James and Sons usually have an auction near the end of each month. In August a combination of an intervening bank holiday and the fact that it takes a full day to set things up at Fakenham Racecourse means that we will be having two separate auctions near the end of August:
On Friday August 25th we will be having an auction at our shop in Fakenham.
On Wednesday August 30th we will be having an auction at Fakenham Racecourse.
THE FRIDAY SALE
This sale kicks off with a large number of coin lots. Here are some pictures:
This is a 17th century guinea weight (the S 21 that appears on each face refers to the monetary value of the guinea – 21 shillings)
Lots 68-70 feature coins from the joint monarchy of William III and Mary II (1688-94)
A farthing was a quarter of a penny, so these had a value of one eighth of a penny!
Lot 186 – a one punt piece.This creature has been extinct for some considerable time – it is an Irish Elk and those antlers grew to have a span of up to 15 feet).
A commemorative medallion celebrating the acquittal of radical publisher John Horne Tooke.
Lot 8The two faces of the coin.
Lot 199
Lot 256 – this square coin is from 17th century Holland
Lot 273 – a two album collection.
THE WEDNESDAY SALE
I included some of the pictures I have taken for this sale in my previous post, and although I will not ignore those items I will include only the main images and urge you to consult my previosu post for the rest.
Lot 1403 – there is a little wallet incorporated in the inside back cover of the book to store the map when folded.Lot 1415 – the largest railway map I have ever seen – and it has stout front and back panels so that when folded it looks a bit like a book.Lot 1422 – A more modern and much smaller railway map, with promotional material on the reverse (four images)Lot 1428 – Some south Wales railway history.Lot 1401. Every lot from 1401 to 1428 is featured in this post
Some autism related links, and some photos from Musical Keys.
INTRODUCTION
As NAS West Norfolk branch secretary and an #actuallyautistic person I always like to share good stuff about autism. I am including within this a piece that is not directly about autism but relates to many of the issues that autistic people highlight.
These photographs were taken at Muscial Keys on Saturday, which I am involved in due to my association with NAS West Norfolk.
The first three screens show the things I have built up involving each of my three sprites
This focusses on the backdrop itself…And not long later I had created functions for this screen that meant that every button I could assign an individual function now did something.Close up of backdrop and sprites.
My attempts to do justice to a splendid full moon.
INTRODUCTION
After a serious first post of the day here is something in lighter vein. Last night in the twilight period a magnificent full moon was visible from my flat in King’s Lynn. The rest of this post details my attempts to do justice to it.
THE PICTURES
I have three separate pictures of this full moon:
This one is clear but has a lot of empty space around it.This one is a bit blurred.A closer-up shot
I then tried to enlarge the last picture shown above, resulting in:
A post largely devoted to nature, featuring links to Anna’s “Paradise on Earth” series of posts, a couple of infographics, a petition and some my own nature pics.
INTRODUCTION
This is the first of several posts I will be putting up today. I will start by bringing you up to date with Anna’s magnificent “Paradise on Earth” series which now runs to 12 posts, then I have a couple of twitter images to share with you, and at the end I will include some of my own photographs.
PARADISE ON EARTH
I covered the first three posts in this series in The Fight To Save Trosa Nature, reblogged part 4 in full here, and then put up another postfeaturing parts 4 and 5. Since then Anna has continued to showcase the Tureholm Peninsula’s wildlife as follows:
Part 6 – continuing to feature birds. I include the Mistle thrush picture below as a sample:
Part 7– another post about birds, including this crane:
Part 8– focusses on slugs and snails, including the beauty below:
Part 9– A more general pieces showing a wide range of local animals, including the moose pictured below:
Part 10– focusses on the butterflies that live in the area, including the rare Apollo butterfly shown below:
Part 11 – A few more butterflies, including the one below:
Part 12 – focusses on water creatures, including the stickleback below:
INFOGRAPHIC 1: ICE-FREE ARCTIC?
