Antiques Road Trip expert Philip Serrell was shut down over a “bargain” buy, with the seller exclaiming, “Come on” during a classic episode of the series.
While travelling from Darlington to Doncaster to find precious art pieces and hidden treasures, Philip arrived at Rudby House, a popular antiques and decor store in North Yorkshire.
The auctioneer quickly set his sights on a pristine squeezebox, a hand-held musical instrument that is operated by squeezing in and drawing out – such as an accordian.
“This is a squeezebox that was made in London,” Philip explained, with the shop’s owner, Sandy, revealing that it was created in 1891.
After giving the instrument a try, Philip said: “Oh, that’s terrible, isn’t it. Clearly, it’s not just my ears that are tone deaf,” before turning to examine its condition.
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Antiques Road Trip expert Philip Serrell bargained for a vintage squeezebox (Image: BBC)
“If you look there, there’s a little paper label just there that gives you the maker’s mark, and this is all fret cut, and the thing that you want to look at when you see this is to make sure there’s no damages to any of the frets, which there don’t appear to be,” he explained, with Sandy bluntly replying: “You just open it and squeeze it!”
“How often do you come across these, and especially complete with box. I can do you a little deal on that, Philip,” Sandy then said, with Philip holding out hope for a “fantastic” deal.
“This has been here a long time, hasn’t it? So, you probably want to get rid of this, don’t you?” Philip noted after spotting a whopping £70 price reduction on the label.
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Philip Serrell travelled from Darlington to Doncaster to find precious art pieces (Image: BBC)
“You’ve got it originally marked up at £195 and then you’ve knocked £70 off it, and you might have to knock another £70 off it, and then who knows?” he added, leaving Sandy open-mouthed in shock.
After spotting a cane picnic hamper upstairs, Philip proposed a £70 price for both items, but Sandy wasn’t impressed, exclaiming: “How much?!”
“Watch my lips,” she continued. “Right, I was thinking, and I’m really being generous here, £110… Come on, get your hand out.”
Philip haggled a bit more, and ended up splitting the difference and paying £85 for the pair of items to take to the auction at the end of the day.
Antiques Road Trip is available to stream on iPlayer