TV auctioneer and antiques expert is visiting two Torridge venues this month

Television auctioneer and antiques expert Charles Hanson, who has appeared on Bargain Hunt, Flog It! and Antiques Road Trip will be visiting two venues in Torridge this month – with locals urged to bring their treasures for valuation.

The walk-in valuation sessions with Charles will be held at the Plough Arts Centre in Great Torrington from 11am to 1pm on Wednesday, January 21 and in the afternoon at Hatherleigh Community Centre from 2.30pm to 4.30pm.

No appointment is needed, people are invited to drop in with their antiques, jewellery or collectibles to see if they have been holding on to a hidden gem.

READ NEXT: UK weather latest: Blizzard conditions possible on Exmoor as Storm Goretti approaches

Charles said: “I love Devon and can’t wait to discover all the treasures it has to offer. I’ll be on the look-out for highly collectable silverware with the Exeter assay mark of a three-turreted castle.

“Exeter’s office closed in 1883, meaning silver with this mark is far less common than that of London or Birmingham.”

Charles is also the host of a new TV show called Secrets of the Auction House, which sees the 47-year-old and his team unearth forgotten antiques around the UK.

He is based at Hanson’s Auctioneers’ HQ at Etwall, near Derby – one of 11 salerooms across the country – including one in Penzance.

Charles added: “But we’re not just looking for antiques. With the price of gold being the highest it has been since the 1970s, jewellery tucked away in trinket boxes is currently selling for huge amounts.

“When people bring in what they think are worthless bits of costume jewellery, their jaws drop when I tell them that it could be worth thousands.

“I always say every house has one great valuable squirreled away and nothing gives me more pleasure than unearthing them.”

Charles is also keen to discover anything with a unique Devon connection.

He said: “It would also be great to find something linked to the county’s maritime past such as scrimshaw, or a distinctly West Country piece of oak furniture from the 16th to 18th centuries, such as chests, coffers, dressers or ever-popular joint stools.”

At one walk-in valuation in Birmingham, a blue and white Chinese pot, known to the family simply as ‘Aunt Beryl’s vase’, went on to sell for £800,000.

Charles said: “No appointment is necessary, just turn up with your hidden treasures and, who knows, you could discover you are sitting on a goldmine.”

READ NEXT: Community launches fight against ‘horrific’ cuts planned for a Torridge library