All language subtitles for Life.In.A.Million.Ads.2024.1080p.WEB.H264-CBFM

How much is it?
50 quid.

Considering their age, quite
cheap.

What do you want to give?
I can give you 30.

See, I got it!

There are many people like
myself, people who trade, hustle
and barter,

and they do it on markets,
auctions and from their homes.

Some people like a bargain,
some people like to add to a
collection.

I like a combination of both.

And I love something with a bit
of texture that's been pre
loved.

But, I like it at a good price.

If you find something unusual
that you've never seen before,
I just buy it.

I can't help myself.
I'm addicted to selling online.

Let's make it happen.

There are sellers, buyers,
collectors, makers.

And since the small ads went
online,

I've more than once found
myself going down a rabbit hole.

I suppose I'd be eclectic.

I'd like a bit from everything.

Like, I don't want just only
Waterford Crystal or only bits
of china.

I'm looking for cutlery at the
moment.

What's on your watch list?

A stained glass window.

Paramotor powered glidery
thing.

Gold sovereign.
An antique warriors helmet.

Welcome to a world where
sustainability

and circular economy are
more than just idle words.

It's Ganni, but I haven't worn
it. Why would you sell that?

It's choking me!

And some of these items
you feel so lucky to have.

World where a community
of people will surprise you.

Oh my God!

Over and over again.

This is extraordinary.

How did you make that?

On a sewing machine.

Oh my goodness.

That is 1913 All Ireland
football final.

I'm Roísín Murphy, and this
is Life In A Million Ads.

Enter at your own risk!

Despite the fact that
collectors can use

online marketplace to get their
fix, I've always loved a car
boot sale.

There's something really
comforting about them.

And for someone like me, who is
into pretty much anything,

it's a great place to find
something

really special, something
that's one of a kind.

Is that Waterford, lad?
That is Waterford, yeah.

Look, the acid etched there
at the top there.

It's just in there.
Yeah.

Well, all Waterford Crystal
is acid etched with there.

Either with the Seahorse
or with Waterford.

Would you buy much of this
stuff?

Crystal wouldn't be my go to.

Like the other weekend I bought
a barbecue

and also some books
and some military gear.

Ken bought an army jacket.

Bought a Moroccan lamp and a
rug. Get everything.

And what do you do with them
then?

We collect military items.

We use Adverts quite often.

This is one of the avenues
of being a collector.

You can't just.
I'm going to find everything
here.

There's also individuals who
come here that we know to sell
on Adverts as well.

People go by their adverts
names that we know people from
dealing with them.

What's your adverts name?
You're Kmad.

Kmad is my name. And I'm just
down as Mark.

But there's beardy John
who sometimes has a stall here.

There's a guy down the bottom
down there

who we call the 'crazy Russian'
because he's always got soviet
era music blaring,

and it's just you get these
characters.

Buying secondhand items, it
isn't new to me.

To be honest personally,

it's about better quality.

I think older objects
are often better made.

The other thing is you can
find things that are run out.

Nobody makes glass in the
country.

Waterford Crystal's gone,
but I feel as though that's a
limited stock,

and I feel a sense of
duty, rather than buying an
ordinary glass to go

and buy Waterford Crystal,
I'm driving the kids mad.

So apparently I don't need any
more of it.

I like mugs.

I like quirky mugs and things.
And I like China.

And this one is an ironstone
canister,

so it's an unusual
enough piece.

It's green, it's lovely!

It's a nice colour.

Oh, Noah's Ark.

So that's a charity.

So that's unusual.

'All proceeds from the sale of
these items

'will go to support
the animals in our care.'

That's really unusual.

They're hooking in people like
me, and then you get to give to
charity, too.

What a nice thing.

Hello.

This is a beautiful shop.
Thank you.

We're very pleased with it.

I'm here to see a piece of
China,

a couple of pieces of China
that we notice on Adverts.

Yes. The little iron stone ones.

Yes.
Let me get you those.

There's a really nice
atmosphere in this shop.

It's nice, isn't it?

Yeah, it's lovely.

These are gorgeous.

These are ironstone.

And a very unusual Portuguese
brand.

I think these would be lovely
for jam. Yeah.

Will you put my name on these?
I surely will, absolutely.
Thank you.

Lovely. I'll wrap them up for
you now.

Okay. Thank you.

I'm delighted with my latest
purchase, especially knowing my
euros will go

directly to the animal shelter
that's managed by Anne's
colleague, John.

Bob has been with us for...

...Bob, Bob. Bob.

He's been with us for six
months.

I think this is Rob.
Oh, hello.

He's a lovely fella.

He loves company.

Do you take him home?

I would take him.
Would ya?!

When we started in the shelter
here nine years ago,

the number of dogs going into
Kildare pound that were being
put to sleep

because there was
nowhere for them to go, was
extremely high.

It was about 70%.

We reduced that to below 5%.

That's incredible statistics.
It is, yeah.

Now the shop is very important.

The lifeline for the shelter,

and during Covid, the online
shop, became even more
important.

Yeah.
Two things happened in Covid,
really.

Online grew, but also the
number of people who took dogs,
and decided they're going

to get a dog grew.

But then they go back to work,

they don't have time for the
dog and a lot of dogs have come
back into shelters.

Our vet bills last year
were over 140,000 euro.

The shop is critically
important.

Online really grew another
leg during that whole process.

Covid had a lot of,
it turned the world upside
down.

