Ed Bailey (00:01.826) Right. Hi everybody and welcome to another real acquisitions podcast. Um, I'm here today with George Douglas I mean you might hi george, uh, you might have seen george. He was um On channel four's greatest auction Um an up-and-coming dealer very young very knowledgeable Very passionate as well and i'm just looking forward to speaking to you mate. So Basically, could you tell?
George Douglas (00:10.119) Hi.
Ed Bailey (00:28.314) Tell all the viewers and the listeners about yourself a little bit, George.
George Douglas (00:33.226) Well I'm George Douglas, I'm an antique dealer based in Staffordshire. I specialise in antique silver but I like anything rare and unusual.
Ed Bailey (00:41.774) Yeah, I think everybody likes that rare and unusual thing, don't they, George? It's something that you haven't seen. And so how old are you, George? 23. So you are a very young dealer because, yeah, and that is great. It's nice to see young dealers coming through, especially dealers like yourself that are really passionate about it as well, and are very knowledgeable as well for your age. Obviously, have you been doing it?
George Douglas (00:45.806) Absolutely.
George Douglas (00:50.316) Bunty free.
George Douglas (00:55.778) Absolutely.
Ed Bailey (01:11.791) since you were how young?
George Douglas (01:14.11) 10 years old I actually started with an in-developed in antiques from the age of 10.
Ed Bailey (01:16.474) Oh wow, how did, what?
Oh, what got you started? What really got you interested in it, George?
George Douglas (01:23.574) Well, I've always been passionate about collecting beautiful objects. When I was about four or five years old, I used to collect shells. And yeah, it's always been about finding things, the thrill of the chase. And, but when I reached the age of 10, I started watching programs on the television about antiques and it just fascinated me. I saw the buying and the selling. I just thought that that's what I want to do. So one weekend I went to my local antique market and there's this, there's this man, he had this box full of stuff, 50 pence each.
I couldn't believe what was in there. For 50 pence there was some really good stuff, there was there was these plates hand-painted Victorians, by some good makers as well. Obviously after watching the programmes I was familiar with the makers, Minton, Dalton and of course I live in Staffordshire which is arguably the pottery capital of the world so I was familiar with all of these big brands and able to access them quite easily and yeah and it was amazing what you could get in this box. I used to look forward to having a rummage through this box every weekend and I remember once there was this giant Minton jug.
It would have had a bowl with it originally, and it would have, you know, for washing with. And I just said to him, how much do you want for that? And he said, 50p. And I couldn't believe it, hand painted, beautiful roses on the side, massive thing, 50p.
Ed Bailey (02:30.222) Yeah, I think that's something that we should touch on actually, because we're moving into this world, aren't we, where it's all throw away stuff and every, you know, and you go, and that's the thing you can get such amazing items, can't you, for such value as well. And they've always got that craftsmanship to them when you buy an antique, haven't they? You know, so people need to get out and not be going to like the local, you know, I don't know, I'm not going to mention names of the places like that, but, but.
George Douglas (02:37.986) Yeah.
George Douglas (02:44.395) More than that.
George Douglas (02:49.41) Yeah.
George Douglas (02:56.947) Oh, I think we've...
Ed Bailey (02:59.546) just they need to get to antiques shops and markets and you know and you can find you can you can kick your home out can't you for not a lot of money basically so what sort of money oh that's cool George it'll all come through so George how much did you make is that did you make some good money what did you do did you sell it
George Douglas (03:04.147) Yeah, absolutely.
George Douglas (03:12.095) lost you a bit there.
George Douglas (03:23.939) look, I used to go through this box every weekend, I found something for 50p, used to sell it to America for about 10, 20 quid, you know, just making pocket money really at that stage just while I was at school. When I was 14 years old, I did my very first antique fair at a local place called Buxton, home of the water. They had amazing antique fairs there. And yeah, it was just amazing to have these objects that I've been accumulating for about four years, the time would have been
Ed Bailey (03:30.522) Yeah, cool.