This is by way of a warning of what our species is doing to this planet, and since it concerns the Arctic it follows on naturally from the stuff about the Tureholm Peninsula:
INFOGRAPHIC 2: ON SPECIES
This one shows an illogicality in our classification of species by showing side by side three species of cat that share 95.7 of their DNA, and are therefore quite correctly considered members of the felidae and two species that share over 98% of their DNA but are classed as members of different genera. The reason the second pair of species are classed as more widely split than the first trio has nothing to do with logic and everything to do with religion (and Carolus Linnaeus, also known as Carl Von Linne, the pioneer of our system of classification admitted as much in the 18th century btw):
A PETITION REGARDING UK ZOOS
UK Zoos are still treating their animals badly, and there is now a petition on thepetitionsite calling on DEFRA to crack down on misery in UK Zoos. As one who cannot remmeber when I last visited a UK zoo (the last zoos I visited anywhere were those in Melbourne and Adelaide, both of which treat their animals well and give them space to move, in 2009-10) I urge you to sign this petitionand help increase the pressure being applied.
SOME OF MY OWN PHOTOGRAPHS
I finish this post with some of my own recently taken photographs:
This grasshopper being on the path frather than in the grass made it easier to spot and photograph.
A mixed bag of a post, featuring local politics, libraries, autism, science, nature and photography.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to this post in three parts. I am going to start by mentioning a local election that took place in my area today and in which I voted, then I will be mentioning an event that will be taking place at Gaywood Library (one of four such establishments in Norfolk that I visit at least semi-regularly) and I will finish up with some links to do with nature which will lead naturally to some of my photographs.
A FORCED BY-ELECTION
The election in which I voted today happened due to the laziness and arrogance of the incumbent councillor, who in spite of living just across the road from the Town Hall never attended meetings.
Four candidates were in the contest, in alphabetical order:
Rob Archer of the Green Party Francis Bone of the Labour Party Helen Russell-Johnson of the Liberal Democrats Mike Taylor of the Conservative Party
In the ordinary course of events my inclination, especially given that the displaced councillor had been from the Labour Party would have been to vote for Mr Archer. However, the Liberal Democrat candidate happens to be my aunt. Therefore I voted for her.
I have started this post by covering this election for two reasons:
I want to make it clear to the Liberal Democrats that I voted for my aunt IN SPITE of the fact that she was representing them not because of it.
Also, just in case Mr Archer happens to be reading this, I hope he will take it as both explanation and apology for not having voted for him on this occasion.
I conclude this section of the post with a picture of my Political Compass certificate (it is free and does not very long to answer the questions which are used to assign your score):
THE GAYWOOD LIBRARY EVENT
The event at Gaywood Library is a Business Eveningat which I hope it will be possible to raise the subject of the Autism Hour, one of the National Autistic Society’s recent initiatives. I have already confirmed that I will be in attendance. Here are a couple of pictures to end this section:
SOME NATURE PIECES
My nature links naturally divide into three segments, with a few photographs of my own forming a fourth. We will start with…
A NEW DINOSAUR FIND
This story courtesy of scienmag.com is about a dinosaur that has been named Albertavenator Curriei (“Currie’s Alberta Hunter”, named in honour of Canadian paleontologist Dr Philip J Currie). Below is a representation of this creature by Oliver Demuth:
Stan Kroenke, current owner of Arsenal Football Club, has just launched a new TV channel devoted to blood sports. I have two links to share, and some words for Arsenal fans at the end:
A change.org petitionaimed at the sponsors of Arsenal Football Club asking them to withdraw support and so help force Kroenke out, screenshot below:
For ordinary Arsenal fans my suggestions are simple – boycott all home matches until Kroenke goes, and if you are a season ticket holder return your ticket and demand a full refund, making it clear that you will return if and only if Kroenke is no longer involved with the club.
MORE ON THE FIGHT TO PROTECT TROSA NATURE
This morning I reblogged Part 4 of Anna’s series of “Paradise on Earth” posts highlighting the wildlife that can be seen around Trosa and the Tureholm Peninsula. Since then she has added yet another post to that series, and I include links below:
Part 4, concentrating on birds including the Osprey shown below.
Part 5, also dedicated to birds. I have chosen as my sample image a Linnet.
Finally, to end this section, and the post as a whole we have some of…
Some links to posts about the fight to save Trosa nature and a few of my own pictures from today.
INTRODUCTION
It will be no news to regular followers of this blog that I have been supporting Anna in her fight to protect nature in her part of Sweden for some time. In this blog post I share links to some of her recent posts on this issue, and urge you to follow them up. At the end there are some photos of mine from today featuring creatures I saw while out walking this morning.
