All language subtitles for Salvage.Hunters.S19E08.Educating.Al.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

On Salvage Hunters,
craftsmanship fit for royalty...

This job here,
I made for King of Spain.

A staircase out of bronze.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. You made the king
of Spain a bronze staircase.Yeah.

...salvage mystery solved...

Don't ask me what it is
because I don't know.

Four pieces.Are they hollow?
Yes.It's a chimney.

...and vintage objects
to blow your socks off.

Whoa, what's this?
This was when Martin was planning

on invading Wolverhampton.

Drew Pritchard is one of Britain's

leading antique and decorative
salvage dealers.

It's a great-looking thing,
isn't it? Fab thing.

Joined on the road
by queen of the haggle

and quick flip, Viki Knott...

£275 the lot.Yeah.
Yeah, I'll take them.

...and lover of all things
weathered and wonderful

Alister Dryburgh...

Just needs a load of cleaning.
You clean it, I'll sell it.

Can we do it the other way round?

...Drew is sharing the knowledge...

What are those over there, Drew?
They're great little mill carts.

...and the expertise...
Three-step Anglepoise.

Rare as hell.
God, it's an education already.

...he's gained
over the past three decades.

Would have to be
a really buy-me-now price,

but I don't think it will be.
£550, Drew.

Okay, so we're off to AD Castings
today to see a man called Tony...

Yeah....in Blackburn.
Yeah.A foundry.

Good. One of my favourite places.
Yeah, not been to one.

Going back,
small villages would have their own.

Anything to do with metalwork
would be done.

You would take
your spade to be fixed.
You'd take your cart in to be fixed.

Your sledgehammer, your axe,
you take all these things in
to be fixed.

There was one
next to the pub in Capel Bangor.

No.A foundry. There was.
Next to the pub, mate.Really?Yeah.

So like you said, every village
had one.Well, I love them.

Now Al's regularly joining him
on the road, Drew's keen to pass on

what he's learned
about buying from locations

that are off the beaten track
for most antique dealers.

So today the boys are heading
100 miles northeast into Lancashire.

So what do you expect to buy today?

Patterns. Crucibles.

Any sort of ornate castings
can be really profitable.

The one-offs, but also filthy dirty.

But that's all right.
We're not dealing in fine antiques
today, all right.No.

It's dirty, great lumps today.

Metalwork began to thrive
in Blackburn

during the 19th century,
partly driven

by the need for textile machinery
in the factories,

which were powering
the town's growth

into one of the world's
most important exporters
of woven fabrics.

And for the last 15 years,
the city has been home to a foundry

continuing metal crafts
which date back millennia...

...making everything from
heavy-duty castings for steam trains

to intricate ornamental bronze.

These days
the furnaces at AD Castings

are kept burning by third-generation
founder Tony Duxbury.

My granddad started
the foundry after the World War II.

Basically what I do here, I get
a block of metal called an ingot,

which I place in the crucible.

When it melts,
take the metal out of the furnace,

pour it into the mould.

It's quite a wide range of work
that I do.

I make parts for ships
for Ministry of Defence,

right through to sculptures

in between making parts for people
with motorbikes, old cars.

They'll bring a piece into me
and say,

"Tony, can you replicate that?"

"Yes."

Tony. Hiya. How are you?
Hello, Drew.Nice to meet you.

How are you doing, Tony?
Can we have a look around?

We can indeed.
See what you're up to.

Well, I've just actually
poured some bronze

before you came through the door.

I'll be able to pick it up now.

They're one-armed bandits.Oh, yeah.

Stock-in-trade has been this
sort of factory for a long time.

There's a few things that
you'll find in these places.

It's the oddball pieces.
It's the strange and the weird

the wonderful that you really
wanna try and walk away with.

It's just dust, dirt, grime.

But then when you look,
you see things.

And there's stuff here.

Coming with Drew,
who's been to these places before,

is brilliant because he knows
what he's looking for.

With what you do,
there's no substitute.

You just got to do it this way.
That's it, isn't it?Yeah.

And it hasn't changed
for nearly 2,000 years.

Fascinating.

But I do quite prestigious...
This job here...

Well, that...

I made for the king of Spain,
a staircase out of bronze.

Every piece of railing had one of
those in the middle, front and back.

Hang on. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
You made the king of Spain
a bronze staircase?Yeah.

That's no idle boast.
In bronze.In bronze.

There was a ton and a half of bronze
in this tiny room.