Ed Bailey (03:41.656) Right, yeah.
George Douglas (03:51.77) and just showcase them to everybody there, have all these people, these experienced dealers come to me and say, wow, look, that's how old are you? 14. And you've got these beautiful pieces by these amazing makers. And it just really gave me that buzz that, you know, inspired me to go further with it and see what else, you know, can continue. And that's exactly what I did when I reached the age of 18. I left full-time education and set up my business. And here we are today. I'm 23 years old and still dealing in antiques, but of course, on a much bigger scale now. But it's all from that.
going up to the antique markets, buying the stuff for 50p, that's what got me started.
Ed Bailey (04:24.666) Yeah, and that gets you that learning curve, doesn't it, as well? And it teaches you how to, especially when you stall out at antiques fairs, you learn to speak to people, you learn to talk to people, you learn to...
George Douglas (04:36.854) You meet people, don't you? Yeah, contacts that you'll still, you know, always have on your books. If they want to buy something from you, if they want to sell you anything, they'll get in touch and say, look, George, I've got this. Are you interested in that? Yes, I am interested in it. And yeah, it's just about building the contacts and to be able to have done that from the age of 10, build all these contacts, build this amazing knowledge up from such a young age, it's really going to help me in the future and help me now.
Ed Bailey (05:05.217) Yeah. Well, it sounds as though you're doing really well for yourself now as well. I mean, you've got some great clients, haven't you? You deal out into America, don't you?
George Douglas (05:14.03) clients in Hollywood, I've got clients all around the world. I've got a client in Budapest who buys from me quite regularly, who just selects a huge number of stuff from my stock and just says, I want that, will you ship it all to me? I've got clients, I've got a client who likes Bentley related objects. So anything to do with Bentley or car memorabilia like that, they get in touch and they say, have you got anything George? And I show them something that's really, you know, unique. If it's something they haven't seen before, they're like, wow, what's that? I want that. So, yeah. And, and,
Yeah, I think that's the key to isn't it? Repeat business, you want to build a good rapport with your clients so they keep coming back.
Ed Bailey (05:50.47) Yeah, no, I think that is very key as well, is build that rapport. Most clients that you build are gonna be clients that come back as well, you know, because you found them something special, haven't you?
George Douglas (06:01.79) Look, they think you've got good stuff they're going to want to keep coming back to you. They're going to say, George, he's got good stuff. Let's keep an eye on what he's selling.
Ed Bailey (06:10.588) So a tip for someone starting, where would you say for a young dealer starting, what would be the best thing to do? Do their research, go and have a go to an antiques market, speak to certain dealers. What do you reckon?
George Douglas (06:22.022) way to learn is from experience. You've got to get out there, you've got to buy something, you've got to, even if you make a mistake, it's okay to make a couple of mistakes. But what you want to be doing really is, you can, I mean reading the books, it definitely helps grow your knowledge. Like I say, watching the programmes is what, on the television is what made me familiar with these makers. And reading the books as well, you saw things in the books and you're like, I've seen that somewhere before. I know where I've seen that. I'm going to buy, here it is for 50p, I'm going to buy it.
But the best way to learn is to get out there, go to the markets, go to the fairs, go to the car boot sales, probably best car boot sales actually when you're first starting out because you can get some real good bargains there. And just buy something. If you like it, buy it because if you like it the chances are someone else is going to. So just buy it, have it take a punt, take a gamble and just try and sell it to somebody. Take it into your local antique shop. Just say, I've just bought this, what do you think of it?
and they might want to buy it off you, they might give you some tips of where's best to sell it, and yeah absolutely, experience is the best way to learn I think.
Ed Bailey (07:18.606) And then you touched about TV programs there, obviously watching TV programs. I mean, we all love to watch a TV program, don't we, an antiques program. Even if it's antiques roadshow, salvage hunters, all of these ones, they're all good for learning because you learn sort of the rough value of items, don't you, or items that you need to look out for. But then of course you were involved in the Greatest Orchard and that was sort of like another level, wasn't it, George?