But certainly we gained by
Adverts.ie, during that time.

Online sales are nearly as
high, I think, as our shop
sales.

The first thing that I sold on
Adverts,

which I thought was a fantastic
thing to have sold, really
boring,

was the biggest collection of
knitting needles and knitting
equipment!

And gave me enough to start a
shop and it sold in Adverts
very, very quickly.

And, you know, I go up to the
shelter and I'll be maybe
hauling a box of this or

a box of that or something,
and one of the dog people will
say,

'hold on, something really
great came in',

and they'll give me some piece
of junk!

And I'll take it off and I'll
put it up on Adverts

and a collector will come for
it. Yeah.

So what stuff are you selling
online at the higher end?

At the higher end.

That example, Anne, of the
Jacuzzi you sold.

It was actually a sauna
from Sweden with a built in
Jacuzzi.

We put it on Adverts, and a
jockey from somewhere up around
Galway area

said it was just what he was
looking for.

We got nearly a thousand euros.

No way.

You got a tractor saddle in,
didn't you?

We did get a tractor saddle.
There's a strange one.

It sold in about three
minutes.

It wasn't cheap.

But I noticed as well a writing
bureau came in.

Yes, a lovely couple of days
ago.

And it's not in great
condition, but beautiful piece
of furniture.

We put that, or you'll put that
up on Adverts.

I am actually looking for
writing bureau, so that's the
first thing I will do.

It's not sold already, is it?

You're joking?
Did it sell quick?

Five minutes.

Five minutes.

Have you ever had an item that
you undersold and you're
like...? Yes.

Tractor saddle.
It breaks my heart.

(Laughing)

About ten people afterwards
offered a heck of a lot more
money than we sold it for.

We didn't really understand
the value of tractor saddles
in Ireland. Who knew?!

So how does this work, ladies?

John comes in with the
typewriter.

And we look at it, decide
whether it should be sold in
the shop or online.

And what would you think of
this one?

Oh, online, definitely!

Well, I love all this stuff
because that's

how we furnished our house when
we got married,

was going to auctions.

Don't we have a bureau for sale
that could go lovely on it?

It's sold.

That ideal on it, wouldn't it?

Yeah, it would have been
fantastic, Rita.

Are these collectors?

A lot of them are people who
are maybe

doing the whole sustainable
thing, and looking for an
alternative way.

Instead of buying a plastic
mixer, they'll buy the old cast
iron mincer.

Every cent that we make
makes a difference to us.

And if we can sell something
for ?10 more on Adverts, that's
where it's going.

(Barking)

The sustainable economy

it's like a religion to me.

It's really important to buy
very little,

but it's also really important
to still be

involved in that very human
thing of bartering and
exchanging and purchase.

That's a really essential
part of humanity, I think.

This is how you do it

with the least amount of damage
to the planet.

The adverts and all that online
community are really people who
are doing that.

This is Keelin.

She's using a couple of
platforms to sell her own
clothes.

Here she is on Depop.

My daughter has used it.

Depop wants to make fashion
less wasteful, more sustainable
and more affordable.

It seems like a win win to me.

Good style.

Thanks! Yeah. Thank you!

I love that blouse!

Did it start with you putting
on outfits

and doing, like, my fit
for the day or whatever?

Or did it start off with going,
okay,

I need some money, I'm selling
this, or which came first,
chicken or egg?

So initially, I got a following
from talking about sustainable
fashion, on Instagram.

If you do ever see a blogger
trying to sell you a piece of
clothing,

just don't buy it
directly off the website.

My solution would be to just
search it up on Depop,

because you can put
in all the descriptions

and then you get it
secondhand and it'll be
cheaper and saving the planet.

If we all started buying more
sustainable and, like, recycled
packaging,

they're obviously just going to
order in more and more of those
products,

so just try buy packaging
that's not using loads of
plastic and save the planet.

What is sustainable?

What is vintage?

What is circular economy and
clothing?

Sustainable is a broad term,
so it could be just that it's
secondhand,

it could be slow fashion,

it could be vintage, or it
could be borrowing off your
friends.

Now, when I was a teenager,
we all be borrowing each
other's clothes,

but when you get older,
that would be weird.

I'm sorry. You haven't got as
old as me.

You absolutely would.
Really?

Absolutely!
I mean, I remember I've had a
bag of

holiday clothes that goes
through five sisters,

including a Panama hat!

I'm obsessed with these shorts.
Right.

But when I bought them, it says
they're a UK 8,

but someone has obviously
taken them in on the side.

They're not going over my arse.

I would just want to be that
person again.

I'd be like, 'one day I'll fit
into you'!

So I bought this secondhand as
well. It's lovely!

Why are you letting that go?

I don't know how to style it.

I can't believe that you can
let this go.

This is like this...
But it's just,

it's not for me, so it needs
to be for someone else.

How long do you give them
online before you go, 'right'?

The only thing that hasn't ever
sold has been ex boyfriend's
clothing.

How much would they go for now?

Oh, I'd sell them two euro?
Yeah.

Okay. And would people buy
something for two euro?

Oh, yeah, bargain!
Are you joking?

Clothing is falling apart and
planned obsolescence is a huge
problem.

Even with radios, toasters,
everything.

Is the online thing keeping
things sustainable because it's
keeping us out of shops?

It's more sustainable because
it's lengthening the life of a
garment.

The most sustainable way you
can dress is

to wear the things that you
already have. In your wardrobe.