The guys here made a bronze spiral
staircase for the king of Spain.

You can eat out on that one,
can't you?

Blackburn to the king of Spain.
Why not?

That's a great sign. That yours?No.

During Storm Deborah
or whatever she was called,

my sign fell off
revealing that underneath.Oh.

That was the original sign for
this place.For this foundry.Yeah.

"E.S. Binns, brass founder."
It's just cool, isn't it?

The font is really good on it.

It's got different colours
coming through.

I think it originally had
a green background.

It's been overpainted,

and it's just aged in that right way
to give it that look.

Would you have just chucked that?

Was it ready for that?
I'm not telling you that.

It was leaning on the skip.

You did give the game away
by having it leaning on the skip.

£100.Absolutely sold.

That's very fair.That is, isn't it?
That's fair.Yeah.

It's a cracking-looking thing.

I'm not gonna get rich-rich
on that sign.

Maybe £200 when it's all done.

You might be interested in these
letters, Drew. I don't know.

Oh, God. Look at those. I've seen
that design a lot of times.

Can I have a look at one, please?

So what happened with this job,

the Royal Manchester Children's
Hospital was being knocked down,

and they were building houses on it,
but they still wanted to put up

some sort of a board that said
what had been there previously.

So they came to me and said,
"Can you replicate the ones
that have gone missing?"

And it got lost in translation,
and I just replicated them all.

So what metal is that now?
That's aluminium.

I've got quite a few of these.

I quite like them. Do you?
Yeah, these are great.

I love how stylised they are.
The A and the H are just great.

They're in a very particular font,

which is the English Gothic Revival.

And you could really highly
polish those if you wanted to.

You can paint them,
you can stick them on the wall.
They're always fun.

These are a bit of you, I think.
Yeah, definitely.

You know what's best?
What's really good?

A rude word, right?

If you get these lettering and then
do a rude word in your shop,

it's gone the same day.
It's gone. It's true, innit?

We're all looking down to see
what we can make now.Yeah.

£24 there.Tenner a piece.Yeah.

A tenner a piece and I'll throw
all those little ones in for free.
I'm happy with that.

But what I normally do
with these in the shop,

I just scatter them
all over a table.

Maybe I'll just make
one little word up

just to give an idea
in somebody's head,

and I'll just price them
individually.

These crucibles
are something I've bought.
Yeah, you've got a few of them.

So what are they made of?
They're made of a mix
of silicon and carbon.

There's aluminium in there,
bronze in there, brass in that one.

They've all got
their own surface patination.

They've all got their own colour,
their own gnarliness to them,
almost like a bit of moon rock.

They're the weirdest
volcanic, oddball things,

but it's all man-made,

and you're never gonna get two
that are the same.

Great. It's part of the charm.

Crucibles have to be strong enough
to withstand temperatures

from 900 degrees to melt copper

and up to 1,500 degrees
to melt steel.

Archaeological examples
were made of stoneware or ceramic.

Each with its own unique character,

these modern
silicon and carbon versions

could now be repurposed
as decorative pieces or planters.

Sold in Al's shop,
they could fetch around £150 each.

Which ones can go?

That one. That one. That one.
So those three.

Are they £50 each?
Yeah, that's very fair. Good.

Thank you.Thank you.

Drew was probably the first person
to buy these and make them popular.

I've never bought them
in situ before.

I've had them in fairs.
I've sold them.

But it's nice to get them
from the foundry.

There's some big patterns in here.

Do you ever sell your patterns off?
Yeah.

Oh, look, this is what
you were talking about.

Oh, now you're talking.
Right, young man.

One thing I knew we were
gonna find. Patterns.

People call them wooden moulds.
They're not, they're patterns.

It's a real art form.
It's a real art form.

Right. Educate me.Okay.

So, patterns.Yeah.

The ones that are the most saleable.

See those ones there like cogs
and gears and valves and whatever,

that are on a backboard,
which you can already
screw them to the wall,

they're your easy,
low-hanging fruit, right?

They do look like little art pieces
when you hang them on the wall,
particularly in groups.

They are technically amazing things.

The guys who make these patterns,
they blow my mind.

They're so beautifully done.

That's the pattern maker.

The skill to do that.

The pattern maker
is the skilled guy in this game.

To create
an intricately cast object,

a pattern must be constructed first,

which is then pressed into sand
to make the mould.

Ingenuity is required to ensure
the pattern can be removed,

leaving the sand perfectly intact

and ready for molten metal
to be poured in.

