Bring out your valuables say auctioneers in Huddersfield

THEY turned up with hope in their hearts and their belongings in plastic bags.

They’d watched the programmes on TV and seen how a vase used as a doorstop or an old painting tucked away in an attic, could change their lives.

The reality, for many, was different.

But antiques valuation expert Joe Cotterill was able to bring a smile to many faces yesterday.

He was in Huddersfield on a 150-venue whistlestop tour of venues around the UK, offering free valuations for family heirlooms and collections.

And there was a glimmer of hope among the stamps, the postcards, the coins and the medals trotted out in a room at the Briar Court Hotel that something may be a classic find.

Sadly, for the 60 or so seeking advice yesterday, that wasn’t the case.

But many of them did ask Joe, of auctioneers Warwick and Warwick, to sell on their items after he said they could well be of interest.

One of those who turned up was Ron Thomas, of Bradley, who took along his stamp collection.

Mr Thomas, 66, has been collecting stamps for 60 years and was particularly keen to see what rough value could be put on them – especially a Penny red and stamps of King George VI, in view of the hit film The King’s Speech, and ones bearing both Hitler and Mussolini.

“I came across the collection in the loft and went along. Sadly, it wasn’t of great value but he did say it was a good collection.

“The Penny Red is worth about 50p because there were 100,000 of them produced every year for 40 years. But I enjoyed the chance to have someone look at my collection”.

Mr Cotterill said: “It is a good time to have a look to see what things are worth and to consider putting them up for sale.

“There are serious collectors out there, who have money in the bank that is bringing them very little interest, and they always want good investments.

“The trip to Huddersfield was very interesting. We have left with more than 30 boxes of stuff that people want us to sell, ranging from coins and stamps to a collection of 1950s railway track and model engines.

“A lot of people do have stuff they are unsure about and that’s the purpose of days like this.

“The TV shows do build up expectations and we all read about the Chinese vase worth more than £50m. The reality is that when they film those TV shows, they are filming something that looks good on TV and it’s not always true to life.”