Yeah. Or on the floor. Yeah. in
your laundry.

No! I don't mean that.

That's nice.

So, yeah, no, I found this
young fella

and he's buying and selling
tools like old tools.

He's finding ordinary,
everyday objects that

people have in sheds all over
the country,

and he's going, that's his
thing.

So I'm very curious to see how
somebody who's so young, is so
into it.

I love tools.

I'm always on the hunt for them.
I think I have one.

What's it?
It's a thing called a box plane.

I have it so it's like em...it's
this.

It's an old box plane.

So I get the whole tool thing.

I just think they're
fascinating looking.

It's all hand tools.

Like, you don't use power tools
at all?

Well, yeah, at the start, it
was kind of,

power tools were expensive.

I kind of liked buying all
these old tools, learning how
to sharpen them

and care for them and bring
them back to their former
glory.

And I have a saw there,

and there's three different
carpenters names stamped into
it.

So nowadays we just have a
cheap handsaw

there that you'd use for six
months and throw out.

These saws would have been
cared for,

obviously, several careers,
meticulously sharpened and set
and oiled.

And it is kind of a testament
to how well things used to be
made.

Do you look for the bargain
or look for the unusual thing?

If you find something unusual
that you've never seen before,
I think you just

I just buy it, I can't help
myself.

Are you a very bad poker
player, then?

Do they immediately go,
'here's Eoin'? Oh, absolutely!

Yeah. They can see my
purchasing history,

and almost every time,

every time I've tried to
lowball someone,

they're like, no, sorry,
I'm firm on that price.

Do you ever get your mother
to go in and go 'look, okay.'

When I first started buying
tools,

I was hiding it from them
because they're both
accountants.

They'd come in and they'd be
like, 'how much did that cost
you?'

What came into your head
to suddenly, start this?

In secondary school, I had a
laptop because my handwriting
was so bad.

It was brilliant because it
means you didn't have to pay
attention, ever,

you could just be reading
Wikipedia.

I remember going down these
really long rabbit holes,

into currachs for whatever
reason.

Yeah, when lockdown came about,
I just said I'd give it a go.

Where did you build it?

Right there in the back garden.
Okay.

How hard was it to build?
It took me kind of,

I was just kind of tipping away
at it for three or four months
because it wasn't

my full time job then, so it
was kind of in the evenings, on
the weekends.

Can you actually row it?

We took it out with myself and
two friends, who had never
rowed a boat before.

And all three of us.

♪

Little did he know, that it
would herald the beginning of a
brand new career.

A viewer from up the country
sent me their

grandfather's saw to restore,
so, we'll do that tonight.

This is a piece of olive ash,

and we're about to use this to
make a guitar for a very
special someone.

Another day, another Kent
Pattern, another slab of ash.

Let's make it happen.

So what made you kind of put
it out on social media?

I remember I used to have,
like,

a private story on Snapchat
with, like, 16 friends in it.

And one of my friends on the
story

suggested I throw one of these
hand planes up on TikTok, so I
just did.

I didn't think it'd get the
traction it did,

but it got 6,000 views,
so that's looking pretty good.

Now it's time to put it back in
the vice

and start rounding
over the corners.

How many views are you getting?

We're knocking somewhere
around half a billion between

YouTube and TikTok at the
minute.
Sorry?! Half a billion?

Yeah, which is savage numbers
when you think about it.

For some reason, there's
a layer of paint on the axe
head.

Nothing an angle grinder can't
fix.

(Grinder whirrs)

My most viewed video
took me an hour to make.

And are you stopped
on the street at the moment?

Depends whether or not I have
the cap on.

So the cap is like a disguise.
It's brilliant, yeah!

Take off the cap, throw on
sunglasses, and maybe it might
happen once on an excursion.

But otherwise people will know
you. Yeah.

This fellow went for ?200,
to give you guys some rough
idea.

So if you're looking for an
axe, shoot me a text on
Instagram or an email.

Highest offer next week takes
the cake.

One particular type of tool
that would probably be my
favourite

would be the hand
planes.

I actually have one for years.

So I'm just, not that I was
taking advantage of you.

But it's this one.
Okay. Yeah.

Now it has a chip out of it,
and I've never been able to use
it.

This mightn't be
the original iron somehow.

It's a bit of a tight fit,
but we'll figure something out.

Well, that will explain
why I never used it, Eoin,

that was the reason!

This works now.

You can see there.
Oh, my God!

That's good and sharp there
now.

What's your career then, do you
think it's the TikTok?

I used to be studying Commerce
in college.

I took a year off to see if I
could do this full time,

and it's going all right,
so I think we'll try defer
another year.

Are you pleased with that now?

They're a bit thick.

All I'm thinking is, it's
genius.

You're going, 'no, it's too
thick'.

There we are that's a bit
better now.

There must have been a
moment where you were down the
back of the class,

you're there and you're going,
'there's another world'.

The Internet has opened us up
to a whole new range of
interests that we could have

never even heard about if
it wasn't for the Internet.

So I think, like anything, it's
just how you use it,

it can be a very powerful tool

but if you use it the wrong,
like a car, it's incredibly
useful tool.

but if you drive too fast or
drive too...can be a bad
thing.

Perfect.

I describe myself as a
miniaturist.

Like the size of that,
how did you make that?

On a sewing machine?

How long does it take to make
one?

About 200 hours.