Originally created
for a Ministry of Defence contract,

these late 20th century
wooden patterns

are now extraordinary
decorative items.

Sold as a collection, Drew thinks
they could be worth around £650.

These are my favourite types.

The one you can sit on a desk.

Just have that on your desk,
just cleaned up and polished.

Just looks really cool, I think.

That's off a steam train.

Axle box off a steam train.
Off a steam train.

I'm thinking might be doing a deal
with you if we buy them.

Yeah, yeah. So how many is there?

One, two, three, four, five, six.

Seven.Seven.
Do you want me to do it?

Yeah, you can buy them, yeah.
£280 the lot.

Drew's giving Al a crash course
on what to look for

amongst the dust and grime
of a traditional Lancashire foundry.

Oh, look, now you're talking.

Right, young man.Right. Educate me.

And the boys have decided
to go halves

on a batch of wooden patterns.

Originally made to create sand
moulds for casting metal objects,

they now have
strong decorative potential.

So how many is there?Six.

Seven.Seven.£280 the lot.

Let's round it up. 300 quid.
That's absolutely fine.

So what we've done with the patterns

is a very common thing
in the antiques trade.

We've buddied up on them,
we've gone halves.

So they'll get shipped down to Al,
he will do the work
and get them ready,

and he'll sell them
and we'll split the profits.

Right. Are you done? I think...
I'm really done.

Hosepipe?We've been worse.Hm.

Erm, thank you very much.

A really good day with Tony
at AD Castings.

Just great fun.

And once again,
to see a small British business

doing so well
and doing such beautiful work.

Slim pickings for me today,
but I went in with Al

on the patterns
which will pay for the day

cos they'll sell quick,
and that's all right with me.

Believe it or not, it is good
to come to these places with Drew,

because again today
I've looked at things differently,

and I've learned from the guy.

I've learnt from his experience,

and that's what it's all about,
learning.

So to come here today,
it's been brilliant

to see how the place works,
to meet Tony,

and to get stuff that no one else
has had their hands on.

Tony, thank you very much, mate.
Much appreciated.No problem.

Really enjoyed it. Thank you.
Nice to meet you.Take care.
Cheers, mate. Ta-ta.

Right, well, that was good.
Enjoy yourself?Very good. Yeah.

I love going
to any industrial thing.

I've been to hundreds, right,
and I'm still not bored.

Love it. Today was really good.
Really good.

After a day of new experiences
for Al,

it's around 110 miles south
into Derbyshire

where Drew wants to introduce
an important contact

and offer Al
another chance to learn,

this time about the world
of antique lighting,

one of Drew's specialist subjects.

Today we're off to see
Martin and Rachel

at Ashby Lighting, family business.

I met them about six years ago.
Right.

Martin's expertise
is in late 19th century

into early 20th century
English lighting,

and particularly Benson.Benson.

That's one of his great loves.
He seems to be more and more
obsessed with Benson.

Every time you go there.
But it's his background
as an engineer for Rolls-Royce

and all of those design skills
and manufacturing skills

he's brought into his own business.
Okay.

Is it just lighting he deals in,
or are we gonna see other stuff?

He's got all sorts of things.

When I first met him,
he was doing aviation and military

and lots and lots
and lots of guns...Right.

...and, erm, rocket launchers.
Really?Yeah. Missiles.

All sorts of crazy stuff,
so he might have a bit of that
lying around.

People buy that, do they?Yeah.

The origins of the Derbyshire town
of Melbourne

may have been as a settlement
to service a royal manor,

visited several times
perhaps for the local hunting

at the turn of the 13th century
by King John.

Many centuries later,
it's now a hunting ground

for connoisseurs of antique lamps
as well as other rare objects

collected by specialist
lighting restorer Martin Ashby

and his wife
and business partner Rachel.

When we started off,
we were called Ashby Interiors.

That was because
we had a mix of lighting,

we had aeronautical antiques
and general antiques.

But you cannot replace
the aeronautical pieces.

So obviously that's now wound down,

and then we've wound
the lighting up.

We do sell
a broad range of lighting.

We start off
with the Arts and Crafts period,

and Martin is a collector
of William Benson.

He restores
a lot of the William Benson

and sells that worldwide.

We also have a range now
that we manufacture,

which takes inspiration
from the Art Nouveau
and the Arts and Crafts period.

I particularly love lighting
because you can turn something

that's old and not looking very good
in lots of people's eyes,

you turn something back into a gem.

