Flog It! expert's silver sells for double estimate

The first part of a silver collection owned by the late Flog It! antiques expert Michael Baggott has sold for more than double its estimate at auction.

Baggott, who worked on the BBC series from 2004 to 2018, died in January aged 51 after a heart attack.

His antiques collection included the most comprehensive set of silver assessed by metal testers in York to ever enter the open market, according to auction house Woolley & Wallis.

More than 150 lots sold on Wednesday were expected to reach £60,000, but went for a total of £124,614.

The remaining 290 lots will be sold at two later auctions, because of the impact that selling the entire collection at once could have on the markets, the auctioneers said.

Rupert Slingsby, silver specialist at Woolley & Wallis, said there was an "unprecedented amount of interest" in the collection, mainly from private collectors.

"The main thing that brought people in was the fact that it was this rare collection of York silver," he said.

Normally, the auction house sells about 2,500 lots of silver every year, with approximately 50 of those being York silver.

"The fact that Michael in his collection has got over 500 pieces of York silver is quite a wow."

As well as silver from York, Baggott's collection includes items assessed in Liverpool, Chester, Dundee, Newcastle, Bristol, Exeter and Aberdeen.

The auction house said that he was a recognised authority on antique silver, specialising in early spoons, boxes, provincial and continental silver.

The highest seller was a rare York silver George III chamberstick and snuffer, made in 1793, which was expected to sell for between £1,000 and £1,500, but made £8,190.

The chamberstick also bears the rare York town mark, which "collectors like to see", according to Mr Slingsby.

"If that was a London-made chamberstick that would be £500," he said.

Baggott was born in Birmingham and his interest in antiques began at an early age.

Before joining Flog It!, he worked at Christie's auction house and was head of silver at Sotheby's Billingshurst, before becoming a private consultant.

"In recent years he had a very funny social media presence, and did a lot of posts explaining various aspects of silver," said Mr Slingsby.

"He was a greatly-loved character."

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