You're appealing to all
these aged hippies.

Exactly!

That is wild!

What Mark is going to say to
you next is why his map is
better than mine.

Well, that is my map.

I don't know whether I won the
map off.

I have a tiny,

I actually have a tiny little
architect's office interior

that I've kept, that I'm going
to go and get.

I'll just show you.
Hang on.

This is em...

...I have had this.

So I quite like this.

I mean, this was given to me as
a present by a very old friend
of mine.

So it's this.

It's like a tiny architect's
office.

So it's really cute.

There's a drawing on it
and the glasses and the little
plan.

But I'm always curious about
the love

people have for miniature stuff
and where they get it and stuff
like that.

This really intrigues me.

Clare, who makes miniatures
for modern or country doll
houses.

I mean, they're beautifully
made, but they're tiny.

So you're going, first of all,
she's great eyesight, but it's

the attention to detail on the
size of it is amazing as well.

Initially, I was kind of going,
I'm not sure I like that
cushion.

And then I suddenly realized
that cushion is that size.

So these are miniatures. ?2.46
for a miniature cork board
and calendar printable kit.

So it's just mad.

So I think she's worth a visit.

In the last recession,
we saw an awful lot of people
change their

jobs in 2007 and then
move down the country.

And they're the people
that started online.

But it's a very sustainable
lifestyle for craftspeople.

If you are a good maker,
you can survive quite easily.

People will make things that
maybe 100 people in the world
want,

but they may not be 100 people
in your local town.

That's what the wonderful thing
about the internet,

it opens up the floodgates into
the world.

The potential purchasers.

I remember so clearly my doll's
houses.

But, I mean, I haven't played
with them in a long time,

I still absolutely love them.

But you have managed somehow, to
get this habit into your adult
life.

How did you manage that?

I've always wanted a doll's
house,

and I always wanted to
decorate a doll's house.

I always wanted to do that as a
child.

I think it was my 30th
birthday, and I found one on
Facebook marketplace.

It was 30 euro.

And me and my mom drove to
Ennis and met the lady,

and she said, 'oh, this will be
lovely for a little girl.'

We didn't tell her it was for
me!

This is your first doll's house?
Yep.

Most of the things I have
bought because,

I was figuring out the
world of miniatures.

Did you put the wallpaper up?

Is this your wallpaper?

Did you make that or was that
in that?

I bought that.

The bed, however, I did make.

Did you design that yourself?

Yeah, I drew out the shapes.

It's layers of card with
fabric.

These like little bits of wood
you can buy on doll's house
shops.

And you have a matching.
Sorry, I'm going to dig it out.

But you have a matching
wardrobe here as well.

So it's a real life size
wardrobe that I

saw on Pinterest that I
wanted to replicate.

It's really pretty.

So this is the beach house.

It's inspired by this french
cabin that I stayed with my
boyfriend's house.

He used to holiday there.

So I have a little beach bag
here.

My God.

Hello.
It's a towel!

It doesn't open, thank God.

Okay. What's in it, magazines
though?

Yeah.
To the beach !

I love it, that's so cool!

The carbon footprint would be
terrible!

The panelling here is all
lollipop sticks

that I painted and sanded
down to look aged.

Oh, that's like a french bed.
Yeah.

They had these upholstered
backs, don't they?!

Are you lost when you're making
this?

I kind of throw myself into
something for hours and forget,
to even eat sometimes.

This started in lockdown,
didn't it? Yes.

So I took a year out to set up
my Etsy shop,

used a bit of savings that I
had.

I worked kind of nine to five.

What was your nine to five?

Before this, I was a
photographer

and now I work in a pastry shop
selling miniature pastries.

Do you like small things?

Is it a love of the small
things?

I do love small things!
(Laughing)

If I were to describe myself,
I'd describe myself as a
miniaturist.

I love closing all the doors
and looking through the
windows.

Yeah, it makes me really happy.

Kind of like a child!
(Laughing)

Who was your first customer?

A lady in USA.

Took about a month before I got
my first sale,

and she bought a little glove,

pretty much the exact
same as this little glove.

Oh. That was pretty much my
first sale was a little oven
mitt.

That is incredible, Clare.

Like the size of that!

How did you make that? On a
sewing machine.

Painstaking!

Cushions would be
probably my most popular.
Yeah.

How many cushions before
there was one successful
cushion?

Loads! A whole box full in the
room

of unsuccessful and not
properly closed and rock hard
full of glue!

What is it?
That's a half made pyjama top!
(Laughing)

Oh, my God.
What are these?

They're slippers.
Slippers?

They're little slippers as
well.

That's a writing kit.

I wanted to have a printable
download file that you can buy
on my shop.

Does that mean that people can
actually

download this and then
make them themselves?

Yeah.
That is so nice.

Is the sharing of it being a
very, like,

you are an artist, and I always
remember somebody be painting
away at home

and somebody saying to me,
'you aren't an artist until you
exhibit.'

And I thought initially, you
always think,

oh, because it's a measure of
success, but it's actually the
eviscerating,

horrific moment to put your
stuff out into the public.

Yeah, I have that all the time.
You don't do? Yeah.

I'm always thinking, do I
charge too much?

Oh, my God, these are so
beautiful!

There's a lot of Etsy shops
that don't last.

There's a lot of Etsy shops
that start, and it's quite
difficult initially to set

up for the algorithms to go
your way in the Etsy shop,

even though I worked as a
photographer,

it took me a good year
to be happy with my photos.