And I think
that's really what I enjoy.

Hello.Hi.Hello.How you doing?
Nice to see you again.
Hey, how are you?

Good to see you. How are you?
Very well, thanks.

I'd love to see inside. This is
gonna blow you away.Is it?Really.

That's a nice thing to say.
After you.

Look at that.Wow.

From the outside,
it doesn't look like much.

But as soon as you go in through
those doors, it just hits you.

The quality of the lighting

and just seeing that mass of light,
it takes your breath away.

How long ago did I meet you?
Nearly five years.

You were doing all sorts of stuff,
lighting was a big part.

But now it's taken over, hasn't it?
Yeah.

So you were a dealer before?
Just a general dealer or...

No. So I worked full-time
at Rolls-Royce

and then I was doing this part-time.

And then because I was Rolls-Royce,
I was into the aircraft stuff,

and then lighting was just
a natural progression.

What you've got here,

I can see a combination of originals

and the ones you're making,
but it's difficult to tell.

It's difficult to tell what's what,

so I'm presuming
most of that is you.

Yes.Just cos they're so clean.
Yeah.

I've copied these.
I bought an original.

So I now replicate these,
and they're identical.

And I'm not trying to say
that they're Bensons.

I say they're Bensons made by Ashby,
and I stamp them.

You make that,
and that's £795 retail?Yeah, yeah.

And how much is the original?

So I paid £3,500
for the original one.

The name Benson was coming up a lot.

I'll be honest with you.
I've heard of Benson Lighting.

But today is gonna be
a learning day.

I'm gonna listen
to what Drew and Martin

have to say to each other,
and I'm gonna take it all in.

Known for the quality and beauty

of his metalwork,
especially lighting,

William Arthur Smith Benson
became a key figure

in the 19th century
Arts and Crafts Movement

inspired by his mentor
William Morris.

Both a skilled craftsman
and talented designer,

Benson was fascinated
by electrical engineering.

And among other projects,

installed the lighting
in Saint Paul's Cathedral.

These are Birmingham Guild.Yeah.
What do you think that's worth?

So we've got a price tag
of 12K on it.Yeah.

I'm learning about things

that in the past, I've probably
walked past, dismissed.

I've been walking past good things.

But coming to these places today,
seeing all these lights,

seeing all these
different styles of lights

by different makers, I'm learning.

That one at the back.

So there's a pair of those.
Oh, is there?Yeah, I like those.

Thumb screw's missing on this one.

I'll probably have
a thumb screw though.

Or I could make one to match.

Those are really interesting.Yeah.

I like the look of those.
Yeah, they're a resto job,
aren't they?Yes.

Table lamp about yay big.
Very narrow in its form.

And at the centre, very cleverly,

has been made for it to rise
and fall, to lift, to heighten.

And then Martin says, "Oh,
there's a pair." Bam. Yeah.

This pair of brass lamps
is by Osler,

a British company
which began in 1807

as a humble glassmaker
shaping droplets for chandeliers.

But within 50 years
was supplying elaborate lighting

to Queen Victoria
and Indian maharajahs.

The Osler 4-tonne
cut glass crystal fountain

was one of the talking points
of the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Dating from around 1910,

this adjustable model
is particularly unusual.

Once restored, Drew believes
the pair could be worth

around £1,150.

I think they need to be
about £250 each.

Oh, look, it's missing
the drip tray.Yeah.

So you want £500 as they are.

If I said to you I'll give you £750,
but can you do the work?Yeah.

Yeah?Yeah.

Nice sort of dark brown cable
on them.

One of your little inline switches.
Yeah.

Deal. Thank you very much.

£750, done. Great.

So I'm getting them
restored for that.

In my world, that's a gift.
That's great news.

So I'm gonna get a pair back,

restored by Martin,
by Ashby Lighting, ready to rock.

As you can see,
this is mostly table lamps.

Yeah. Love that.

That's cool, isn't it?
There's a pair of those.Fantastic.

What manufacturer would you
put those down to?

Tricky, aren't they?Yeah.

Cos that's not as graceful
as a Benson.No.

They aren't a pair.
They're completely different.No.

But they're really good,
aren't they?

They're sort of atomic.Yeah.

Yeah, they are probably 1910 though.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They look all the world
in their manufacture,

like a cross between a Benson
and an atomic lamp.

They're a real oddball,
and I've never seen them before.