George Douglas (07:29.14) Yeah.
George Douglas (07:35.854) Absolutely.
Ed Bailey (07:48.474) with some of the items that were in there, because you will also contribute. Sorry, can you hear me again though?
George Douglas (07:51.426) Sorry, I've lost you there. Yeah, you've come back now.
Ed Bailey (07:57.723) Yeah, so you're involved in the greatest auction and that was just another level wasn't it George? I mean some of the items in that but
George Douglas (08:01.383) Absolutely.
George Douglas (08:04.782) absolutely amazing. Some beautiful, what I describe as antiques of the future, you know, these amazing objects that they may not be 100 years old yet, so not, you know, a traditional antique but they're antiques of the future, these fun, exciting things. And I think that program was amazing for getting young people into antiques because it showed these real fun objects and it just made, it just showed you that antiques can be fun. For anybody who's got the stereotypical view that antiques are a bit boring, there's anything but, you know, the thrill of the chase, seeing what you can find, there's nothing more exciting
Ed Bailey (08:34.95) Yeah, that was another thing, wasn't it? It was items that sort of gave you that wow and sort of like wow factor, wasn't it, with that? I mean, you bought the Tommy Cooper face. I mean, that, that is, yeah, I mean, have you still got it?
George Douglas (08:49.226) an extraordinary thing. Yeah. I bought it as an
George Douglas (08:55.862) Sorry, sorry, what was that? Cut out again.
Ed Bailey (08:57.274) Have you, sorry George, yeah sorry the line isn't the best, is it George, for you? Right, hang on a minute.
George Douglas (09:01.406) Yeah, that's true.
Ed Bailey (09:04.846) So the Tommy Cooper Fez, yeah, have you still got that?
George Douglas (09:09.231) I have, I'm hanging on to it for now. I bought it as an investment because I think the real value in this is in years to come. Tommy Cooper is one of the greatest comedians and entertainers of all time. And to be able to own such a significant part of his act is truly extraordinary. And I'm in no rush to sell it. I'm going to hang on to it because I think it's always going to keep its value. It's one of those things that you can just say that you have. I've got Tommy Cooper's fez and it's just going to encourage your buyers to see what else you've got.
but also it's going to be something that I can sell at any point and make a good profit on. But Tommy Cooper is always going to be, anything related to Tommy Cooper is always going to retain its value and for that reason, what better thing to invest your money into?
Ed Bailey (09:48.706) Yeah, and so what was that? What else did you buy, George? I can't remember, no, sorry.
George Douglas (09:52.458) I bought the, I tried to buy the cape, but unfortunately didn't get there. What I did was I bit, I was hoping to swoop in and grab it at the end. It was on 800. I thought I'll see if I can get it. Cause if I can get it for 800, I could perhaps sell it for a thousand, make a quick profit, sweet to net 800, but missed out. It went well above that. It went, I can't remember what it went for probably about 1,005 was it? I think, but yeah, I did win.
Ed Bailey (10:14.526) That was a piece of Kate and William's wedding cake, wasn't it? Yes, yes, yes. I mean that was ridiculous because the cake, how much did the cake... Yeah, and the good thing about the cake is as well, is cake that, them fruit cakes, they don't go off do they? So you can literally...
George Douglas (10:17.186) I think that piece of William and Kate's, yeah.
George Douglas (10:25.23) It was very interesting, yeah.
George Douglas (10:35.242) No, you can put alcohol on it. You can preserve it, can't you? So it's always gonna...
Ed Bailey (10:39.615) Yes, so it's preserved for years and years, isn't it, that one? And then you will also contribute.
George Douglas (10:43.252) Absolutely.