I thought your cushion was a
real cushion, when I saw it
first.

I was like, that's a real
cushion.

I was like, 'oh, my God,
that's a miniature it looked
so amazing.'

When I was browsing and found
Clare,

I also came across another lady
who's geographically not that
far away,

and she's into completely
different kinds of dolls.

The more I clicked,
the more I was intrigued.

They looked amazing!

This is Helga Arts.

Each face is completely
different.

They're almost like little
caricatures of humans.

These are big prices, but
there's an awful lot of work in
them as well.

You know, we've sold traditional
dolls for a long time in Ireland

and they're still sold, where
you have a little porcelain
head and a wire body with hands,

and they're all dressed in kind
of traditional clothing.

But this is different.

This is Jimi Hendrix.

How are you?

Enter at your own risk!

I wasn't expecting that.

No, that's all modern railway.

I mean, Stuart my husband
started that 20 years ago,

and I kind of worked
on it on the last 16 years.

It's really beautiful.
Where are you from,
you're from Czechoslovakia?

I was born in Czechoslovakia,

but my parents moved to Germany
when I was 14, so I lived there
14 years.

And I'm in Ireland over 30
years now to Galway, for
example.

It was at the time, was a kind
of Mecca for music and crazy
people at the time!

This is extraordinary!

More here.

This is extraordinary.

They're all downstairs now,

and there's some here and there
are some next door as well.

How long are you making these??

When I started about...Jesus in
my 20s in Germany.

Where did it come from?

Dolls, I mean, I always did
artwork since I was a child
like,

and my dad was much
into modelling, and me, too.

And then I started doing rag
dolls.

And then at some stage,
I made collected puppets from
all over

the world again, and then
decided to make my own.

How long does it take to make
one?

About 200 hours.

200 hours, wow.
Or more.

I mean, like, this one is a
Siberian shaman,

the last one, and there's
embroidery and everything.

That took a long, long time.

There's quite a few that are
kind of rooted in the 70s, that
music culture.

Yeah, because it be my
favourite kind of.

Is it? 60s, I mean,

the hippie era, basically.
would be my music.

Are you a hippie, Helga?

I was born too late for that,
really.

But I kind of became a hippie
later.

I used to wear kind of torn
jeans and afghan coats when it
was nearly over,

Kind of the chagrin of my
parents.

My mother, she just hated it!

There's Queen is behind you,
I think. Jimi Hendrix.
Yeah.

The rock stars are kind of the
latest last few years

because they're kind
of the best selling, I think.

Or witches, yeah, I did a lot
of witches because,

again, I use a lot of my
clothes for the witches.

This is a guitar for Jerry
Garcia I'm making

that takes often longer
than the doll as well!

Oh, it's in Balsa wood.
Lovely.

This is a body I make.

It's a soft body, kind of for
the doll, for Jerry Garcia
again.

And then the jewellery's, the
same amount of research
obviously goes.

And I try to get kind of pieces
in flea markets, whatever,
online, eBay,

kind of old beads, whatever I
can get, and make jewellery as
authentic as possible.

Has anybody come to ask you
to teach them how to do it?

I had requests,
but I'm not a good teacher.

I can't explain what I'm doing,
I just sit down and work.

I mean, I can't even put
into words what I'm doing!

You're onto the hands now,
Helga.

Yeah I just have to measure the
grip so he can

basically make it look like
if he's playing the chord.

Can you name some of the
countries where they are?

Well, the most exotic place

my dolls ended up is in
Guam, which is in the middle of
the Pacific.

How did they end up with it?

This guy bought a doll on Etsy,
Frank Zappa.

And read the address, now,
Guam, okay,

I never heard of Guam before.

You're appealing to all
these aged hippies.

Exactly!

I think that would be
my crowd kind of,

most of my friends would be.

It's cool!

So what's it like letting them
go?

It's like sending children into
the world.

Like when they grow up and
leave home.

But when they go to good homes
and people connect, send me
pictures with them,

do that makes you happy then.

It's Queen Maeve.

There she is.

Oh, my goodness, she's cool!

Just a head.

I love her costume.

Yeah, that was one of the quite
elaborate costumes going to.

Based on Viking outfits again.

And Celtic outfits.

So this is the magic pad
that transformed your life?

Yeah, it took me a while to
accept it.

Like to social media and
computers. Yeah.

How did Etsy come about?

I refused to join the social
media for a long time.

I just hate anything modern
technology.

But I had to kind of at some
stage.

And then the galleries
started charging so much
commission,

and Etsy is quite reasonable.

I mean, they don't charge much
and they put the money into.

When you sell a doll,
they put the money into your
bank.

You don't have to meet anybody.

No, it's perfect!

When I first bumped into Mark
and Ken at the car boot sale,

I thought they were a bit mad.

Good mad, but still.

But then when we started
chatting,

I realized that there's an
unbridled passion for what they
were doing.

A lot of their wheeling and
dealing is online, and they're
known to be really

good guys to engage with,
and that's really important.

Where did it all go wrong that
ended up like this with all this
stuff?

What happened?

I was looking on adverts and I
spotted a little pistol holster
that was advertised.

And I got in contact with the
seller, seller being Ken.

Pistol holster was gone but he
says, I have other things like
that.

Since that has been a lot of
this.

I'm known as the enabler by his
family, because I lead him into
these things.

