned.

You see, that is lovely, isn't it?

Yeah.

Could be... 250.

So it couldn't be 100 quid or anything like that?

Just out of interest.

Sorry.

No.

VO: Finally, David meets some resistance to his low offers.

And then, to make things worse, the local boyo arrives.

I think he's stealing my woman!

JL: Sorry, do you want me to go away?

Yes, if you don't mind!

I was doing really well with Barbara.

VO: It looks like you've lost her, David, and the shops are itching to close as the long day draws to an end.

Morning finds us back on the road.

I've never really spent any time... VO: And it's the final day of shopping for James and David before heading to auction in Market Harborough.

90, absolutely... VO: So far James has spent £90 on the James Orrock water color.

He now has the mark of the beast, £666.49 left to be bad with.

David has spent a mere £25 on the chandelier.

He still has £749.10 left to show us he means business.

OK, good man.

It's been absolute delight.

VO: Ashbourne is but a distant memory as our two experts saunter off down the road to Matlock.

Now this area has a fascinating manufacturing history, chiefly due to the Richard Arkwright Mills built at Cromford in the 18th century.

JL: The reason why the windows are so high up here is because Arkwright was a really early Industrial Revolutionist.

It's almost fortified because he had machinery in here to take the place of the workers... DH: Right.

JL: ..and the Luddites tried to attack and destroy all the machines.

DH: So, did they believe that was against God or something?

JL: No, they just didn't want to lose their jobs!

VO: Similarly shunning the modern world, our antiques experts arrive to scour Matlock for its beautiful treasures.

The dealer is across the park, here.

DH: Yeah.

JL: And out on the other road.

OK. Do you want me to do the dealer?

JL: Do the dealer.

DH: Do you wanna do the center, then we do a crossover, meet in the park?

See you later, good luck.

I'll see you later, yeah.

VO: Our experts are rolling in money from their mean tactics throughout the week.

Will they spend big today or keep pushing for those killer bargains?

The difficulty is that everybody knows me here and I know them, so where I can normally be quite ruthless and try and cut the prices, here I feel as if I'm robbing my granny if I do that.

VO: Whilst James worries about the elderly - ha!

- he finds something from the young.

A Victorian sampler for £225.

The idea was this would teach girls needlework and it was various different forms of stitching.

And they started in the 17th century and worked all the way through until...

I suppose they died out around 1870, 1880.

These samplers were standard projects for British schoolgirls, begun in class and often finished at home by the firelight, possibly as an evening's entertainment.

It doesn't have verse, it doesn't have religious extracts.

We have the name, Anne Williamson.

Against it is the fact that she hasn't dated it, but it's going to be around 1840, 1845.

VO: James is still feeling SLIGHTLY mean and wants to get the price right down, so he calls the dealer.

The most it could be would be 120.

I can't buy it now without looking at the rest of the shop.

He's agreed to sell it at 120, but he wanted the deal there and then.

And that is one thing you must NEVER, ever get yourself into.

You've got to have your thinking space, otherwise you make a mistake.

VO: Let's hope David can make a more solid commitment.

Now that's a very, very interesting thing.

Obviously it's a candlestick.

DEALER: Mm-hm.

DH: But with the maritime theme, which is brilliant news.

VO: Maritime items can be very popular at auction, especially when you're selling near the sea.

But, David, we're going to Leicestershire, about as far from the British coast as you can get!

It might be early 20th century, but it can't be later.

Could be... Give me a price on that.

Give me a trade price, George.

OK. Erm... DEALER: 55 quid.

DH: 55 quid.

(TAPPING) Would 35 quid buy it?

No, absolutely not.

VO: David's haggling is all at sea, but back in the antique center things are getting smoky.

That cigar cutter.

It was 565, but you can have it for £20.

JL: £20!

(THEY LAUGH) It's a bit of smoking memorabilia, but it's solid silver.

You've got the hallmark up at the top, the anchor for Birmingham, the lion for sterling standard silver and the H - art deco, about 1935 or so.

