A brief look at some of my recent work at James and Sons, including photos, and a regular photo gallery.
One of the things I have been doing recently at James and Sons is describing an imaging a large collection of old newspapers and magazines. This post looks at that process.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
The condition has to be assessed – even if the item is very old one cannot expect imperfections to be overlooked. In the oldest stuff (1850s-1870s in this context) there are rarely any adverts, so it is purely about general content. From the tail-end of the Victorian era onwards ads play a much bigger role, and while genuinely interesting content should be noted it is often the ads that are the main selling point. Once the descriptions have been typed in the image gallery then has to back them up. I have some sample images to show to end this section.
We start with three full page ads from different lots.With this one there were few ads because it was wartime, but there was an abundance of very interesting general content, themed on looking to the future.A full page ad from another lot.This item had some incredible advertisements.The 1962 Chevrolet got not just an advert, but a multipage advertising feature – one full page and two double page spreads.There were three double page spreads advertising Ford products in various parts of the magazine.This was a double page plus a mini booklet.The feature article was beautifully presented.This was just the start of a superb historical feature.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I end with one of my regular galleries…
Not a perfect V – the two birds on the bottom left are out of true – but not that far off.This was hovering high overhead as I headed on to the footpath along the east bank of the Great Ouse on my way home from today’s WNAG committee meeting.
A look back at the James and Sons auction that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, with lots of photos. Also a gallery of my usual hobby photos.
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week James and Sons of Fakenham had their May auction. Tuesday was devoted to stamps and postal history, while Wednesday was a general auction, with lots of different types of stuff under the hammer. This post looks at some of the highlights of the two days.
TUESDAY – STAMPS ETC
I was working above the shop where the auction was taking place, so cannot comment on the sale as a whole. However lot 256 went to me, and was clearly uncontested given how low the hammer price was. These are the images that were available to the general public:
Time constraints limited the size of the image gallery I could produce for this lot, but my own interest in securing meant the gallery had to be as complete as I could reasonably make it.
Here are my own photos of the lot post acquisition, taken at home yesterday morning:
In the folder – for reaons that the final image will make clear I paired the Saint Kitts & Nevis item with something else with a Caribbean connection.I already had a copy of the Kiribati cover, so I needed five slots in total, hence the earlier image.
DAY TWO
This sale started very quietly (I was watching from home), with lot 526 going to me uncontested. This item will be at the heart of at least one major blog post and possibly more, so I present only the image gallery I produced for it to go under the hammer:
The auction picked up a bit of momentum when some old Guinness advertising posters, all in excellent condition, went under the hammer. Five of the posters fared especially well, lots 622, 641, 658, 661 and 669, which all went for above the top estimates. Here are the images of those lots:
622 (two images – front and back)641 (two images, front and back)658 (three images, front, close up of main part, back)661 (three images, front, close up of main part, and back)669 (five images – front, close up of each the three ‘layers’ of the front, back)
The star lot of the auction was number 795, which massively exceeded the top estimate. Here is the gallery.
I did not have the luxury of time to make a really detailed assessment of this lot, but I did do a detailed gallery, and my choice of what to feature clearly did its job!
Some of the toy lots in the low 800s also fared exceptionally well with 805 and 806 almost doubling the top estimate, and lots 807, 814 and 815 also going above the top estimate.
The images for lots 805 and 806 were taken by a colleague and edited for me, with the secondary images (one for 805, two for 806) extracted by me from single individual images.807 (eight images)814 (six images)815 (nine images)
PHOTOGRAPHS
There have been a lot of photographs in the body of this post, but I also include a gallery of my usual hobby photographs…
Yesterday at James and Sons was devoted to finishing the imaging for the January auction (Jan 28th 2014, Fakenham Racecourse). It is in the nature of last items to be imaged that they are not the most interesting, but there were some good ones in there…
This is one of five images of lot 324
This is one of five images from lot 325.
The next four images are of lot 601
This is lot 736 – the map is in the frame at right angles to the normal orientation.
The next five images are from lot 780. a giant scrapbook full of beer mats
Today however was a much more varied day. The morning was devoted to the heavy work of clearing the alleyway behind the shop (our neighbours in Fakenham who I won’t name had failed a fire inspection). Thereafter a new advertising board to replace the clapped out and out of date one was constructed (I did some of the selection and layout work, my colleague Andrew then assembled it) – I have a picture of it laid out ready for construction and one of it standing in the shop window, both of which I have tweeted out to my followers on @aspitweets…
The new advertising board, ready for assembly.
The new advertising board in the shop window.
The imaging for February only involved four lots, but some needed multiple images as you will see below…
The first four images are of Lot 1 in the February auction
The next two images are from lot 103
This postcard album is lot 102 in the February auction.
Lot 101 for February warranted no fewer than eight images.
Today however was a much more varied day. The morning was devoted to the heavy work of clearing the alleyway behind the shop (our neighbours in Fakenham who I won’t name had failed a fire inspection). Thereafter a new advertising board to replace the clapped out and out of date one was constructed (I did some of the selection and layout work, my colleague Andrew then assembled it) – I have a picture of it laid out ready for construction and one of it standing in the shop window, both of which I have tweeted out to my followers on @aspitweets…
