Bourne auction rooms plays host to BBC Bargain Hunt

One of the recent features of auction houses is the arrival of TV programmes using the saleroom in a game show format. Contestants buy items – in this case from the antiques fair held at Southwell Racecourse – which are then offered at auction to see if the teams can make a profit. April saw Bargain Hunt filmed at The Bourne Auction Rooms.

Whilst Colin Young appears on the series as an expert, for this episode he was the auctioneer, with experts Mark Stacey and Raj Bisram and guest presenter Anita Manning. A little-known feature of the show is that more than one episode is filmed on the same day, so there were plenty of contestants in their red and blue tops around the saleroom and in the hospitality area. The filming started the day before, with feature shots of the items for sale and general shots. The film crew arrived at 8am on the day of the sale and the experts arrived soon after, with the contestants travelling from across the East Midlands and Yorkshire.

Of the items offered for sale on behalf of Bargain Hunt, the most unusual was a prisoner’s metal ball and chain (Lot 83). A bronze sculpture of footballers (Lot 119) received the most amount of pre-sale interest. A Shelley porcelain 24-piece part tea service (Lot 159) took the highest price and a 19th-century pokerwork style playing cards box (Lot 178) made the biggest percentage profit. Another of the less known features of the show is that if a team of contestants and their expert all make a profit on all their lots then a ‘golden gavel’ is awarded, which is actually a lapel pin. This was won by one team on the day.

A packed saleroom saw over 1,000 lots offered and not even the TV cameras could distract the eager bidders.

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