That's for cleaning out your pipes, that's for chopping the end of the cigars off.

All in all, a useful thing.

How about the ashtray?

How much is the ashtray?

DEALER: £12.

JL: Oh!

That's Birmingham and that's silver.

See, I'm thinking about these two, but the problem is... ..it's smoking and not the most politically correct thing.

What would be your best on those two?

25 for the two.

And that's it.

20 and we've got a deal.

20 and I take that handkerchief.

Let me wash it for you first.

Well, I'm going to dab my forehead with it.

A deal.

Deal.

What about that other article you were looking at earlier?

JL: Yeah.

DEALER: It's really a nice size, it's got everything going for it.

Have a little look at it again.

I've looked, I know what it's like, 120 for the sampler, £20 for those.

Yes!

JL: Deal.

DEALER: OK, James.

JL: Fantastic.

DEALER: Thanks very much.

JL: OK. Well done.

DEALER: Thank you.

God, what have I done?

VO: Well... it looks like you've bought some antiques, James.

Well done.

Meanwhile, David's thinking outside the box.

DH: Oh, that's nice.

DEALER: This is gorgeous and there's something very... DEALER: Yeah, you've spotted it.

DH: Very good.

Now, who... Whose coat of arms is that?

Well, it's the English coat of arms.

Now, I presume this has been done for a captain or a general, or maybe for somebody who's actually taking documents and so on and so forth.

VO: So, this was once a rather elaborate military writing box from the days of the Raj.

DH: Look how exotic that is.

DEALER: Oh, it's just fantastic.

DH: Elephants, we've got temples, we've got Asian animals that you'd never see in this country.

That is... DEALER: Different isn't it?

DH: ..gorgeous, but how much is it, George?

That's the thing, I've got no money, that's my problem.

DH: You KNOW that.

DEALER: Yeah.

VO: Actually, you've got £749.10, David.

I'll let you have it at... ..140.

I tell you what I'll do.

I'll spin a coin.

DH: If I lose, 100 quid... DEALER: Yeah.

..if I win, 80 quid.

DEALER: OK. DH: Are you up for it?

DEALER: Are you ready?

DH: OK. You call.

DEALER: Heads or tails?

DH: Tails.

DEALER: You win.

DH: That is superb!

And because of that, I'm going to bid you 40 quid for that.

How's that?

I'll tell you what I'll do.

OK. Give me 50 for it.

I'll tell you what I'll do.

I'll spin you again, 40 or 50.

Come on, George.

Alright, you spin.

You can't help yourself, can you?

OK. 40 quid - I win, DH: 50 quid I lose, yeah?

DEALER: Alright.

DH: You call.

DEALER: Tails.

DH: Tails.

DEALER: Tails it is.

DH: 50 quid.

One each.

DEALER: 50 quid.

VO: Now, that's what I call doing business in the old-fashioned way!

Time for James and David to show each other what they've bought and say what they think.

That's quite swish, isn't it?

French... quite obviously.

It's got the glass shades, 25 quid.

That's a double your money.

DH: OK. JL: Pass the parcel.

Oh, James, it's like a birthday present.

Ashtray, silver... DH: ..made in Birmingham.

JL: Yeah.

DH: What year's that?

JL: It's about 1930.

Oh, and a cigar cutter.

Hmm!

Hallmarked as well, Birmingham.

DH: I love the smell of it.

JL: Yeah.

What did you pay for the two?

JL: £20 the two.

DH: Oh.

DH: Absolute bargains.

Ouch.

JL: Yeah.

But I'll tell you the bad news.

Mmm?

The ladies made me feel a little bit guilty in the shop.

Why?

VO: What, NOW you feel guilty?!

Well, it's a bit late, James.

This is what I ended up buying.

These things can be incredibly good news, can't they?

They can be good, but this has got a few problems with it.

Well, the first problem - it's not dated.

Exactly.

It cost £120.

You might have found a real rarity.

(LAUGHS) It's like a shoe shop that sells one shoe.

DH: It's rare!

JL: It's that sort of rarity!

