Two Upcoming Auctions

Previews of James and Sons’ June Auctions.

INTRODUCTION

My empoloyers, James and Sons, have two auctions coming up in the next week. On Wednesday we are at Fakenham Racecourse for a general sale featuring a wide range of items, and on Saturday we are at The Maids Head Hotel, Norwich for an auction of old, rare cigarette cards. In tbe rest of this post I will give you a preview of both auctions.

CIGARETTE CARDS

The cigarette cards are the first part of a huge collection submitted to us by former Lord Mayor of London Sir Brian Jenkins (he has already expressed his appreciation of this catalogue). Here, as a link to the official catalogue listing on the-saleroom.com is a picture of the front cover of our printed catalogue:

It was my employer who selected the 1896 cricketers set to feature on the front cover, and me who chose the particular cricketers to feature (and, of course, took the photograph). Although W G Grace turned 48 during the course of the 1896 season he still also scored over 2,000 first class runs in it (in 1895 he had set two new records, completing his 100th first class hundred, the first to so, and also scoring 1,000 first class runs in the month of May (starting his season on the 9th and reaching his 1,000 21 days later) including 301 against Sussex. K S Ranjitsinhji deprived the old master of a record he had held since 1871 by racking up 2,780 first class runs in the season beating WGs old tally of 2,739. He also made an extraordinary test debut. On day 2 after Australia had racked up a big score he contributed 62 to England’s first innings, and then in the follow-on he reached 41 not out by the close. Then, having totalled over 100 runs on his first day as a test match batsman he added another 100 before lunch on his second, taking his overnight 41 to 154 not out. In spite of these heroics Australia needed only 125 to win, although a lion-hearted spell of fast bowling from Tom Richardson (6-76) ensured that they had to work for them, the eventual margin being three wickets.

Here a few photographic highlights:

2001 — This is the first lot of the auction

Lot 2010 features in our printed catalogue…

2010-a — I also gave The Bard the close-up treatment.

2027-a — …from which I singled out Herbert Sutcliffe, an embodiment of the phrase “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” – first-class average 52.02, test average 60.73, ashes average 66.85.

2029 — Not difficult to select Meteora from this set!

2050 — A Railway set given exhaustive treatment.

2237 — Having earlier honoured Herbert Sutcliffe with a close up…

2237-a — …I now did likewise for his most famous opening partner, Jack Hobbs

2279 — The close-up I chose from this set features in our printed catalogue.

2279-a — This card is the first time I have even seen mention of a middle name for Hedley Verity (1956 wickets at 14.91 in a decade of doped pitches and Don Bradman’s batting).

2291-c — The Rocket, officially the world’s first steam locomotive.

LOTS 2412 AND 2413

These are the two really old sets of cricketers, one of which is valued very highly, the other somewhat less so.

2412-b — …and this is the front cover image

2413 — For this lot I added a couple to the close-up images

2413-a — As well and as Grace and Ranji I featured C B Fry and Gilbert Jessop (the fastest scorer in first-class cricket history – 79 runs an hour, in spite of the fact that for virtually his entire career a ball had to be hit right out of the ground as opposed to merely over the ropes to count six) – I reckon that if you could send a time machine to fetch him he would fetch decent money at an IPL auction!

THE GENERAL AUCTION

I finish this auction by linking to the catalogue listing for Wednesday’s auction:

Most of the books in this auction were described and valued by yours truly, which may give them a chance of selling (but I am not holding my breath.

Karytaina Castle

An account of Karytaina Castle.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest in my series of posts about my holiday in Greece (May 12th to 19th). After the last post in which I gave the animals their due we resume our coverage of the Friday, having dealt with Dimitsana.

ON FROM DIMITSANA

Those of you who read my first post about Dimitsana will recall that my mother was not well that day, necessitating changes to our plans, including an abandonment of our plans for lunch. Thus we decided that my father and I would make do with what we could find in Karytaina town, and we would stop on the way back to buy some good food for supper. Here are some introductory pictures:

Distant view of Karytaina Castle — A distant shot of Karytaina Castle taken while travelling.

Karytaina Castle from below I — Two shots taken looking up at the castle from the town.

Karytaina map — A couple of public maps of the area.

My father and I did locate a place in the town serving food, but the sole merit of the meal was cheapness – neither the ham & cheese toastie nor the drink had any flavour at all. Having had lunch it was time for the ascent to the castle.

WATCHING TWO RIVERS

Karytaina Castle was built by the Franks in the 13th century, and its location was chosen because it commands a direct view of two rivers, the Lousios and the Alpheios, both of which flow all year round (most rivers in Greece do not). The ascent from the town to the castle is quite steep, although the path is fairly well maintained, so it is not unduly difficult.

Karytaina town — The town as viewed from the castle.

