An important press release made available for you.
A celebration of having reached 1,000 twitter followers.
An announcement of National Autism Day (incl mention of @AutismDay)
An otherwise mundane working day was livened up by creating a post-auction press release with an embedded image. The entire document and every image I used are in the added media. Although mention was made of other areas of interest and of our next auction (Jan 28th) the raison d’etre for this press release was to emphasise the triumph of the U-Boat Commanders Binoculars.
At lunch time today, courtesy of @charity_today, @aspitweets reached a very significant twitter landmark: 1,000 followers (I checked on my personal twitter with one hand while eating sandwiches with the other). I reckon that 55 days to reach 1,000 followers is good going for a non-celebrity.
Linked to the above is an announcement of something I found via twitter: National Autism Day, which will be held for the first time on June 5th 2015. The official twitter account is: @AutismDay and the more publicity the better.
Now for the press release and attendant images…
The binocs lying flatThe binocs standing up.The composite image that went in the press release.The banner type heading used for the press releaseA jpg of the final press release.
The combined Christmas lunch for James and Sons & The Great Centenary Charity Auction took place at the Thai Restaurant in central Fakenham, just a few doors down from James and Sons own premises. This event has already been covered on facebook, @great_auction and @aspitweets but this account will deal with it a little more fully.
A total of 17 people were able to come to the meal, and both the food and the service were above reproach. My spare ribs and sweet & sour pork were both well spiced but not such as to cause problems, while the egg fried rice was dry and not remotely sticky, and offered a tiny amount of resistance to the teeth, so had not been cooked to death. The available range of drinks was narrow and not very suitable for me – I would not generally choose canned John Smiths but nothing else they had looked remotely drinkable. Overall I think it is a perfectly respectable establishment and I hope it survives the arrival in Fakenham of J D Wetherspoon, who as usual have everyone beaten on price. It cannot however even be considered the best Thai in Northwest Norfolk – Thams of West Rudham has that distinction, although they are quite expensive.
In other news yet another exposure for the Union of Knaves, Idiots and Parasites (UKIP for short): Tommy Robinson, former leader of the Evil Dimwits League (EDL) has thrown his lot in with them.
I have some photos to share, as always…
The first shot from the restaurant.
A tree lit up for Christmas, outside Hollywood Central Cinema.An aeroplane framed by lines of Christmas lightsChristmas lights in King’s LynnSingle star, King’s Lynn
The December auction of James and Sons took place at the Maids Head Hotel, Norwich yesterday. As the person running the company database it was a particularly full-on day for me, and I have decided to take you through it in chronological order:
5:45AM: Left the flat to be sure of being at bus station in time for 6:00 bus to Norwich (although the sale does not being until 10, with my responsibilities it is mandatory that I be at the auction venue by 8 at the latest and this is the last bus that will enable me to do that)
7:35AM: Bus arrives at Norwich bus station bang on schedule (not even a British bus company can contrive to be running late at this stage of the morning) and I head straight but unhurriedly for the Maids Head Hotel.
7:45AM: Arrive at the hotel and find my way to the Erpingham Room where I will be based for the next few hours.
8:30AM: By this stage the setup and layout are complete and viewers are starting to arrive. My computer is set up in a location that ensures that no punters will have access to confidential information and the internet connection is working, although it will still be necessary to phone the shop in Fakenham every time someone wants to pay by card as the connection does not extend to our portable card reader. Before attending to my own specific tasks I print out a listing of commssion bids that have been registered online via http://www.the-saleroom.com. Between the information on the registrants page of http://www.the-saleroom.com and the written and printed records of bids received in advance I am able to ensure that my database is as up to date as it can be before the auction starts.
10:00AM: Kick off, and the auction starts with a bang as lot 1 sells for £130 against an estimate of £50. This is the occasion for the first of various live tweets I manage to post in between doing the work I am paid for.