SETTING THE SCENE –
VICTOR, YANNO & DUNNO
The beautiful area of Sweden in which Trosa lies is threatened by a proposal to build a big new road which will bring large amounts of money to a few and destruction of priceless natural beauty as an inevitable consequence. This tale sets out the story of the road building plan through three characters, Victor, Yanno & Dunno. The feature graphic shows Yanno & Dunno as puppets being controlled by Victor:
This third post about the wildlide of Trosa and the Tureholm Peninsula is devoted to birds. My bait to lure you in is a Heron…
SOME OF MY PICTURES FROM TODAY
I finish this piece with some pictures from earlier today, starting with…
A LITTLE EGRET SEEN IN THE RIVER NAR
The point where the River Nar joins the Great Ouse is about 10-15 minutes walk from the centre of King’s Lynn, and I regularly see interesting stuff there, but before today I had not seen a Little Egret there (as well as the two pictures I took of the bird I have a picture of the relevant page of my bird book):
My second set of pictures are…
A SNAIL, A DUCKLING AND A HOVERING INSECT
The footpath above which this little beauty was hovering does not make a great background, bjut I hope you can see the delicate wings that keep that body airborne.
A post focussing on me giving a radio interview. Some mention of a roller-skating session and of the current test-match. And of course some photographs.
INTRODUCTION
The title part of this post refers to one of the things I did yesterday. I also have some pictures to share.
AN AUTISM CENTRED MORNING
Of course, as branch secretary of the National Autistic Society’s West Norfolk branch and an #actuallyautistic person there is a way in which autism is always at the heart of what I do. After three days carrying out my concatenation of roles at a James and Sons auction (operator of the system that enables us to take online bids, database administrator, query fielder, in-house ‘Gordianus’, occasional customer service person – see here for a full account) I had a day on which my only preset commitment was to supervise a roller-skating session at Lynnsport between 11 and 12. In the absence of direct confirmation of a time that would be convenient to speak to Ashleigh at KLFM 96.7 (our local radio station) about our upcoming 10th anniversary I decided that I would set off early for Lynnsport and see if I could speak to her on the way or as a fall-back arrange to call in on my way back.
Ashleigh was able to fit me in straight away, and the interview went well (she will be sending me both a recording and an online article that will accompany the actual broadcast), and I left for Lynnsport with my spirits high – I had helped myself, advertised our upcoming 10th anniversary event and due its connection with the foregoing also made mention of our gardening grant and the allotment on Ferry Lane + plans for a sensory garden in part of the plot. It is because of this gardening stuff that we gained the use of the magnificent garden where our 10th anniversary celebration will be held.
The roller-skating passed without incident and I was able to listen to some of the action from the third test-match (even assuming I had both the ability and the willingness to pay the Biased Bull****ting Conservatives £150 per year I would choose to follow cricket by listening to radio commentaries rather than watching on TV). Yesterday was truncated by rain, but England have had a good day today – first reaching 353 largely thanks to a magnificent innings from Stokes and now bagging a South African wicket before tea – debutant Toby Roland-Jones breaking through.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Being vertical sided these pots should not blow over in the wind (there were two of them).The first of two shots showing James and Sons’ tray of Beatrix Potter coins
I don;t know what the original purpose of this object was, but it has been a feature of James and Sons longer than I have!Wild marjoram is useful as a herb, as well playing a vital role as a plant that bees just love .
An account of James and Sons’ July auction – 1,500 lots over three days.
INTRODUCTION
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week James and Sons had its July auction. 500 lots went under the hammer on each day.
MONDAY
This first day of the sale featured coins, banknotes, cheques, P&N covers and militaria. There were quiet moments in most categories, but also plenty of stuff sold, some of it doing very well. Here are some pictures from this first day:
Along the way, lot 377, one of the P&N covers, was knocked down to me:
As an ardent user of libraries (King’s Lynn and Fakenham very regularly, Gaywood and Norwich when I am in the locality) this had particular appeal. A worthy addition to my collection.