If I was, I wasn't, I wasn't gonna eat it if I bought it. I know I did get eaten didn't it by the Yeah
Ed Bailey (10:50.478) Yeah, I think so. I think they had a bite of it. I'm not sure they ate the whole thing, but I think they definitely had a bite of it. And you were also a contributor as well weren't you? You had an item that you took onto the greatest auction as well.
George Douglas (11:04.094) Absolutely. I thought of a fork that belonged to Saddam Hussein, which is a it's a very controversial item yet. But it's a piece of modern history. And I think it's important to tell stories like that on television so we can learn from the past. And it was just a really interesting object. I purchased it from an American seller. I didn't go out looking for the fork. I bought something else from this seller. And like I was saying to you, repeat business, repeat clients, I had to look what else they had for sale. And I just saw this, it was this is Saddam Hussein's fork.
So I've got to buy this. I want to find out more about that. It's really intriguing. I got it, it was made by Christoffel, who are a luxury tableware manufacturer. They're still going today. They still make silver plate. I don't know if you've ever heard of the Mood Egg, but that's something they make today. It's an egg, you open it up and it's got a cutlery inside. It's actually something that's quite popular with the Kardashians, I believe. Yeah, they're still going today. And they're making wares for, like I say,
Ed Bailey (11:47.878) Okay.
Ed Bailey (11:51.79) Oh yes, I've seen them, yes, yeah.
Ed Bailey (11:57.018) Right, okay.
George Douglas (12:03.626) celebrities, luxury clients and Saddam Hussein was one of them in the 1970s, 1980s when it was made. And on the cartouche of the fork it was marked with the eagle of Saladin or the Iraq military eagle, republic eagle, whatever you want to call it. And yeah, it was marked by Christoffel, the maker's mark for Christoffel was on the back. It was silver plated and it was just really interesting, really interesting objects. And there would have obviously been loads of them, would have been this
George Douglas (12:34.222) There was a, but you're not gonna, it's not something you come across every day. If you go to an antique fair, you don't expect to find Saddam Hussein's sport there. And I think that's why the buyers got so excited about it because it was.
Ed Bailey (12:42.318) It was certainly a different one, that one for sure. And it really made your imagination go to that where Saddam Hussein would have had it and his palace, because it would have been the absolute opulence and decadence and absolute amazingness, wouldn't it? Because there was no end to his money sort of, and he's just, you know.
George Douglas (12:53.646) Absolutely.
George Douglas (12:58.99) Uh... Yeah-
Ed Bailey (13:07.246) was yeah ridiculous so where do you think that thought came from do you think that was a soldier brought it back or something like that
George Douglas (13:13.87) US troops raided Saddam Hussein's palace after his fall in 2003 and they took small souvenirs home with them. There would have only been small things like, it would have been, like example, the fork or photo frames, just things they could put in there, in their bag and tape with them from the palace. And Saddam Hussein's fort was one of them. And obviously the person who I bought it from was a dealer. They'd obviously, I don't know how they'd acquired it, they're probably from a soldier who perhaps sold it to them. But yeah.
Ed Bailey (13:15.73) Yeah.
George Douglas (13:39.894) it was just something that somebody would have took home with them. And they were known, it was quite common, they were known as war trophies because it was a trophy from war and what better trophy than an actual object that's come from the palace of Saddam Hussein?
Ed Bailey (13:54.395) So, and also on the Grace auction, you also bid and won on the celebrity hair, wasn't it?
George Douglas (14:02.994) extraordinary. It's one of my, it's one of my very favourite purchases that I made. Obviously the Feds, well I only made two purchases didn't I, I bought the Feds and this. The Feds was my favourite from an investment perspective but from a, from a business perspective it was the hair because I could split it up and sell it all separately and I've actually sold a number of them now but the one that I thought I would sell first was Marilyn Monroe and I'm quite surprised that I still have that. I contacted the client that I had in mind
to buy the Marilyn Monroe, but he was actually more intrigued by the Nelson one and he bought the Nelson one. So I'm still left with the Marilyn Monroe one now, I'm in no hurry to sell it. As you can see there's a little strand of hair.
