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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

Why am I suddenly resuming this blog after ages in abeyance? Because I was alerted today to the fact that somebody new had signed up. This being the case I felt it appropriate to write something.

Having started on a 12 hour per week basis at James and Sons auctioneers (not to be confused with the vastly inferior James Beck auctioneers also of Fakenham) and not really put a foot wrong my hours were increased to 18 per week in mid January, enough for me to sign off Jobseekers Allowance.

As well as my main work as a Data Input Clerk I also do imaging, create text for bulk emails and send out press releases. Friday was a red letter day, when an article appeared in the Lynn News based on one of my press releases. This concerns a rare set of medals, badge and commemorative plaque issued to a King’s Lynn native, private Sydney Doy for service in WWI, which will be going under the hammer on the 22nd of of February at the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich, viewing from 8:30AM, sale starts at 10AM sharp. More detail, including images of all lots, can be found at www.jamesandsonsauctioneers.com.

I am also taking this opportunity to provide you with my own work (images, poster, the original press release, and an easy to read jpg of the Lynn News article. Sydney Doy Doy Poster

I have of course followed all the cricket through the winter. I will be kinder to the England men’s team than most have been lately by saying nothing about their efforts in this post. The women however retained their version of the Ashes. It was particularly satisfying that the runs which took them over the line were scored by veteran skipper Charlotte Edwards.

Congratulations to Michael Clarke for breathing life into a game that looked to be securely in its coffin courtesy of some inclement weather and a very slow pitch.

Thanks to his bold declaration, setting England 227 in 45 overs, the match was fully alive until the current bad light rule, with its blanket ban on the exercise of common sense, put paid to the match with four overs remaining.

The second part of the title refers to an area of land, well stocked with warning signs, which consists largely of reed bed and the remains of the odd boat, on which some Einstein of local/regional government has decided it would be sensible to build 300 new dwelling places!!!!

I have been out on a walk past this area today and taken a number of photographs which make the point quite nicely…

Things move slowly at James and Sons – still no yea or nay on an increase in my hours there. However, on Thursday the client database will be going live, and I will get to work on the stock database. After a weather assisted draw at Old Trafford settled the destiny of the ashes, England are responding well to having being dismissed for a smallish total on their first innings.

Returning to my coverage of my holiday, Wednesday saw a visit to Bolsover Castle and supper cooked by me.

Bolsover Castle is an extraordinary place, with the framework of an older very large castle surrounding the still intact new and much smaller castle. I will let those of the 150-odd photos I took that I have chosen to upload tell the rest of the story.

I have just completed the powerpoint section of my current IT course (a mere 97% in the final test). Having been out for an afternoon walk.

In my account of my eight days away we have arrived at my first full day in Derbyshire on the morning of which I took the pictures of High Hazels that appeared in my last post, before moving my stuff across to the main house, as the other house was no longer required, and going on a trip to Haddon Hall, one of many grand buildings in the vicinity. 

Haddon Hall was absolutely magnificent, helped by it being a belter of a day – even Hillington Square looks less ugly under a blue sky! After we returned we all sat down to lunch, the centrepiece of which was a superb oriental style salad. The afternoon was quietly spent reading and making use of one of the most successful cheap toys ever bought – a plastic cricket set which was near universally popular.

Bearing in mind that I took over 200 photos while at Haddon Hall any selection will be unrepresentative, but here they are…..