Month: February 2014

The T S Eliot signed book is officially big news – someone from a publication based in the southwest requested information today, so they have received a copy of the press release.

One of the star lots I got to image today was a Waterloo Medal, and as you will see from the media attachments it look good. The other lot that I found especially interesting was an enamelled sign, which was in splendid condition. From a purely technical standpoint the image I produced for lot 126, which was two pictures, one framed and one not, was a good bit of work.

Other than the books, which I shall be attending to on Sunday, there are now only odds and ends left to complete the imaging for this sale.

England are just starting an ODI series in the West Indies, and at the moment would appear to be going well – WI 168-5 after 42 of their 50 overs. How much of this series I will be able to catch remains to be seen, but I hope to listen to some of it live.

Here as promised are some interesting images:

 

A busy and successful day at James and Sons today. On Tuesday Adam Lazzari of the Eastern Daily Press visited James and Sons premises in connection with the press release I sent out about the T S Eliot signed book, and his article appeared in today’s EDP (Thursday is the day the EDP’s main edition comes out). The mood was therefore upbeat right from the word go.

Apart from a brief period assisting a colleague to get the Time Bid sale ready to go live (it was uploaded at 1:30PM today, exactly as planned, and can now be viewed on www.the-saleroom.com) I spent most of my day imaging new lots for the March main sale – highlights below:

 

It being a nice sunny day and me being in a position to take advantage of this I took myself out for a bracing walk this afternoon. I started off by heading for the riverside, turning inland at Harding’s pits before cutting through to the parkland area which I joined at Seven Sisters (near the Stuart House Hotel for those familiar with King’s Lynn landmarks). I then walked past a little effort on the part of our council to make a trip to the park educational – a series of signboards about the solar system, plus some mosaic work on the same subject (this came first). The Uranus signboard had been vandalised – all that was there was bare wood. This really annoyed me, because it is really a very clever display – the signboards being placed appropriate distances apart to represent the distances between each body. I have pictures of the undamaged stuff as you will see.

I enjoyed my walk, but why do people feel the need to commit acts of vandalism? A whole display that someone put a good deal of thought into has been spoilt by one idiot who cannot leave well alone.

Here as promised are some pictures:

I have definite assurances from the repair people that the Great Washing Machine Saga will reach its conclusion on Monday, which is all to the good.

Between highlights from the new lots I have imaged today, and the two documents I sent out to various people about our auction on Saturday (a general press release, and a Cigarette Card special which I sent to four organisations who deal with such things and who I had been able locate on the web) there will be plenty of media attachments for you to enjoy with this post.

The images used for PR purposes were composites/ montages, the one for the  general press release painstakingly assembled from 12 separate images, while the Cigarette Card special required a mere trifle of eight images to be assembled into a coherent whole.

Enough for one post – I hope the attachments go down well:

CIGARETTE CARD SUCCESS FOR JAMES AND SONS SUCCESSFUL SALE FOR JAMES AND SONS

The James and Sons sale on Saturday exceeded all expectations. After a slow start, with postal history not attracting a great amount of attention there were notable highlights involving rare stamps, militaria, coins & banknotes, postcards and cigarette cards. For a full account you will have to wait until I have sent out the official press release(s). A China Campaign medal estimated at £40-50 made £160, while the undoubted highlight of the whole auction saw a valubale collection of rare early cigarette cards housed in an old London Cigarette Card album valued at £500-800 reach the dizzy heights of £1,550. Until I have done the press release(s) tomorrow I have no images from the auction to upload, so offer an image I created of the lot I bought for myself, a set of cigarette cards depicting cricketers of 1934.

King’s Lynn Asperger Support Society (KLASS) will have its regular monthly meeting a week today from 6PM to 8PM at the Lattice House (a change in the hours they are open to the public means that the Community Hub is no longer a suitable venue, so we are looking for a replacement).

Another day mostly spent imaging, principally with the camera, although there were a few items that could be scanned as well (quicker, and one gets a better image if the item is suitable for this treatment).  A selection of highlights are attached at the end of this post. These items go under the hammer in March.

The creation of a good image requires two steps, first to take the picture or scan the item, and then to edit the resulting image until you are sure it is fit for purpose (judging by some of the images I still encounter even in our newest auctions not everyone at James & Sons has figured this out yet).

Looking forward to tomorrow’s auction, I will be looking out for gems to feature in my next press release.

Here as promised is a small gallery of images:

A whole day of uninterrupted imaging today – almost all with the camera as the lots were not suitable for scanning. There was some interesting stuff including some old metal signs. The other lot that I will be showing in this post  consisted of a number of unused banknotes (not current legal tender). I will have more pictures tomorrow, including an artistically arranged book lot.

Here are the pictures:

The washing machine saga rolls on – the new repair people did show, but although they had two hinges with them neither was the right one, so they will be trying again. Still this has progressed further in six days than it got with the other lot in two months.

I sent another press release out today, because our March sale is going to feature an autographed edition of T S Eliot’s collected poems (four figure price tag expected) – see Media attachments at the end for more detail.

Looking forward to the auction on Saturday – I will be there come hell or high water (and the latter is more of a threat to a King’s Lynn based atheist!)

AUTOGRAPHED ELIOT BOOK TO GO UNDER THE HAMMER AT FAKENHAM AUCTIONEERS

No great dramas at James and Sons today, but I did get to send out an email about 17th century tokens (see attached media at end), and did a large amount of imaging, mainly with the camera this time as I was handling large lots which were not suitable for being scanned. Irritatingly some of them had lot numbers attached in such a way that I could not keep them out of shot, which given the rudimentary nature of the imaging software available at James and Sons means using paint to place a white rectangle over the offending item, which lengthens the editing process.

Something I intended to mention in yesterday’s post but did not have time for due to computer problems was the latest on Scottish independence. George Osborne’s attempt at intimidation by saying that an independent Scotland could not retain the pound appears to have been a spectacular own goal even by his standards. Certainly, if I was a Scot and had not already decided to vote yes, this little display would have provided all the convincing I required.

Media attachments below:

17th CENTURY TOKENS AT UPCOMING AUCTION

 

I have sent out another press release today for James and Sons (see media attachments at the end of this post). This was two point up that we have two auctions running at present, the one on 22 February and a “Time Bid” auction (online only, check out www.the-saleroom.com for details) which closes on the 19th of February. The image for this latter required a bit of technical work, as there was no single stand out lot, so a montage of some of the highlights was called for. A late adaptation was then needed when David decided he did not like one of the images that I had initially selected for the montage, and it being square it took two rectangular images to replace it adequately (The medal and the Colman’s Mustard postcard).

The Washing Machine Epic commenced in the run up to Christmas when a case of metal fatigue in a small sub-component meant that the door became detached from the hinge. Although I can still run the machine in its current state, I am still sufficiently unimpressed by the conduct of Mark 1 Appliance to state bluntly that they deserve no custom from anyone. My landlady has finally found another firm to do the repairs, and they are scheduled to happen on Monday afternoon (so, touching the nearest thing to wood that a 21st century public library contains, the saga will finally come to an end after a trifling two months!!)

Media attachments and images below:

TWO AUCTION ALERT