Ed Bailey (14:33.798) Really?
Ed Bailey (14:41.478) So what was in the lot, George? Just tell everybody that hasn't seen the...
George Douglas (14:44.354) There's quite a number of them. There was John Lennon, JFK, um...
I'm just trying to think. There's all these big iconic names. What they didn't mention on the show, which I think is important to touch on, is the provenance of them. They have such amazing provenance. A lot of them were actually taken from the dead body by the person who did the autopsy. From an ethical perspective, that sounds a bit morbid, doesn't it? But from a historical perspective, that's absolutely fascinating to think that these pieces of hair were taken.
Ed Bailey (14:54.374) Marilyne Mum. Yeah.
George Douglas (15:19.446) by the person doing the autopsy from each of these people's dead body.
Ed Bailey (15:22.662) Wow, that's incredible. That's really important actually, George, that is, and actually that's probably makes them a little bit more interesting to.
George Douglas (15:31.102) Absolutely. It's all on the back. It says about them. No, not on the back. Sorry. It says here all about them. Just worried you'll get a shit load and you won't be able to see them. But yeah, it says all about them. And yeah, about I'll just yeah, there's a lot to read there. So I won't read it all. But what I'll say is, yeah, it just says, yeah, they were taken from the dead body by the person doing the autopsy, really. And they're just
Ed Bailey (15:41.97) Wow.
Ed Bailey (15:57.542) That's really cool actually. That's sort of, that makes them, for me, it makes them a little bit more interesting because you're sort of.
George Douglas (16:02.068) Yeah.
And they were, I presume they would have of course been sold to Louis Mushro, who was a dealer in celebrity hair. That's who, they did mention that on the show, Louis Mushro. He actually for a living deals in celebrity hair, which was, I don't know if he's still going now, but it's absolutely extraordinary to think that somebody makes a living off celebrities hair. Yeah.
Ed Bailey (16:26.559) it's strange isn't it but obviously they're highly also probably highly collectible I mean you get these people who are super fans of these people and I mean what more you are you own a part of someone
George Douglas (16:32.385) Yep.
George Douglas (16:37.334) Yeah. For me, that's what I mean, people want autographs. There's all this big demand for autographs. To me, an actual piece of something is far more fascinating. I mean, autographs, they're great. I mean, come on, great.
Ed Bailey (16:43.568) Yeah.
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's a part of the person, isn't it? You know, an autograph has been signed and their energy, I suppose, have sort of been put into it a little bit. But the actual hair, you've actually sort of got their DNA, basically, haven't you? You know? Yeah, no, they're great as well. I mean, Marilyn Monroe must be worth a fortune. You know, I'm surprised. I don't know, anybody can go and watch and see what you paid for.
George Douglas (16:51.935) the part of the
George Douglas (17:06.624) lost it.
George Douglas (17:13.89) Sorry, I keep glitching, keep losing you.
Ed Bailey (17:17.286) That's fine George. Yeah, so sorry. Sorry. Yeah, we've got a little bit of a bad signal here everybody, but we're working well with it So basically, um George I was saying about Marilyn Monroe I mean obviously people could go and watch the Greatest auction I know what you paid but I would say that would be worth a lot of money, you know Because she was such a high profile celebrity and to actually have her hair and her hair was obviously an important part of how beautiful She was
George Douglas (17:31.232) Yeah.
George Douglas (17:42.637) Yeah.
Ed Bailey (17:43.63) You know that really is. So if anybody wants to, if they've seen this and anybody wants to reach out, how do they find you? Um, George, where's the best of
George Douglas (17:51.312) social media. I've always loved to hear from people.
Ed Bailey (17:55.81) Yeah, so, so in a year, so where whereabouts are you on if they want to find you on social media? What's your handles and stuff? Where are you?
George Douglas (18:03.463) Sorry, I'm getting quite bad at car, I can't hear what you're saying, sorry.
