A first-look clip at BBC Bargain Hunt star Irita Marriott's new show, The Derbyshire Auction House, shows the antiques expert take part in a truly remarkable sale.
In what Marriott has called "the greatest thing I’ve ever sold", the scenes that will air on Really on Monday evening see one guest's item sell for 100 times what it was valued at.
Mother and son duo Helen and Ben are the guests who are on the receiving end of the incredible feat after they bring in an old photograph found in a family hallway to go under the gavel.
Marriott is introduced to the pair at Helen’s Bedfordshire home where they are searching for hidden treasures in order to cover the costs of care home fees for Helen’s husband and Ben’s father, Alan, who suffers from dementia.
"It can’t be easy for them," Marriott says on her way to meet the duo in her new show.
She continues: "These items are things that they’ve lived with all their lives, and now that Alan’s gone into care, it’s probably going to be really sad to see them go.”
Irita Marriott launched her own auction house earlier this year
REALLY
Alan had worked for a regional arts association, promoting cinema and photography, and in the family’s hallway Marriott finds an intriguing collection of original, signed images by prolific photographers.
Keen to see how they'll fare in the auction house, Marriott packs up the prints and whisks them away to be sold.
But there's one that catches the eye of some punters, in particular, although the photograph is initially given a modest price of £80 and £120.
The photo far exceeds expectations as it is sold for an astonishing £12,000 after a hugely competitive bidding process.
Irita Marriott meets Helen and Ben in her new Really series
REALLY
An emotional Helen and Ben can only watch on with their jaws on the floor as the bidding goes beyond their wildest dreams.
Tragically, it's revealed that Alan died before the prints went under the gavel but his son confirms the proceeds will now be used to “give Dad a good send-off”.
Ben tells viewers: “I was absolutely gobsmacked at the values people were willing to bid for what we thought were just nice pictures... that we saw on the wall every day. Absolutely brilliant.”
Marriott gushes towards the end of the episode: "I loved every moment of being involved in it. It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever sold.
“I told Helen and Ben that they might be in for a surprise, and what a surprise it was!
"An absolutely phenomenal result on the pictures – and a perfect tribute to Alan.”
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Marriott opened her own auction house and began filming for her new show away from the BBC earlier this year for a rather heartwarming reason.
"I thought it was time for a change and the Auction House was the next obvious thing," she told Hello!.
"Being a dealer, I am my business. If I have a day off, I don't earn and I have nothing I can pass on to my boys when the time comes.
"But at the same time, there's absolutely zero pressure. But by having an auction house it gives them the option," she confessed.
