Last November I went to Ripley Reclaim at Ripley, Derbys. looking for bricks & after I had looked round & found a few bricks that I wanted, the owner showed me 3 brown glazed bricks which had come from a dividing pillar to some public toilets. One said Ladies, one Gents & the other was just glazed. The owner said he wanted £20 each for the bricks (amounting to £60) & he would not split them. I only wanted the plain brick which had the name of the company stamped in the frog. The Ladies & Gents bricks did not have any names stamped in them. By the way, I was not prepared to pay that sort of money for them even if he had split them so I could just have the named brick. The most I have ever paid is £3.50 & that was for a fancy brick. So he let me photograph the named brick. I did not bother with the other two. I now wish I had now.
So now fast forward to a few weeks ago, a chap at work said, did you watch Drew Pritchard, Salvage Hunter on Challenge TV, last night. He had been to Ripley Reclaim to film his program & it included 3 glazed bricks. So that night I found it was being repeated & I recorded it. Yes, sure enough it was the same 3 bricks with the plain brick having Elland Road, Leeds on. The owner asked Drew for £30 each for them & same again as he told me he told Drew that they came as a set & he would not split them. In the end Drew bought all 3 for £75. When Drew took them to his showroom, he asked his wife to photograph only the Ladies & Gents bricks for his web site, saying they would make good book ends & not to bother with the other brick which he did not want ! THAT WAS THE BRICK I WANTED ! Never mind at least I can tell this story. The estimated value for the resale of the Ladies & Gents bricks to used as book ends was £180 ! Whether Drew has ever sold them for that price I do not know.
Update 30.12.15.
I have had quite a few visitors via the Waccoe forum website (followers of Leeds United who's football ground is on Elland Road) reading this post recently & this has prompted me to add these photos of the same designed brick which I found in Derbyshire earlier this year after a tip off from a fellow collector on where to find one. So by just being patience one turned up for me not too far away & it only cost me the petrol to go & get it. I then came across a variation from the same company (Wortley Fire Clay Co.) also with Elland Road on it at Cawarden Reclamation Yard, which I have also added. The Wortley Fire Clay's brickworks was on both sides of Elland Road next door to the football ground & can be seen in the top left hand corner of this map. http://maps.nls.uk/view/100947089