The lots come and go very fast, and it is significantly before 11 that the first lot I am interested in, number 171, two postcards of East Rudham and West Raynham churches goes under the hammer. I stick in a bid but then realise I am up against the proprietor of Lynn Gold and recognising that he has much greater financial firepower decide not to bother contesting further.
After 250 lots the auctioneer takes a brief break and I have my first problem of the day, when instead of printing out an invoice as I require my computer wants to print out the entire Auction Form record (fortunately I am able to cancel the job before a single page has been wasted). I resolve the problem by the tried and tested if unscientific method of closing the database down and reopening, and as it happens there will be no further technical malfunctions that day.
Approx 12:30PM: We have now been through 500 lots, and are about to move on to coins and banknotes, with militaria, ephemera and some misecllaneous items still to come. This is a sensible point at which to take a 15 minute break, as planned by the auctioneer. Lot 441 in the meantime had been knocked down to me for £12.
A combination of the speed at which auctioneer David is getting through the lots and the frequency with which I have to produce invoices causes me to fall behind, but with only two room bidders other than myself still left this is not actually as serious an issue as it feels at the time.
14:18PM: Lot 786, the last item in the sale goes under the hammer.
14:40PM: The clear-up is complete and I take my leave. A call at the Glasshouse just down the road for some liquid refreshment and a visit to the library (which I regard as a must when I am in Norwich) mean that I end up on the 16:40 bus back to King’s Lynn. The front of the bus provides a sight I have not previously been treated to: although we are in Norwich and the bus is terminating at King’s Lynn the intermediate destinations listed are those between Peterborough and King’s Lynn! This causes a degree of confusion among my fellow passengers, especially those travelling to intermediate destinations, as you might imagine.
It is just a shade under thirteen hours after setting off in the morning that I finally arrive back at the flat. Come Dine With Me via 4OD followed by Strictly on iplayer complete the day. It was semi-finals week on the latter, meaning that each couple had two dances to perform. The best was saved till last as Caroline Flack and Pasha Kovalev produced the routine that finally persuaded Craig to flourish the 10 paddle.
I have a few pictures for you…
This is the Dereham Christmas tree.Part of the sale as laid out before the start.More of the sale.The Christmas tree in the Erpingham Room at the Maids head HotelThe last four images are of my purchase, taken this morning, this full picture and three close ups.
Today has been devoted to making final preparations for tomorrow’s auction at The Maids Head Hotel, Norwich. To view a full catalogue and/ or sign up to bid online click the following link: http://goo.gl/TgVNCi
I also have dates and locations for all next year’s auctions, which I have already circulated on twitter via @great_auction and a retweet courtesy of @aspitweets. A bit of colour in the form of some catalogue cover scans and a jpg version of the auction calendar…
Today I have both managed to complete the information gathering for our last sale on 29/11/2014 and get the database ready for our next sale this coming Saturday. As part of this I am able to share with you descriptions and images of the lots that did best in relative terms at our last auction. Some of the images included as part of this are not my work. I will mention in the captions I provide when images are not mine.
The second part of this post is a response to the following tweet (I did not think I could do it in 140 characters):
As briefly as possible: this was an atrocity committed by an atheist not an atrocity committed in the name of atheism. This is in direct contrast to the almost innumerable list of atrocities carried out not merely by religious people but in the name of religion.
Now for those images (and a PDF file – I have taken care that no personal details of anyone are included)
This is lot 13 – the first item to do significantly better than expected
This is the last image that is not my work.
Again, not imaged by me.Another of the ones I did not image.
The next three images are of the sewing machine which astonished us all be reaching £140
In going above estimate this item also went out of my reach.
This was one of the items I did not image .
We were delighted when this sold – and it going for above estimate was a bonus. The weight of this item meant that we had specified that the buyer had to collect.
No images with this post I’m afraid, as I did not do any imaging today. However, I am going to be getting my Nikon Coolpix P520 back from repair this evening (they are delivering it to me at my flat), so I will soon have some really good pictures once again.