They've got that little tripod base
with the ball feet. Super cool.

So I just wondered
what are you asking for those?

I could probably do
a couple hundred pound each on them.

Thank you very much.
I'll take those.

I think they're too interesting
not to.

They're just such an oddball piece.

These are on me all over.

Absolutely, 100% purely the thing
I like to buy.

Great design, very original.
Just great things.

So, aircraft stuff,

that there is a propeller
from a B-17.

So a lot of history with that one.

So that's probably one of the last
aircraft pieces we've got left

apart from this piece here,

which is a rocket motor
from a Blue Steel nuclear bomb.

Wow.Good God.

He's still got bits of guns
and sort of aviation antiques

that he had when I first met him
about five years ago.

Still bits of that lying around.
A jet engine for a nuclear bomb
or something.

Crazy that you can buy these things.

Well, what's this? I like that.

This was when Martin was planning
on invading Wolverhampton.

And he was setting up
a small army out the back.

That is a .50-cal cutaway model.

.50 cal? The thing on top of tanks?
Yeah.

Well, they had them on all sorts.
Tanks, warships, aircraft.

I'll be honest with you,
I paid £750.

It's not my problem
you paid too much.

I'd want a grand for it.
Oh, come on.

Come on, Martin.
I'd want a grand for it.

It's a scaled model
of a machine gun.

It's made of wood, and it's cut.

So it shows you the workings
inside the gun.

This is very, very good.
It's saleable.

And that's got to be a grand,
has it?

I'll take a little hit on it,
but it's really nice, isn't it?Mm.

Drew shaking his head. I'm thinking,
"I can't pay £1,000 for this gun."

His wife wants to get rid of it.
She's probably sick of seeing it
hanging around the place.

But he's got that love,
that military background.

He's worked for Rolls-Royce,
and he's been clinging
on to it for years.

800 quid?700 quid.Oh, no,
I paid that for it.700 quid.

But the bullets
must have cost me 50 quid.

It's been sat on top of my rack.

He's trying to make us feel sorry
for him.700 quid.

£750, because of the bullets.
And then I'm not losing money then.

On an enlightening trip
to a specialist restorer
in Derbyshire...

This is gonna blow you away.
Wow.Look at that.

...Al's in a battle to seal a deal

for an extraordinary
model machine gun.

800 quid?700 quid.Oh, no,
I paid that for it.700 quid.

But the bullets
must have cost me 50 quid.
It's been sat on top of my rack.

He's trying to make us feel sorry
for him.700 quid.

£750, because of the bullets.
And then I'm not losing money then.

£750?

Good lad.Oh.

I love it.
It's a really, really nice piece.

As a dealer, when you go around,
you're looking at things.

Some things just stand out.

You get that gut reaction,
and I don't know what it is.

Just something goes
in you and you've got to buy it.

That little helicopter aircraft.
Yeah, that's nice.

Bought from a model aircraft
flying club at Rolls-Royce.

There's a helicopter on the table.

It's got its own engine,
and it's made of wood.

And it's from the '50s.

Just imagine that
hanging in your shop window.

It's gonna look a million dollars.

What price have you got on that?
Probably 150 quid or something.

Mm. Yeah. Are you...

No, go on.Yeah?Yeah, yeah.

I'm not gonna knock you on that.
Thank you.

It's from the '50s, and it's got
a Rolls-Royce background.

£150. Couldn't get my hand
out of my pocket fast enough.

That's coming home with me.

Coming back to see Rachel and Martin
at Ashby Lighting has been great.

It's really nice to see them.

Very happy with what I've bought.
Really, they are wow.

The quality in them is wonderful.

For want of a better expression,
they're pure me.

They were me
when I started buying things.

They're still me now. Bang on.

Every day's a school day,
but we're in it to make money.

But I didn't think
I'd be going away today

with a machine gun
in the back of my van.

How random is that. Brilliant.

Right then. Thank you very much.
Ah, thank you.

Another interesting day.
Yeah. Pleasure, mate.

Lovely to see you again.
Thank you very much.

Give us a shout
when the other ones are ready

and we'll get them picked up.Super.

Thank you, mate. Thank you.
Bye-bye.

That was good seeing Martin.

I didn't expect to find
a machine gun there today.

That, I was...
Did you wanna buy that?Yeah.

I loved it.It's good.I loved it.

You did pay. You paid up for that,
I've got to say.
You called me tight.

You are tight.Wasn't today.
I wasn't today.