And we got a pretty good
relationship that we bang off
each other.

It's a symbiotic relationship
that I like

stuff, he likes stuff, and
we're able to help each other
buy stuff.

And it happens to be this sort
of stuff.

This was the reason I started
collecting this piece.

This piece?
But this is a 1796 heavy
cavalry sword.

This is the sword that broke
the French at Waterloo.

Wow. And it is.
It takes a strong man to hold
that. And a big horse.

This is Sudanese, but this was
made in Solingen in 1650.

So this was a german blade to
make it from there down to
Sudan.

How many years did that take?

How many people touched a
sword?

And then to make it through
time, to you. To me?

To me, I'm going to ask you
about your books as well.

My premier book is this one
here.

So this is, the spine's a
little bit broken.

I actually need to get it
repaired.

But that book there was written

by Field Marshal Montgomery,
signed by Field Marshal
Montgomery himself.

Oh, my God, look at his
handwriting.

It is a one of a kind.

Do you ever fight about objects?

Does one person see one thing?

Or do you regard yourself
as joint custodians?

We kind of work off
an honour system, kind of,

whoever comes across it first,

they're the ones who gets
the first kind of dibs on it.

But there are rules.

You buy the item, not the
story,

unless it is written on the
item or is there with the
item.

A story can't be verified.

Spend hundreds on research and
books so that you're not losing
out on thousands.

What's the most important rule?

When I pick up, let's say,
this Reed of Dublin Flintlock
pistol.

When I first was buying this,
my heart was pounding.

I wanted this.
You know, when you see
something,

you may not even fully know
what it is, but it gives you
that goosebumps effect.

The best advertisement
you can see, old sword.

That's what you want
to see it described as.

You could come to an old sword
that you'll just pick it up and
go, no.

Or you can pick it up and go,
'oh, my God.

'I never thought I'd own one of
these.'

I have a Japanese sword over
here that's from around 1520.

And this was.
Oh, my God.

1520?!
This was an Adverts pickup.

I never thought I'd own a real
one of these, because they're
quite expensive.

But on Adverts you find
different things.

You're going to break
somebody's heart now and tell us
how much you got it for?

I got it at a good price,
but it's something I will never
sell.

Never reveal to the seller.

Another rule there.

Never reveal to the seller
that you've gotten yourself a
deal.

My uncle was renovating a
house, and he found this in the
roof of the house.

No!
What kind of gaff was he
renovating?!

Well, he reckons that the
person fought

in the Second World War,
brought it home and hid it.

So that was found in the roof.
And he goes, literally,

then he went, 'Mark would love
that.'

Then Mark said, 'Ken, you could
have that.'

Well, no, we won't get into
that.

But then Mark saw what it was
and then Mark changed his mind.

Well, I don't really like,

I wouldn't be on to the ethnic
or the Japanese katanas, but...

'In this case, I'll keep it.'

But I said I'd keep it because
there's a story and it's
family.

It's family.
I've forgiven you.

Yeah.
There's a Dublin district, OS
map.

Can I have a look at that?

When's that from?
That is from, I think, 1898.

I'm going to challenge you to
that one.

No, continue with this one
and then I'll challenge,

I'll just challenged you.

That was 2 euro, Mark, was it?

2 euro I think, Ken.

That is gorgeous!

I do love OS maps, and I've...
Paper is lovely!

I know. So in World War II,
because paper is perishable,

they didn't want to give their
troops maps made out of paper.

So what they did,
they used to make their maps
out of silk.

(Gasps)
That's cool. Sorry, that is so
cool!

It's a beautiful map of Arnhem.

And notice how it doesn't
rustle.

It's waterproof, but it's
phenomenally well detailed.

That is wild.

What Mark is going to say to
you next is why his map is
better than mine.

I don't know whether I won the
map off.

I wouldn't say my map is
better,

but it's interesting that Ken
mentions Arnhem, because I used
to live in Arnhem.

Is it against the rule to do
one-upmanship?

BOTH: Yeah!

Unfortunately so..
Just for the camera, we'll do
one upmanship!

Just from listening to the pair
of you, it doesn't seem to be
very much.

It's not really motivated
about making a fortune.

Oh, we've spent a fortune.

We won't make a fortune on it.

We are caretaking these so that
they last

till the next generation
and hopefully the next
generation.

And some of these items,
you feel so lucky to have.

Because they have survived
to the point where they meet
you.

Oh, my goodness.

That is 1913, All Ireland
football final.

The chase is always a great
thing,

and as soon as you have it,
you might look at it once and
someone will say,

'God, you spent five
years chasing for that.'

No!
Oh, my God.

Can I feel that?

Have you ever considered in
terms of,

for humans, has anybody ever
said to you, smile? All the
time?

They have?!
Okay. They have.

I am a Lily White living
in the holy grail of the GAA.

I hate to say but living in
Drumcondra

is like living in a festival,

but I love it.

I just think it's one of the
most wonderful experiences ever,

seeing everybody come in and
the energy that comes into the
village, I suppose.

They're so excited.

And it's also all family.

There's a fella here now
who collects programs. That's
mad!

He's hundreds of programs.

Why does he do that, I wonder?

That's the thing.
You don't know.

I mean, that's where it
gets really interesting.

You go, why do you do that?

I'd say, he started off
innocently enough.

Somebody somewhere down the
line kept a programme,

and then you had to keep the
next program.