Now this, I HOPE you're going to like.

Oh, I do!

With the naval connection.

It's great, isn't it?

I think it's very good quality and I think it's unusual.

How much?

50 quid.

That's OK, I think.

Ah.

That's not the response I was looking for.

JL: You remember this?

DH: Oh, you went back for it?

VO: Well, well, well!

It's James's "shall I, shan't I?"

tea set from Stoke.

I guess he shall.

What did you get it for in the end?

145.

Well, it's a Birmingham maker again.

Date - is it 1910?

JL: About 1910.

DH: Yeah.

It's a good George III boat shape, isn't it?

DH: It's a great shape.

JL: Yeah.

Now then, this one.

You either love Anglo-Indian stuff or you don't.

Oh, I love it.

Personally I absolutely adore it.

Oh, that's FANTASTIC!

This is 1850, isn't it?

It sends shivers up my spine.

JL: I love it.

What did you pay?

DH: 80 quid.

That HAS to be a profit.

I love it.

DH: You think so?

JL: I love it.

But, there, James Orrock.

DH: Is it a local scene?

JL: Well, if you turn it over.

Newtown Linford, Leicestershire.

JL: Where's the auction room?

DH: Leicestershire.

Oh, you clever boy.

DH: You clever boy!

JL: 90 quid.

90 quid.

It's not a bad buy, is it?

VO: Now, feel free to say what you REALLY think.

The thing that I love about David's purchase strategy is he always tries to buy something different, and whatever he buys always causes some sort of emotion.

His best buy has got to be the watercolor.

He's clever - he's bought a local scene, a well-known artist, an RA artist - Royal Academy.

So, you know, that could be, for me, the big killer.

That box.

Oh!

From everything about it.

You know, if he doesn't get double money on that, there's an injustice in the world.

VO: The road trip has taken the pretty route from Nantwich through lovely Derbyshire.

At last it's auction day and our two experts arrive in Market Harborough, Leicestershire.

Gilding's Auctioneers have regular sales in fine art, collectables and Victoriana, but on this day it's the general sale, so anything goes.

JL: Hello!

Father and son team John and Mark Gilding, are today's auctioneers.

Mark likes the look of David's writing box.

Interesting carved decoration and, if people actually like it and really take to it, it could fetch a few hundred.

And how about James's sampler?

It's wool work as opposed to silk work and I couldn't actually spot a date on it, but we've had a lot of presale interest and that one should sell really quite well.

Starting this leg with £756.49, James impressed us all with a confident spend of £375.

David, meanwhile, started with £774.10 and stuck to his thrifty guns, spending just £155.

DH: Tails.

DEALER: You win.

VO: Our auction gladiators have entered the arena.

The crowd falls silent, the weight of expectation hangs ominously in the air.

First up is James's silver smoking set.

Will there be a smoldering desire for these fine items in Market Harborough?

30 I'm bid, then.

30 with me here.

At 30.

Are you all out?

So they will sell here at £30.

At 30, five.

40, five.

50.

And selling away now at £50.

A profit to start James off.

DH: Better than what we though.

JL: Yeah.

Well done.

VO: Now, can David set the room on fire with his Anglo-Indian box?

I've got £100 to start the bidding.

Thank you.

£100, I'm bid.

£100, I'm bid.

At 110.

Bid 110.

120.

Bid 120?

JL: It's great!

JOHN: At £120.

At 130.

I'm bid 130.

130, 140.

140, 150.

150, 160.

Come on.

Yes!

In the middle at 160.

There's two of you out.

At £160, I'm bid 160.

Do I see 70 anywhere?

Go on!

No!

In the middle and going at £160.

That's good, you doubled your money!

Get in there!

VO: James's remaining items will need to fly to catch up with David.

James's watercolor sketch is next.

Bidding £40 with me.

Five.

50, five.

60, five.

70, five.

80, five.

90, five.

I'll take your 100.

And 10.

110.

You're out and you're out.

It's 110, 120.

He's back in at 120.

130, 140.

