OWNERS of potential antique gems queued patiently to have their items valued by experts yesterday.

The team from BBC antiques series Flog It! were filming for the day in Durham Castle, on Palace Green.

A spin-off from the Antiques Roadshow, the show has attracted audiences of up to three million viewers, despite its weekday afternoon slot on BBC2.

Now filming for its fourth series, Flog It! combines the traditional appeal of Antiques Roadshow with "the knockabout excitement" of the more recent Bargain Hunt.

Presenter Paul Martin and his team of auctioneers valued hundreds of antiques, collectables and an assortment of heirlooms, dusted down for viewing by optimistic owners from across the North-East.

Based on the experts' estimates, they then had to decide whether to keep it or put the item up for auction, with the risk of making a loss on their prized possession.

Among the Flog It! fans enticed to bring along an old oddity was Yvonne Price, from County Durham.

The former assembly line worker, from Newton Aycliffe, was delighted to learn that her 76-year-old choirmaster's baton was valued at £40 to £60.

She said: "I got it for nothing from a friend's house-clearance in York.

"I just liked the look of it, but it is nice to know it has some value."

The baton was valued by auctioneer Anita Manning, of Great Western Auction, in Glasgow.

She said: "I wanted to find something musical while we were filming in Durham because I always associate Durham with brass bands.

"Although it is not a brass band baton, it is quite an appealing, pretty thing, in its own box, and I just like it."

The baton and other items selected yesterday are to go under the hammer at Thomas Watson Auctioneers, in Northumberland Street, Darlington, from 10am on Tuesday, August 2.