Ed Bailey (18:07.206) Right, I'm just gonna try and move that for a minute, George. We'll just stop a minute and I'll just move it a minute, mate. See if I can pick it up a bit better.
Ed Bailey (18:31.91) Right, I'm back. Hopefully that should be better. Can you hear me now? Is that any better? Yeah, cool. It will clear it all up and we'll cut that bit all out, mate, anyway. Yeah, so George, Marilyn Monroe's hair. Yeah, so that's what we were talking about. Now, yeah, it's an amazing piece, isn't it? Because it's actually her DNA. I mean, if someone might be interested in-
George Douglas (18:35.274) Yeah. Yep.
George Douglas (18:50.646) Absolutely, yeah.
George Douglas (18:56.123) Yeah. I like a piece of her hair, an actual piece of her DNA. It's, yeah.
Ed Bailey (18:59.362) Yeah, it's brilliant. So if someone might be interested in, who might be listening or watching this, and might be interested in purchasing some of your items, where do they find you, George? Where, what is your handles on Instagram, or are you on other social media, or do you have a website?
George Douglas (19:16.958) of, I'm on a number of different social medias. I'm on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, all various different platforms. My username is at georgedouglasTV and you can just see a range of different objects that I've had in the past that some objects that I still have now and I've done some videos as well about some of my stuff and yeah it's just great. It's a lot about silver because that's what I specialize in. When I first started out...
as I say, I live in Staffordshire, which is the pottery capital of the world. So it was only natural that my interest began with ceramics. I live about half an hour away from where Moorcroft is made and where Dalton used to be made and all these amazing factories. And I was able to access these pieces that no one else in the country was able to, who didn't live in the area, was able to find. And I could sell them all around the world to America and yeah, most prominently America and, but of course ceramics are quite breakable.
So I wanted to find a new passion, a new love, a new genre of antique and that was antique silver. And my favourite type of antique silver personally is Chester silver, because unlike Birmingham and Sheffield for example, Chester stopped assaying silver in 1962. So it's just that little bit rarer. Of course obviously Newcastle silver is the rarest English silver that you can get. I was looking out for Newcastle silver when I go down to auction.
Ed Bailey (20:30.747) Okay.
George Douglas (20:37.694) but I can only ever see spoons and cutlery, it's a bit boring, I want something exciting, like a tankard, a bowl, you know. I'm still looking out for any now, so if anyone has any Newcastle Silver, get in touch with me, because I'd love to own a piece of Newcastle Silver, which is something I haven't yet got to do.
Ed Bailey (20:52.874) Oh, that's really cool. So is that where you go? Do you go to auctions? Is that your main place of buying?
George Douglas (20:58.466) I've gone to auctions, I buy from auctions online all around the world. I go to antique shops whenever I'm out somewhere. Even when I go on holiday, it's a bit like a busman's holiday, I go into every antique shop, see what I can find. It's just a bug, isn't it? They say, don't they? Obviously, I'm not at that age yet, but when I get to that age, they say you never retire from this business because it's like an addiction, isn't it? But a good addiction. And you're always going to want to go in an antique shop and just out of curiosity, see what's there.
and if it's something you haven't seen before at a good price you're going to want to buy it.
Ed Bailey (21:31.126) It's that has that treasure hunting aspect of it, doesn't it? I mean, is there anything that you've bought in the past that is been really like you've made loads of money on and you've what's been your best sort of buy in the past, George?
George Douglas (21:45.654) honestly these are my best things I hang on to for as long as possible I don't want to sell them but I always but you know I always try and buy the best quality because when you buy quality you can't go wrong it doesn't matter even if you pay a lot for it doesn't matter because if it's something that no one else can have sky's the limit you just got to find someone who wants to give you value is really just be a matter of opinion if somebody wants if somebody sees it and they think I'll pay whatever I have to get it then it's then sky's the limit in terms of
Ed Bailey (21:50.142) No, not yet.
Ed Bailey (21:57.739) Mm-mm.