To keep the customer happy,

Martin's taking
Drew's pair of Osler lamps

straight into
the restoration workshop.

This is the most complete one.

So this one has the thumb screw
and the candle drip tray here.

And then this one
has the thumb screw

and the candle drip tray missing.

And then it's been drilled
at some stage

for the cable to go in there,
but that's not correct.

Having carefully dismantled

the century old lamp
into its components,

Martin has a plan to repair
the hole in the base.

So I will have to redrill that.
I will tap it,

and then I will find a piece
of threaded brass bar,

and then put it in there,
cut that off,

and then turn it over,

and I will solder it in
from the back.

I'm a Rolls-Royce engineer.

As an engineer,
you try and make these things

so that they'll never, ever
come back.

You'll never have
a problem with it again.

So now we've got
the brass plug in it,

I'm gonna then solder it
from the back end.

And then once that's soldered
and cooled down,
I can dress it back.

This has now been
dressed back flush.

Next step is to take it
into the polishing booth,

and I will coarse polish it.

Mask back on.

Once polished,
the new base will need to be treated

to simulate an aged finish.

But first, Martin needs to replace
the missing drip tray

by delving
into his giant stash of spares.

So all of these accessories,
we have literally thousands of them.

It's a bit plainer,
but it's not a bad match.

Bit more detail on this one
as compared to that one,

but we can put that on the lathe,
and I'll try and do
something with it.

So there's two pieces
of detail missing

on the one that I found.

One, there's a tiny step there.

And then also,
there's an internal radius.

With the new drip tray sculpted,

Martin dips each component
in acetic acid,

a process known as acid etching,
which adds patina to the brass.

What the acid is doing now,
it's putting oxide onto the brass,

and then that's what basically ages.
It starts to age it.

After I finish
the patination process here,

I will use ammonia.

The use of ammonia
will darken the surface

to create the aged brass look
Drew wants.

And then the lead weight.

The aging on these now,
I'm really pleased with it.

I think they look really natural
and well-aged.

The oil drip tray that we changed,

if you didn't know that
we'd done it, you wouldn't know.

I enjoy restoring these things.

And you'll turn something
that was damaged, missing pieces,

and you turn it back into something
that's really functional

and beautiful basically.

It's been an educational week
for Al,

but in the antiques trade,
the learning never ends.

Today the boys are heading southeast
to investigate the possibilities

of a back garden salvage yard
tucked away in the Cotswolds.

Where are we off to today,
young man?

We're gonna see Francis Barber
Architectural Salvage.Okay.

So I think
Francis operates from home

with his wife in Kelmscott.
I haven't heard of him.

Kelmscott?Yep.
Made famous by William Morris.

It was the 19th century artist
and designer William Morris

who put the quiet Cotswold village
of Kelmscott on the map

when he rented a manor house
on the edge of the village

as a retreat
from the industrial grime of London.

In recent times,
the village has also become a haven

for a new architectural salvage
and antiques collection.

Gathered over years,
it's the collaborative venture

of district nurse Sarah Barber

and her husband,
landscape gardener Francis.

I do landscape gardening.
Have done for nearly 40 years.

So, obviously, I accumulated lots
of stuff from gardens I've cleared,

and I've bought stuff to do
gardens and landscaping.

Now's the time
to start getting rid of some of it.

We bought stuff because we thought

one day we might have
a reclamation yard.

I like collecting things like
the staddle stones and stone troughs

and then sort of
decorative antiquey things.

We're looking forward
to Drew and Al coming to see us

and get some of their opinions
about what we've got.

Hello. Good morning. Drew.
Good to meet you. Hi.

Hello, mate. Hi.
Francis. How you doing?

You can sort of guess from the road
what you do.Yes.

Love the truck, the Thames.
Yeah. Yeah, it's nice, isn't it?

Hello. Right then, okay.

I love those saddle stones.
They're nice.Yeah.

First impressions.
It's like going back to the 1940s.

Immediately, it's great fun.

I find architectural salvage yards
and architectural antiques,

without doubt, the most interesting
area for the antiques business.

And yards turn up stuff.

It's an area of the business
I really love.

What's that?That's nice.

Don't ask me what it is
because I don't know.

The pillar. Four pieces.

Are they hollow?Yes, yes.

It's a chimney.Is it?

There's no stain inside.
Yeah. It's been cleaned out,

and it's probably had a liner
or lead liners or something in it.

It's 18th century.Is it?Yeah.