TUESDAY
With stamps, postal history, a few postcards and first-day covers going under the hammer this was always likely to be the quietest of the three days and it was, although there were a few good sales. Here are some pictures from day 2:
WEDNESDAY
With postcards, cigarette & trade cards, ephemera, books, records and some interesting railwayana this was the day that we expected to go best, and it did. After a quietish start with the postcards, the cigarette and Liebig cards attracted in plenty of online bidders, some of the ephemera did very well, and both the large boxes of railway books found a buyer (someone who I had been in email contact with following a query about the contents of one of the boxes – I take the fact that she bought both boxes full as a definitive judgement as to the adequacy of my response!). I was also relieved because of its weight to see lot 1451 find a buyer. Lot 1379 went to me.
After a few minutes spent making the shop look more like a shop and less like an auction venue and a few more minutes spent consuming my sandwiches I finished up by adding details of those who had actually madce bids to the client database and printing out a complete list of those who had registered to bid online (196 of them on this occasion).
Here are some pictures relating to this third day:
Most of the lots going under the hammer on day 3 were in this shotOn the bus home, although exhausted I was still alert enough to accept the opportunity to capture the ruins of Bawsey Abbey when it arose.Lot 1451 (six images)
Lot 1455 (2 images)
Lot 1467 (five images)
Lot 1379 (seven images)
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Overall across the three days the total hammer price for sold items was just over £10,000, and while some of these were owned by external vendors, meaning that our gains are limited to the lotting fees, vendors commission and buyers premium, many were from our own stock. At the end of August we will be having auctions at our shop and also at Fakenham Racecourse.
An account of the PR work I have done for James and Sons upcoming auction.
INTRODUCTION
In amongst polishing off the last of the imaging (I only actually got some lots needing imaging this morning!) for next week’s auction (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, all three days at our shop), resolving queries and such like I have also put out a number of ‘Auction Alert’ emails and a couple of press releases (I did a general one on Tuesday, and then my boss wanted something specifically about some Norfolk postcards today, hence two). I am going to produce screenshots of all the emails and press releases, accompanied by links to original documents, and all images therein.
THE PRESS RELEASES
On Tuesday I put out a general press release to local and regional media as follows:
An account of the three meetings at Marxism 2017 that focussed exclusively on climate change.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to this latest post in my series about Marxism 2017. This post deals with three meetings from the event and also features some external links as well. This post features green body text because of the subject matter – headings still in red. This post features pictures in ’tiled mosaic’ form – to view them at full size left-click/ single finger push an image to open the gallery, and if you right-click/ two finger push you get a drop down menu that enables you to open a single image.
MEETING 1: FACING THE ANTHROPOCENE – JEFFREY HALL, SATURDAY – IAN ANGUS
The Jeffrey Hall is the second largest venue in the Institute of Education, with a seating capacity of 500. It was pleasingly full for Ian Angus’ talk about Facing the Anthropocene. This talk was accompanied by numerous slides. Here are the first few pictures:
Due to the size of the venue a speaker slip system in operation, and Martin (crouched) was assisting the chair to decide what order speakers should be called in.
From this start the speaker went on to define the anthropocene:
This what the Anthropocene is NOT
Note – current CO2 Levels are at 409-10ppm, with almost no one reckoning they can be stabilised below 450ppm and some talking in terms of 560ppm.
Before the Anthropocene the earth had seen five mass extinction events, and all evidence points to the fact that a sixth is upon us. Here are a few links to recent articles about this:
MEETING 2, SUNDA: A REDDER SHADE OF GREEN – MALET SUITE – IAN ANGUS
This was conducted in an informal style. Martin, chairing, asked Ian questions about his latest book (it is a good read btw) and Ian answered. After about half an hour questions were taken from the floor, and they were mainly excellent contributions. At the end of the meeting Ian signed copies of his book for those who were interested. Here are some photos:
The book – the only one I purchased at Marxism 2017 (there were many others I looked at)
PART 3: BUILDING THE MOVEMENT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE AFTER TRUMP WITHDRAWS FROM PARIS – SUZANNE JEFFERY
This meeting was in the session immediately after the second Ian Angus meeting, and before the closing rally. This was a really excellent meeting, with many people speaking from the floor about campaigns they were involved in, and the mood generally confident. Here are some photos:
Chair Jasmine and main speaker Suzanne before the meeting.Jasmine opening the meeting.Suzanne giving her talk.
AFTERWORD
This post being about climate change and by extension nature I have decided to end with some links courtesy of Anna who has produced some excellent stuff about nature:
aspiblog 