George Douglas (22:14.646) value and if you have that piece that no one else can have, you have the monopoly to charge whatever you want for it, whatever you feel is a fair and good price, because obviously it's hard to part with certain objects and you've got to, if you sell it too cheap, you're going to forever regret it, you're going to be like, why did I sell that so cheaply? I wish I hadn't sold that. I remember I had this trophy once, it was a BBC Greyhound award, silver plaque at the bottom, a solid bronze Greyhound at the top and it had this little
you know the little BBC, you know like the Sports Personality Awards, the camera, had that up. When I first started out I bought that for 150 quid, sold it for 500, which was a brilliant profit, very good profit, but I regret selling it because you can't find, I'm never going to find another one of them. And it's just like, why did I sell it? Why can't I just, I can buy things I can buy.
Ed Bailey (22:45.583) Yeah.
Ed Bailey (22:51.482) Nice.
Ed Bailey (23:00.688) But that's the thing, George, being a dealer, you have to learn to let go, don't you as well? Because obviously you've got to get the funds coming in so you can buy other items. And then also you have to have enough funds coming in so you can keep them items as an investment, like what you did with the Fez. So you're gonna sit on that and watch the value of that rise and it's an investment. And I think that's another thing with yourself as well.
George Douglas (23:04.958) Yeah.
Ed Bailey (23:27.002) being a dealer in silver, you know that you're sort of never really gonna lose money with metals like gold and...
George Douglas (23:33.258) Yeah, because they're always going to have scrap value, even though I always say don't scrap things, unless it's the two B's, bullion or broken, don't scrap it. Because it's such a shame to because as an object, it's always going to have a value higher than scrap. And if you struggle to sell it, I understand why people might decide to scrap it for quick, you know, get it gone quickly. But I just think it's wrong if it's an item in perfect order, because there's always going to be somebody who wants it to buy it as an object.
Ed Bailey (23:42.77) Hmm.
Ed Bailey (23:49.579) Mm-hmm.
Ed Bailey (24:02.542) All those people that scrap it, George, what they're doing there, obviously they need the money, I suppose, and they're scrapping it. The thing is, what they're doing is, they're actually making your items more valuable because it's becoming less and less and less because they're getting scrapped. So especially with silverware like yourself, because probably quite a lot of cutlery and sort of things, silverware does get scrapped now, doesn't it?
George Douglas (24:02.7) and
George Douglas (24:15.759) Yeah, yeah, there is.
Ed Bailey (24:29.518) So it's almost making your items more valuable.
George Douglas (24:29.643) Yeah.
George Douglas (24:33.498) there is that side to it as well when you think about it from a business perspective. It is good that people are scrapping some silver objects because they're becoming rarer, but if it's a really good quality thing like a big massive silver tray or a big massive jug, it's just criminal to put it in the melting pot. If it's a little spoon, yeah, put it, yeah, scrap it, why not? But if it's a giant piece of silver that's had so much love and care and attention put into it, you don't want to be putting that in the melting pot.
Ed Bailey (24:43.535) Yeah, you-
Ed Bailey (24:49.638) It is.
Ed Bailey (25:00.771) No, it's crazy that people do that. I just can't say, you know, it really is.
George Douglas (25:03.382) Yeah. And they think that's the best way to make money. Let's get the...it's got this value as metal. Let's put it...but no, you just want to sell it as an object because somebody's going to want it. Because it's going to hold, like you say, hold its value. It's always going to have the scrap value, but it's going to have a retail value as well as a piece.
Ed Bailey (25:23.354) Well, hopefully there'll be no silver scrapers out there watching or listening to this, but if you are, stop scrapping basically. Yeah. So George, what are your plans in the future? Have you got anything planned? Anything good coming up?
George Douglas (25:31.346) Yeah.