We're here 30 seconds,
and on the left-hand side,

something caught my eye.
It's a carved sandstone pillar.

And straight away
I think I know what that is.

That's a decorative
chimney surround.

18th century, Cotswold stone.

And I was just pulled
straight towards it.

It's the sort of thing
you want to find in a salvage yard.

They're very nicely made.
They're particularly well-weathered.

There's hardly any damage at all.
I just love them.

I think they're very, very
beautiful pieces.

These four sections of stone are
marked with letters on the inside

to show the order
in which they fit together

to form a hollow column of cladding
for a chimney.

The size and material suggests
they may have come

from a grand local house
built in the 18th century.

Characterfully aged, these pieces
now have decorative potential,

and Drewe thinks they could be worth
around £1,450.

Would you wanna sell them?Yeah.

What do you want for them?
I wouldn't have a clue.

It's a tricky one.
Throw a figure at me.

Well, starting point, 500 quid.

Hm. I thought they was worth
a lot more, but...There you go.

This is why we have this discussion.

You know what you want for them?
I don't really know.

But you know what you don't want
for them.I think £1,500.Do you?

Yeah.Hm, that's too much.

At a back garden salvage yard
in the Cotswolds,

Drew's identified stone cladding
from the chimney

of a grand 18th century house
and is keen to buy.

You know what you want
for them.I don't know.

But you know what you don't want
for them.I think £1,500.
Do you?

Yeah.Hm, that's too much.

That's all right.
There's no money left in it for me.

So we can go £1,000.

Would £1,000 buy them?Yeah.

All right, sir.Thank you.
That was easy.Sold.

Thank you.Thank you.Thank you.
Let's keep going.Yep.

They make a really great pair
of console table bases.

Just get two and stack them
on top of each other against a wall.

Or get two sections,
put them together as they should be,

put a top on them,
you've got two small tables.

There's loads of different things
you can do with them.

Just going into Fran's
office cum collection room.

You like your toys, huh?
I like my toys.Oh, my word.

God.
Yeah.Oh, hello.

You've seen one of them
before?I have, in your house.
Yeah.

You collect them?
Erm, I've got a couple.

Would you sell that one?Yeah.Yeah?

Francis invites us to his house,
to his office,

and it's just full of toys.

Brilliant. What an office.

And on the bookshelf,
there's this wooden man

called dancing jigs, wooden jigs.
I've bought a lot of them.

I've got a particularly
very, very good one at home,

which I will never, ever, ever sell.
A local one.

Also known as limberjacks
and clogging men,

loose-limbed dancing dolls like this

provided roadside entertainment
in Europe and beyond

probably for many centuries.

In early 20th-century Britain,

buskers using them
to raise cash in the streets

were often World War I veterans.

The aged paintwork on this example

suggests it probably dates
from the early 1900s.

Al thinks it could be worth
around £250.

They're good fun, these,
aren't they?

They dance on a biscuit tin.
You know how to do it?

Can you make him dance?
Erm, what have we got?
What about on your desk or...

Your turn.It's not much of a dance.
How much is he?

£100?I'm not gonna argue with that.

Thank you.

Can we have a look
at your other storage place?

Yeah.All right?
It's just down the road.

You taking that with you?
I'll bring it with me.
Don't lose it.

They're good sellers
because they're just tactile.

They're small,
and they're boys' toys.

I've sold them to collectors
who've got 20, 30, 40, 50 of them.

And they're all individual.

They've all been made
by someone's grandfather,

in somebody's shed,
and they're all different,

and that's what's good about them.

That very rarely
is there any the same.

There's lots of
sort of timber stuff in that one.

Blimey. Well, we ain't
getting in there, are we? Easily.

They've got an old truck body
over there

full of doors
and bits of pine furniture
and this, that and the other,

but Al and I spot the same thing
at the same time.

Oy.Okay.

I like that.It's got to be about
60 odd quid, isn't it?

A little bit less than I thought,
but not much.Yeah.

£60? Yeah, it's fine.

£60. Who's buying it? Me or you?
I'll buy it.THere you go.

And it's just got that crude look
with all those knife marks.

Clean it up, wax it,

and because it's only 3 to 4 foot,

it's a great, great size
to put in the hall.

Put your shoes on or use it
in the shop to display things.

This big unit you've got
there...It's huge, isn't it?

Yeah.
It's got to be 12 foot?

Possibly.

Where do you get it from?

Came out of a farm kitchen,
didn't it?

