BUSINESSMAN Carl Hopkins is making a return to the small screen.
The former Channel 4 Secret Millionaire is taking part in the same channel’s Four Rooms – in a bid to sell his collection of 3,253 Marvel Comics.
The new eight-part series – billed as Antiques Roadshow meets Deal or No Deal –Šlifts the lid on the world of buying and selling all manner of collectibles, from shrunken heads to Dinky cars.
Each episode gives an insight into the compelling nitty-gritty world of how deals are struck as well as fascinating information and history about a dazzling and surprising array of objects.
Carl joins other collectors who try and sell their items for big money to one of four of the country’s leading buyers – Jeff Salmon, Gordon Watson, Andrew Lamberty and Emma Hawkins – all of whom are spending their own cash.
But there’s a twist. The buyers are each located in separate rooms and the seller can only hear their offers one by one.
The seller can decide to turn down the proposition and move to the next room, but once they’ve turned down an offer it’s gone forever and there’s no going back.
Carl, of Clifton, Brighouse, was picked to appear on the show due to his extensive collection of Marvel comics, which he built up over 17 years from 1982 to 1995.
Some of his comics date back to the early 1960s.
Carl spent a day in London filming the show in January this year in a bid to sell the collection to the four dealers.
Speaking about the show, he said: “I had a bottom figure of £3,200, which works out at just about £1 per publication. Although many are worth less, lots of them are worth more.
“After hearing the dealers’ comments about my collection, I made my ‘pitch’ and then went to visit each dealer in their own room.
“I got to choose the order in which to see the dealers, although they never get to know the order in which they are being seen, so hopefully they give you their best offer.
“The point of the show is not to simply build the personal brand of the four dealers or to send us all scurrying off to find some gem of an item in our attics, but to also focus on negotiation – something which I found fascinating.
“All in all, I had a great day and I think it will surprise a few people when they see me on the programme as they may have me pigeon-holed as an entrepreneur, marketer or motivational speaker.