George Douglas (25:39.182) Well, I'm talking about a few projects at the moment, television projects, which I can't discuss at this time, but Yeah, they're gonna be great. It's gonna be exciting. I'll just show you this very quickly Really really nice hand-painted there Absolutely beautiful and it's actually a comb
Ed Bailey (25:57.178) Oh wow, right, explain this to people who aren't watching, they're listening. Describe it for us, George, with your...
George Douglas (26:03.75) What we have here is it's a little comb here, very, very tiny, very tiny comb. It's beautifully hand painted. It's almost like a ballroom scene. You know, you could, for those of you can see it, you can just see the beauty, but I'm going to try and describe it now. Absolutely gorgeous. Somebody sat and painted this with written seeds. I don't think it's quite that old. Um, I'd say perhaps, yeah, yeah. Uh, all hand painted there so beautifully. And yeah, it's a comb.
Ed Bailey (26:21.71) Is it Georgian? Georgian is it Georgian?
Victorian is it?
George Douglas (26:33.39) It's silver gilt at the front there, engine turned on the back. And it's actually Austrian. It's 935, so it's got a continental mark, Austrian silver, but it was retailed by A&Co, Asprey & Co. So the artist I presume is also Austrian. They've sat and hand painted this. It's signed by them at the bottom. And that's, I think it says El Semla at the bottom there.
Ed Bailey (26:37.798) Wow.
George Douglas (26:59.922) and they sat and painted this with probably the tiniest little paintbrush you can ever imagine. And yeah, it's obviously, I'd say it's import or export silver, and of course it's made in Austria and hand-painted, presumably like I say by an Austrian artist, and then it's been shipped here in the UK to be retailed by Asprey. And if you look at the quality of it, you can see why a luxury prestigious jeweller like Asprey would want to retail it because it's so extraordinary.
Ed Bailey (27:26.202) Wow, I mean who would...
George Douglas (27:27.798) got the hallmarks I don't know if you can see those clearly on your end but yeah A&CO, just a beautiful
Ed Bailey (27:31.546) Wow. It's an incredible, isn't it? I mean, like you say, the data and the time that would have taken just to hand paint that and then it and it really, it really makes you think about the people that will be buying these and using these combs. I mean, this they would be high.
George Douglas (27:40.21) Absolutely. It's not just about weeks, no, months, maybe years, who knows? It depends how slow they are to do it. But, gorgeous.
George Douglas (27:53.862) Yeah, I mean you can, nowadays if you, if you, it's so fragile you'd want to use it but it's, it's museum quality isn't it, it's something that you want to just keep on display, really look after.
Ed Bailey (28:03.43) Wow.
Thanks for showing that George, it's really cool that is I really like that as well because that's
George Douglas (28:09.384) Nope. I just thought, if we've been a silver deal, I want to bring a piece of silver to show you as well, so. Heh.
Ed Bailey (28:12.73) Yeah, that's right. So also you were talking about projects in the future. You've got a few things going on. Keep an eye out for George because I'm sure you're gonna go far, mate. Definitely. I mean, your enthusiasm is brilliant.
George Douglas (28:27.694) I'm really passionate about what I do and I love to portray that on screen.
Ed Bailey (28:31.37) Yeah, and I think loads of people have seen you and really enjoy watching you and watching your enthusiasm, mate. So yeah, so if you like George, go and check him out. He's on Instagram, TikTok, all that stuff. Just put George Douglas in your Google bar or whatever, and then off you go, you'll find George. If you haven't seen Channel 4's greatest auction, you'll see George in action there, selling. Yeah, yeah, he was buying, you know, bidding on items as well. It's great fun.
George Douglas (28:53.45) Definitely worth a watch.
Ed Bailey (28:59.642) you know, please go and have a watch in that. And thank you, George. We're up to the sort of half an hour and it's been really great to speak to you, mate. And thank you for coming on the Real Acquisitions podcast. Thanks, George. Right, I'm just gonna stop it now, mate.
George Douglas (29:03.883) No problem, really no-
George Douglas (29:08.838) Brilliant. Thank you.
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