Yeah, back of the kitchen.

What is it?
Pine with a pitch pine top, Drew?
It's all pine, yeah.Okay.

That's a big project.

It's a load of money to be spent
on that. But it's got potential.

The last container we go into,

and there's something
really rather good in there.

It's a very large 19th century
scrub top sideboard,

work table, dresser base,
whatever you wanna call it.

Big deep drawers.

It's been in a kitchen
probably all its life

or some working environment.

It's a belter.

What would you want for it?
I thought £1,500.

In that condition,
it's a bit of a stretch.

There's a figure springs to mind
that I will pay for it,

which is £800.
I don't wanna pay any more for it.

It'll cost £200 quid to shift it
so I'm gonna be in for £1,000.

And that's me done.
I can't give you any more money.

You're sure?Yeah.
Sure?Yeah, that's fine.

Thank you.Thank you very much.
Thank you.Thank you.
Thank you, mate.

Be nice to see it all restored,
actually.Yes.

My restorer is gonna
absolutely hate me.

It's going to need
two grand spending on it

to get it to the standard
where it can go into a house.

And that is two grand when
it finally gets screwed to a wall.

You're gonna be into it for £3,000,
but that will make your kitchen.

What a starting point for a kitchen.

It's fantastic.

Fab. Okay, I think we're done.
Let's go and sort some money out.

Lovely.Go from there.Thank you.

I've had a great day today.

Francis Barber Architectural Salvage
in Kelmscott.

Never been there before.

Just a good old-fashioned
salvage yard.

Best thing of the day, honestly,
that great big serving table.

That big work table.
It's a great thing.

That one's got potential.

Right, guys, thank you very much.
Thank you.

Really enjoyed it.It's been good.
It's been a pleasure.

Our carrier will be in touch
about getting that shifted.

We'll do the whole lot in one go.

Yeah, okay.
Thank you. It was lovely.

Take care. Bye-bye.
See you. Bye-bye.Bye.

Lovely people.
Really nice. Really nice people.

What a beautiful place
to live and work.I like that.

You've done all right, didn't you?
The table.

There's a bit of a job on to do it,

but I think I've got a home
for it already.

Another contact in the book.
Always another contact.

And Kelmscott on the doorstep.
Beautiful.

Before leaving the village, there's
time for another educational stop

for Al
at the nearby Kelmscott Manor,

the house
which during the late 19th century

was the country retreat
of Drew's design hero,

William Morris.

Wow.Isn't it just wonderful?

William Morris called it
the loveliest place

of ancient peace and tranquillity.
Something along those lines.

And Morris found massive inspiration
from being here.

Imagine he'd have arrived here
by carriage on the back of a horse

with his paints and his pencils.

It would have been amazing.
It's a wonderful place.

Should we have some tea and cake?
Oh, yeah.

It's been a big part of my life.
I didn't know anything about it.

Came out of school. Nothing.

Never heard his name. Nothing.

And then when I started
on my apprenticeship in '86,

scrawled on the wall near the phone.

There was a phone on the wall,
the ones you did that with.

One of those. Scrawled in pencil
on the wall, it says,

"Have nothing in your houses
that you know not to be beautiful,
believe to be useful."

I said, "Who's that?" He goes,
"That's William Morris."Oh.

And that was it. Boom.

But his whole ethos is what got me.

His whole dogged refusal

to let the 19th-century
industrialism

ruin Britain at that point,

and to remind us all
that this can all be made by hand.

And it's better if it's made by hand
for lots and lots of reasons.

And it caught on
in a very, very big way.

And boom, we have
the Arts and Crafts movement.

What a great place to be doing
all that in.It's not bad, aye.

It's not bad.
And the cake's good too.

Another great week on the road
with Professor Pritchard.

Jokes aside,
I do learn a lot from the guy.

Going into an industrial setting

and just looking
at crucibles and patterns,

seeing them in a different light.

And then giving them a new life.

Putting them into the home,
making them breathe again

when it could have just been
chucked in a skip.

And then we went to see Martin
at Ashby Lighting.

It was just great
listening to Martin and Drew

talking about different makers,
different styles,

different eras of lights.

And that's what's good
about going out with Drew.

He's been in the trade
for so many years,

he's just soaked up
so much knowledge,

and he's letting that knowledge
seep out of him,

and I'm picking up that knowledge.
I'm learning from him.

And every once in a while,
he does learn something from me.

He won't admit it, but he does.