THE TWO RIVERS

I finish with some pictures of the two rivers the castle overlooks (mainly the Lousios, but I did get one shot of the Alpheios as well):

Lousios bridges I — This has been a recognised crossing point of the Lousios for hundreds of years.

Vill du också behålla Trosas natur – Save Trosa nature petition

Please sign and share the Save Trosa Nature petition…

Annas Art - FärgaregårdsAnna

Nu har ni möjlighet att:

hjälpa nästa generation att få uppleva orörd natur på samma sätt som tidigare generationer.

hjälpa Trosa kommuns ekonomi på fötter genom att föreslå att stryka onödiga vägbyggnadskostnader.

ge er själva chansen att fortsätta ert bullerfria och utsläppsfria friluftsliv i Vitalisskogen, Hungaskogen och naturen på Tureholmshalvön.

På
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Save Trosa Nature petition

You can help us save Trosa nature for

future generations. They gonna need it badly if we fail to reach the climate goals.

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Greek Wildlife

Some of the creatures I observed in the course of my holiday in Greece.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in my series about my holiday in Greece (12th to 19th May). This one is an almost purely pictorial post showing some of the plant and animal life that I encountered there.

THE FLORA AND FAUNA I CAPTURED

Lizard I — This little green lizard was the only such creature I amanged to capture on camera, but I also saw a larger yellow/brown lizard at Methoni, although it made itself scarce before I could photograph it.

Three cats at the noms plate — We had decided that we would put out cat food, but no treats, so the cats who visited were genuinely hungry..

dark butterfly — This picture and the next demonstrate that not all the butterflies in Greece are brightly coloured.

Mountain snail — I saw this mountain snail during the ascent to Karytaina Castle, on the Friday, after the visit to Dimitsana.

I could not identify this one with any confidence, although the shape suggests an arachnid of some sort rather than an insect.

Beetle — The size and shape of tbhis creature and the apparent solidity of its carapace suggested a large beetle, although such creatures do not usually display their wings when on the ground.

During one of the walks I saw a tiny snake which concealed itself very quickly, and I missed many other intended shots, but I think I got a fair selection!

Kakapo Lego (plus Tweets)

Where lego and New Zealand birds meet, courtesy of Heather Hastie.

The creation is magnificent, and Heather’s idea of using it to launch a whole lego range devoted to indigenous New Zealand birds is even better. It is a little unfortunate to use this phrase given one of the most famous quirks of these birds, but the products would absolutely fly off the shelves…

Note – this is Heather’s story and if you wish to comment you will need to visit the original.

Source: Kakapo Lego (plus Tweets)

The Tannery Section of the Dimitsana Museum

The tannery at the open-air museum fo water power in Dimitsana.

INTRODUCTION

In my previous post in this series about my week in Greece (May 12th to 19th) I wrote about the Open-air Museum of Water Power at Dimitsana, and stated that I was going give the tannery a whole post to itself, and here it is.

THE TANNERY

As well as containing everything used in pre-industrial leather making this section features a short video detailing the process in its entirety. To get from a batch of skins to leather from which stuff could be made would take a couple of months.

This is the centrepiece of a fascinating museum. The tannery is the second-furthest part of the museum from the entrance, with the gunpowder mill directly below it.

Greece 2018: Friday 1: Dimitsana

An account of the opn-air museum of water power in Dimitsana (apart from the tannery, which I am giving a post to itself).

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my latest post about my holiday in Greece (12th – 19th May). We are now dealing with the Friday, the centrepiece of which was to be a visit to the Open-air Water Power Museum at Dimitsana and a meal at a restaurant that serves meat from wild animals shot by the proprietor. This post deals with the Dimitsana section of the day apart from the tannery which I shall give a post to itself.

BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE AND MEN

For Thursday night’s supper we had eaten pork chops, and my mother had failed to finish hers. This it turned out was the first warning of a stomach problem that would lead to a serious alteration of our plans for the day. Although she felt well enough to make the journey by about 10 o’clock, the restaurant meal was out of the question.

THE JOURNEY TO DIMITSANA

The journey from Tseria to Dimitsana is somewhat over two hours in duration. It involves quite a lot of scenic stuff but also one truly abominable eyesore, modern Megalopolis (to give you an idea of the sheer visual awfulness of the place its most prominent features are a pair of giant cooling towers). Little remains of the original city – some pillars from the theatre is about all one can actually see.

Monastaries overlooking the Lousios Gorge — This monastery is actually modern and Russian funded, but there are also some much older monasteries in the area.

THE OPEN AIR WATER POWER MUSEUM

Dimitsana is a mountainside town, which means that going round the open-air museum involves going downhill and then back up at the end. The water was running more vigorously than it had been on my previous visit – perhaps because it was earlier in the year.

Gunpowder press — Most of the gunpowder the the Greeks used in their war of independence in the early 19th century was manufactured in Dimitsana.

