Laura Chesters



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Against an estimate of £2000-3000, the winning bid came via thesaleroom.com at the sale at East Bristol Auctions.

One of the hit BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses’ most memorable lines is Del Boy saying “This time next year, Rodders, we will be millionaires!”

The cheque prop is from one of the final episodes of the series, the 1996 Christmas special titled Time On Our Hands. In this episode the Trotter brothers Del Boy and Rodney finally become millionaires after finding a rare pocket watch.

They discover that the watch in their lock-up garage is in fact a John Harrison marine chronometer – the ‘Harrison Lesser Watch’ - which then goes on to sell at a Sotheby’s auction for £6.2m.

Auctioneer Andrew Stowe said: “It's a result that even Del Boy himself would be proud of.

“I was completely blown away by the popularity of the lots - we had bidders travel hundreds of miles just to have their photograph taken with the items. Britain clearly loves comedy, and it's clear from these results that Only Fools & Horses is still top of the tree when it comes to sitcoms. Lovely Jubbly!”

The cheque was offered alongside other memorabilia at East Bristol Auctions on June 7.

The whole collection of Trotter memorabilia sold for £35,000. Stowe said many items, but not the cheque, sold to a collector from Birmingham who owns several other props including three Reliant Regal Trotter vans.

In September 2018 the Only Fools and Horses pocket watch prop (from the episode Time On Our Hands) sold for a hammer price of £28,000 (plus 24% buyer's premium including VAT) at Dudley auction house Aston's.