140 bid.

Internet, it's yours at 150.

It's selling away at £150.

VO: Local knowledge paid off well for James.

Now it's his mystery school needlework piece.

Lots of interest here on the book.

50, 100.

£150 bid?

160, 180.

BIDDER: 200.

MARK: 200.

20?

BIDDER: No, sir.

MARK: 220 bid?

You're all still out at 220?

I'll take 40.

220 bid and we'll sell.

240, 260.

£260.

I'll wait all day if you like.

At 260 here and selling away now at £260.

You are terrible.

JL: Yes!

DH: Well done.

Thank you.

VO: James seems to have hit the nail on the head with his items on this leg.

However, here comes David's bargain maritime candlestick.

£40 bid, then.

On commission at £40.

£40, I'm bid.

40.

£40 is a loss!

Don't you dare.

It will be sold.

You're all out in the room.

Sold... DH: That's bad.

JOHN: ..at £40.

Ow!

VO: That's a BAD result at a very bad time for David.

His lead is slipping fast.

And now James's tea set.

Could this be adding insult to injury?

You need...

Anything over 180, you've been more than tickled.

Yes.

And that's what you want, isn't it - DH: more than a tickle?

JL: Want a REALLY good massage!

All these bids - 160, 170, 180, 190.

MARK: £200, I'm bid.

DH: You're in.

220, 240 now.

260 on the front.

At 260.

260 and selling.

She's keen, isn't she?

DH: Well done.

VO: It's all on David's chandelier now.

I need that chandelier to sell for £230 to beat you.

If it sells for less than £230, you've beaten me.

So this is terribly exciting and I'm either going to be jumping for joy or devastated in about 30 seconds.

On commission at £60 only.

60?

Yeah.

Straight in, doubled your money.

80, five.

JOHN: At 85.

90.

£90.

DH: Come on.

DH: I need £230.

JOHN: £90.

You're sure?

Finished and away at 95 on the net.

At 95.

95.

100 in the room.

£100, I'm bid.

DH: Come on!

Come on!

JOHN: 120, 120 bid.

120.

120.

You're out on the net.

Come on.

JOHN: At £120.

DH: Come on!

JOHN: All done?

DH: No!

Quite sure?

Finished and away then at £120.

Sold.

(THEY GROAN) £110 down!

JL: Well done, you.

DH: Thanks, James.

Fabulous.

Five sales.

God!

Five sales.

That was great fun.

Right down to the last lot!

I'll take five.

VO: David started today's show with £774.10 and made a good profit after commission of £106.12.

David finishes his road trip with £880.22.

Five!

James started today's show with £756.49 and made an intimidating profit of £212.53.

James wins this week's road trip with a towering £969.02.

Come on.

VO: So, at the end of week two on the Antiques Road Trip James and David have literally soared ahead, pushing Anita Manning and David Barby into third and fourth place.

Our new leader is James Lewis with a tough total to beat.

DH: Almost two grand between us.

It's not bad is it?

It's not bad.

Pockets full of cash!

I love it, don't you?

# The best things in life are free # But you can give them to the birds and bees... # Brilliant!

VO: From the beginning of the week, it's been a clash of the titans with James and David.

He's called the pirate from Yorkshire, that's what we call him.

I love him, but I want to beat him!

VO: They've enjoyed each other's company and tried, so hard, to enjoy each other's achievements.

Oh, really well done, James(!)

(FEIGNS SOBBING) VO: And they'll miss each other's kind, encouraging words.

JL: I don't like it.

DH: Ha-ha, I know you love it.

JL: I DON'T like it.

DH: You don't like it?

JL: I don't like it.

DH: You adore it.

VO: James and David will use their week's profits to buy one big show-stopping item for the grand final auction in London with all eight Antiques Road Trip experts.

In the next program, it's a new week and we meet our third pair of antiques experts, Philip Serrell...

There's only one idiot in the world going to deal with you on that and he has just walked in.

VO: ..and Charles Hanson.

DEALER: Sold.

CHARLES: Really?

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