The path beyond the museum — I do not know where this path ultimately leads, but there is a sign warning that you follow it at your own risk.

Mountain village — This is a classic view of a Greek mountainside village.

This museum is well worth a visit, and we were there on Museum Day, meaning that admission was free.

Welcome to Sunday Social

I know it is now Monday morning, but please do come and join the fun at Rachel’s Sunday Social…

Rachel McKee~Illuminated Literation

Sorry for the late start today!

Sunday Social is a place to mingle, collaborate, and share our blogs. Sunday Social is one more place where you can share a post that maybe didn’t get as much feedback as you were hoping for. Sunday Social is a place to meet new bloggers.

This weekly post is a “wild card” of sorts. There aren’t many rules but I do ask that you follow a few guidelines.

Give honest, constructive feedback, but always be courteous.
If someone takes the time to comment on your post, please return the favor and check out their endeavors too.

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Greece: Kardamili, Stoupa, Agios Nikolaos and Trachila

Continuing my account of my holiday in Greece.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the next post in my somewhat spread out series about my holiday in Greece. This post follows on from my post about Nestor’s Palace, in which you can find links to all my previous posts about this holiday. Unlike my previous posts in this series this one covers events from two different days, the Monday and the Thursday.

MONDAY: KARDAMILI AND TRACHILA

There were a few things to be done in Kardamili, including finding some sandals for me, and we decided havuing finished there to make the journey to Trachila, which is at the end of one of the roads beyond the resort town of Stoupa (the other, the main road, goes up into the mountains to Areopoli and then on into the inner Mani and down to very southern tip of mainland Greece). This was a pretty journey, and Trachila itself is very pleasant.

Map — This map is part of the decoration of the shop from which my sandals came.

The path to the edge of the sea — This is how I was able to get so close to the sea.

lights, Akrouali — On our way back we stopped at Akrouali’s in Stoupa for lunch – these lights were close to our table.

THURSDAY: STOUPA & AGIOS NIKOLAOS

On Thursday morning my mother was going to Stoupa for a “Stitch ‘n’ Bitch” session at Patriko’s, while I made use of their internet connection. Then we were going to walk along the sea-front to the village of Agios Nikolaos, have a light lunch at an establishment there that my parents knew, and then walk back to Stoupa before heading back to Tseria. This was deliberately a day on which we did not go on any major journeys as major excursions were happening on Wednesday and Friday.

Natural Window — A natural window in the rocks, between Stoupa and Agios Nikolaos

Painted stone, Greg's, Agios Nikolaos — A painted stone used as a table decoration at the place where we had lunch.

House Martin nests, Ag Nikolaos — Two shots of house martin nests in Agios Nikolaos

House Martin visits the nests — A shot of a house martin visiting the nest to deliver food to chicks concealed within.

Hill with Frankish fortifications — Not much remains of the 13th century Frankish castle which stood on this flat topped hill.

Greece 2018: Nestor’s Palace

An account of Nestor’s palace at Pylos.

INTRODUCTION

Through a combination of work commitments and still having large numbers of photos to edit it has been a while since I posted, so just to remind people I was in Greece from May 12th to May 19th, and have so far produced five posts relating to that holiday:

Aperiftif – setting the scene for subseqent posts going into more detail about the holiday and various aspects thereof.
Days 1-2 – covering the start of the holiday
The Journey to Methoni – covering the start of the first of the two major excursions.
Methoni Castle – covering the castle other than the Bourzti of Methoni.
The Bourtzi of Methoni – covering the Bourtzi.

A VERY ANCIENT SITE

Whereas nothing at Methoni is above 800 years old, and most of it is around half that age (making it a youngster in terms of Greek sites) Nestor’s Palace at Pylos (about 15 kilometres from the modern town of that name) was in its pomp 3,300 years ago or thereabouts, which means that even by Greek standards it counts as old (although Gortyn on the island of Crete is about twice as old as even this). In an effort to preserve these remains a shelter has been built around the site, and part of this structure is a raised walkway from which visitors view the site – no walking round at ground level these days.

NESTOR’S PALACE IN PICTURES

It is now time for the combination of my camera and photo-editing skills to take over and give you a virtual tour of Nestor’s Palace…

Information, Nestor's Palace — There is lots of informatrion about the palace and the kingdom it was a part of.

detail from Nestor's bath — some detail from the inside facing of Nestor’s bath.

Sea view from Nestor's palace IV — The first of several sea views I captured from Nestor’s palace.

SEA VIEWS FROM THE PALACE

Here are my remaining sea views from the palace itself…

	Thomas on World T20 Cup Underway
	Anna on World T20 Cup Underway
	London Underground t… on Project Piccadilly
	Thomas on All Time XIs – Detective…
	Anna on All Time XIs – Detective…