Like I would be, in fairness,
anything the kids go to or a
match or

something, you tend to keep
the program and then they've
souvenir programmes.

So this fella has 936 positive
feedbacks,

so he is very popular,
he's a great seller,

'always a gentleman',
'very nice to deal with'.

Well, John, I can see why we
couldn't do it in your house.

Absolutely. Yeah.

There's eh...
Very hard... some amount!
...to display everything, yeah.

You literally collect
everything.

There are seats there.

Yeah, they're Hogan Stand seats
from 1959.

How did you start collecting?

The start of the 80s,
Kerry were good.

I always remember my relations
coming up from Kerry,

and staying in our house,

and then going in then to Croke
Park.

We used to sneak in at the
time, obviously.

I kind of probably had a
passion then for picking up
things.

Then my father would say, 'grab
a ticket or a program or
whatever and hold onto it'.

And those tickets always remind
me,

these ones here at the Leinster
Senior Football
Championships.

You were at that? Meath won.

Meath would have been going
very strong then in the 80s and
90s.

Isn't that a gorgeous one?

Oh, my God, that's 1947.
Yeah.

I don't know why.
I just think that's so
beautiful.

The old Irish script
is there on it as well.

I got a call one day from a man
in Dublin.

Would I come in and have
a look at some GAA stuff.

And did you pay him for that,
or is it?

Yeah, some of the stuff.
So some of it trades.

Some of the stuff, yeah,
some of it trades for money.

And then other stuff then
could be given to you then.

Met a man recently on the side
of a road down in Limerick.

All he asked is that I make
a donation to something.

You just like stuff to go
somewhere where they're looked
after.

You have everything here,
it looks individually wrapped
in plastic.

I like to keep everything safe.

People, when they look at them
first,

everybody goes to grab,
or everybody goes to touch.

So are you a known collector?

I'd be known amongst a group
of 25, 30 other collectors.

We're all on a kind
of a Whatsapp group, most of
us.

So if something came up where
you had this as a spare,

I could take a picture of it
and say, 'lads, would anyone
have a swap?'

We don't exchange.
The money doesn't come into it.

What is the thing, the most
prized, difficult to get?

Em...I'll show you here.
I have it here, sorry.

Oh wow!
Yeah, so that is...

Oh, my goodness.
Oh, my goodness!

That is 1913 All-Ireland
Football Final.

Where did you get that?

It's actually belonged to my
father. Really?!

It's your dad's?
Yeah.

Wow!

When my grandfather passed
away, my father obviously
cleaned out the house and.

Can I pick it up?
Yeah.

Are you sure?
Yeah, you can, your hands are
clean.

Touching a piece of history.
Apparently we're paying...

...I don't know.
It is touching a piece of
history.

Wow!
When I'm looking at this,

I'm thinking of the history of
New Ireland,

particularly the
history of Ireland.

Like it's the beginning of us
as a nation.

It's like you've tracked
the development of Ireland.

Yeah, I suppose over
the different decades there,

programs, tickets.

If you were looking at all
these programs today,

that'd be something that
would jump into your mind, how
things have changed.

There's not much spoken about
in any

of the programs here,

but what you have is the
All-Ireland Hurling final in
1913.

That was at Jones's Road.

Where they played the game,
it was between Tipp and
Kilkenny.

And that was on November the
second, 1913.

After November the second,
the GAA bought Croke Park.

And what's significant is the
All-Ireland Football Final,

even though it was the same
year, but one month later,

or less than one month later,

it was called Croke Memorial
Park.

Just shows how things change.

What is it like, John,
to be part of that history?

For me, I love to just
sit down and read it.

Sometimes I could go out to
sort my programs and it could
be a Sunday evening,

maybe at 07:00 and I'd say,
I'll go out and do 2
hours or so.

And if you had ask me how
many programs I actually
sorted, I might say one,

because I pick up the first
one and I start reading it.

Yeah.

Is it the kick of having things,

or is it just the simple joy of
doing it?

The chase is always the great
thing.

Chasing down something,
looking for something,

then you get it, and as soon as
you have it,

you might look at it once and
then you put

it away and you don't look
at it again for a year or two.

And someone would say, 'God,
you spent five years chasing
for that.'

No!

Do you ever get tickets
for the match on Adverts?

Is it a good place to get
a ticket for match?

I don't get one for every
final.

You get two?!

Go on you do, don't you?!
Five now!

Look, as I say to people around
the country,

if anyone ever wants to send
a ticket before the game,
perfect.

But I'm just as happy
to take them after the game.

When I came to Dublin,
I think I came very young at 17,

for some reason, I had a very
strong connection with Dublin.

Particularly its kind of inner
areas,

like the North Circular Road,
all the old Georgian Areas.

Kildare Street, the whole lot,

and used to wander around these
places.

Part of that was the Dead Zoo.

I found that fascinating.

The building, the structure.

For some reason, I wanted to
visit when

lockdown lifted with the kids,
I was like, 'let's go back to
the Dead Zoo'.

Taxidermy is a funny one.

I'm not sure how comfortable I
would be, with it in my living
room.

Maybe I'll feel differently
when my dog dies.

I might feel slightly
differently, but I think it's a
cool thing.

It's a really cool thing.

I thought it had waned a bit,
but apparently not.

Apparently, it's very, very
popular.

Oh, my God.

This is incredible.

Yeah, it's some of what I'd
like to have a lot more.

Oh, my God. Sorry,
I'm gonna stop saying, 'oh, my
God.'

