Tahmina and David were both disappointed at auction
An Antiques Road Trip expert said ‘oh dear Lord, hold me’ after a ‘travesty’ at auction. New expert Tahmina Ghaffar was up against familiar face David Harper in a new best of five series this week. The experts were in search of a bargain in the North East. While on the road, they each collected five items from local shops, within their budget of £200 each.
Tahmina is an expert in Indian and Islamic art from London. She is currently head of department at Chiswick Auctions and is testing her luck on the BBC show. She was keen to make a better impression after yesterday’s unfortunate performance. Overall, she made a £123.24 loss during the first auction of the week, compared to David’s £27.70 profit.
With the hopes of taking home the win, Tahmina got her hands on a coffee pot, a rose water sprinkler, two brooches and a bronze peacock. Meanwhile, David bagged himself a dog painting, a leather mask, a Turkish vase, a glass mug and a glass bottle collection.
As they both arrived at the auction held at Morley auctioneers. Tahmina said she was “a little bit less confident than I used to be”, but still wanted to win the competition. But the auction did not get off to the best start for the newbie, as her rose water sprinkler suffered a £7 loss.
David said: “What can I say- it could have been worse.” But David spoke too soon, as the bids for his glass bottle collection started at just £1. He said: “Oh dear Lord. Hold on to me” when someone offered him a “pity bid.” In the end, the collection sold for £1.
Similarly, Tahmina’s silver brooch was a “travesty”, and even David said he was “disappointed.” Bought for £30, the auctioneer struggled to sell the item, starting bids at £30 and eventually letting the brooch go for £15. The auctioneer said: “Thank goodness.”
At last, she managed to make a £10 profit on her other silver brooch from WW2. The luck continued for her coffee pot which made £17 profit. But, it was David’s green man leather mask which stole the show. Looking at the unique item, Tahmina joked: “It’s definitely something!”
Bought for £40, the mask sold for a whopping £100. The experts shouted: “No way!” and “Are you joking?” after the unbelievable profit to finish off the auction.
Despite a promising end to the auction, both experts failed to make a profit overall. In the end, Tahmina suffered a £61 loss, while David made a slightly smaller loss of £52.38. David is now 2-0 ahead in the best of five series, with three more chances for the newbie to change the scores.
At the end of the week, all profits will go to Children in Need. The best of five series on Antiques Road Trip continues on BBC One tomorrow at 4.30pm.