This is extraordinary.

Some of them are tiny.

You do feel them,
they're very alive.

Everything I do is from
photographs them and from what
I see out in the wild,

so I'm trying to imitate back,

I'm not trying to make them
look any different than they
look in the wild.

Respect the bird, I think, or
the animal.

Can never imitate nature
completely,

but I'm always trying
to get to another step.

I was reared in a house in East
Limerick,

a small village and a big
family.

I knew every bird,
every ditch and every field.

Write it all down.

Just a madness within me.

But then I discovered taxidermy
when I was about twelve.

How did you discover taxidermy?

Because that's not usually what
we're discovering at twelve,
Donal!

When I was about twelve.

I come from a family that was
hunting and fishing, that's
what we did.

But we got a pheasant stuffed
when I was about 12.

Called a stuff back then,
don't call it that now.

But I went with my father

to collect the pheasant,

and I went into a place like
this, was in Clare.

Something clicked to me,
I had to do it.

The passion started.

It couldn't stop.

When your parents noticed,
were they a bit worried?

My father was delighted
because, father was big into
wildlife and nature.

He taught me everything
was to know about nature.

He knew every bird,
he knew every tree, every
plant.

So he instilled that my life
out to fields with my father.

My mother went 'not a hope.'

If I found birds,
she would get rid of them
sometimes,

they had to be gone.

All I wanted to do was work on
them.

How did you resolve the
conflict?

I just did it anyway.
Oh, nice.

Was the dirtier work happened
outside in the garage.

But this is where all
the finishing work takes place.

What's the dirty work?

Well, when you're skinning the
birds,

so if they're badly damaged,
there may be some blood and
that.

This is the skin.

It's pheasant we're going to
work on.

Oh my God. Can I feel that?
You can.

Totally soft.

Oh, you poor birdie.
Sorry.

That's the skin and feathers.
That's the head.

That's the head.

What's left in there is a clean
skull. Oh my God.

It's cleaned out so
that get you the same shape.

So feels like silk.
Yeah.

And where did this fella come
from? Road kill pheasant.

Roadkill pheasant.

What's the most delicate part
of the? The head.

When you're working the head,
you just have to be careful
because if

the head is wrong, if the eyes
are wrong, like the eyes are
the mirrors of the soul.

Is that really true?
Absolutely true.

When people look at taxidermy,

the first thing that people
look at are looking at their
eyes.

Is it a growing skill, a dying
art?

Oh, it's definitely growing.

I get phone calls an awful
lot. And I kind of interview

people to see that they're
actually into nature.

The person that knows
nature is bird watching.

He sees birds.

That's the kind of person that
I like when

they come in because, you know,
they're interested straight
away.

Have you ever considered in
terms of, for humans,

has anybody ever said to you...?
You're smiling! All the time!

They have!
Okay, they have!

Absolutely, yeah!

Mostly the people be joking
about it.

Yeah but then you get to
the odd person

and you'd know they're
kind of serious about this.

And would you ever consider it?

No, I don't do dogs.

I did a few in the beginning.
Why not?

They're very humanised.

They're very, like...too close
to people.

And I could get somebody's dog
in with the best of respect, do
a perfect dog.

And he looked like a perfect
dog to everyone, but he won't
be their dog.

I would associate them
traditionally with the
Victorian era.

Yes, of course.

But it seems now that they've
come right back into vogue
again.

Things were hunted and killed
for taxidermy. Really?

We don't kill things for
taxidermy.

90% of what I do comes off
the roads, come up rescue
centers.

Have you gotten to know the
personalities and characters of
birds and animals?

Totally.
Every bird is different.

It might same shape, same size,
but they're different.

Is that learned from being a
bird watcher, from being
totally immersed in nature? Yes.

So you can't really do
it without loving nature.

No. And the more I do taxidermy,

the more it actually takes me
out into nature, the more I
realise, I don't know.

People think taxidermy is about
death.

Taxidermy is about life.

It's preserving the beauty of
the birds

that have lived, so you're
creating the life back into
them.

There's been a huge push of
decluttering and everybody's
cleaning up.

I worry about that.
There's other people worried
about it,

and they are collecting,
collating, cataloguing.

If you went at this totally,
this is a business,

I don't think you'd last very
long at it.

You have to enjoy the hunt.

The thrill of picking something
up, outweighs all the labor you
put behind.

What they're trying to do is
hold on to something, maybe some
individual

holding on to memories of
matches or somebody holding onto
memories of people.

We're getting digital
cards now. Of course.

Yeah. I entered the
All-Ireland Final this year

with my phone, so for me,
there's a loss there of a
ticket.

If we don't continue to have
that, we lose part of our
history.

A young man is collecting tools
from his grandfather's era.

We have to be really careful to
keep things.

Do you feel the people
who've used it before when
you're using it?

Exactly yeah.
It's like you're walking in
their footsteps or something.

There's like a connection.

The online platform, although
there's a huge argument that

it's causing a kind of a lack
of connection,

that in the same extent it's
bringing people together.

I just want to share my
interests and how nice it can
be to decorate dolls houses.

The collectors and the people
who value

tiny little things are
incredibly important in the
ecosystem of life.

Those individuals are
finding each other, you know?

Did you ever think that you
could live

in a place as beautiful as this
and do international business?

No, I never thought it would
happen.

But I love it.

It's what I want to be.
Perfect!

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