My day started with a vigorous warm-up (much needed in view of the weather) consisting of an hour and a quarter worth of fetching and carrying (bringing an entire auction down two floors so it could be laid out in the shop for viewing), continued with some work on the database as I plugged on with the Sisyphean task of simultaneously wrapping up one auction and preparing for another, and finished with polishing off a cup of James and Sons style iced coffee. What is James and Sons style iced coffee? Well it is made in this way:
1)Make yourself a cup of coffee at the start of your working day
2)Be so busy that you don’t get to drink it until the end by when (at this time of year) it will be a more than passable impersonation of iced coffee!
Twitter continues to go well, with @greatauction approaching 300 followers in spite of a certain lack of material and @aspitweets not far short of 800.
Today at James and Sons I have moved ahead of where I expected to be. Not only have I produced proper copies of all paid invoices for the last sale, I also have a complete and checked stock database for the next one, have produced those pre-auction Vendor Advice Notes that I had sufficient information to do and I amongst all that also spotted and resolved a small but serious problem with the December images.
Lot 109 is a piece of Hungarian Postal History which is unlikely to make a fortune, while lot 601 is a pair of binoculars specially designed for use on a U-Boat which will make a fortune. The image for 601 was with lot 109 while there was no image with lot 601. A quick renumbering of the binoculars image and a scan of lot 109 followed by an apologetic email to the people at the-saleroom.com did the job.
I have a few images of lots that exceeded their estimates (in one case spectacularly so) at the last auction, as well as two items mentioned earlier.
My personal twitter account, @aspitweets continues to thrive, having recently passed 700 followers.
Now for those images…
This sewing machine was estimated at between £15 and 20 and actually made £140 – and with the successful bidder being Tunisian the postage was nearly as much!
This whistle managed only to double its estimate!Lot 109 scanned in by me today as part of the3 resolution of a problem.These binoculars were the bigger issue since they carry a four figure price tag.
Owing to the decision to have James and Sons December auction a mere two weeks after the November auction I am currently in the position of simultaneously attempting to deal with the post-auction side of November and produce pre-auction paperwork for December.
I have two other topics to mention, firstly the appalling behaviour of the Right Dishonourable Stephen Dorrell who in spite of admitting to a conflict of interest between his role as an MP and his employment by one of the companies who are looking to profit from a carve-up of the NHS has refused to stand down. A petition regarding this is being run by 38 Degrees. To view and/or sign click here: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/david-cameron-force-stephen-dorrell-mp-to-pick-a-job-now#petition
Finally a brief comment about Englands performance vs Sri Lanka yesterday, only their second win in nine ODIs. It was not nearly as conclusive as the final margin of five wickets with an over to spare suggested, the match being decided by a flurry of boundaries immediately after Joe Root had been reprieved by the TV Cameras spotting an overstep by the bowler. Since Root, along with Buttler, was one of the two batsmen who carried England victory more than a little was owed to fortune. England looked second favourites for substantial periods, notably between the end of Moeen Ali’s innings (brought about by his partner Alex Hales) and the flurry of boundaries already alluded to.
A somewhat frustrating day today, as just when I was about to start making really serious progress with the invoices I was required to switch to imaging (this is just one of the problems that arises when there is only a two week gap between auctions).
However, I did get to image some interesting stuff as you will see.
Also some good news from my online contacts – a petition which I had signed and shared via both facebook was handed over to its intended recipient Mr Cameron with no fewer than 300,000 names on it.
Here some of the lots that will be going under the hammer on the 13th…
Last night was the Christmas meal of the King’s Lynn Asperger Support Society, and an excellent time was had by all. We were delighted to welcome two new members to the group. Although the food was not by any stretch a triumph, the bill came to less than expected as £10 was knocked off it by way of acknowledging a particular fail with one of the main courses (a roastie that was still solid in the middle and in consequence the dish was sent back and replaced with something else.
Although I am still without my Nikon P520 Coolpix I did get some interesting pictures during the day yesterday with my other camera.
My personal twitter account, @aspitweets continues to go from strength to strength, now having 637 followers.
Now some photos…
Moorhen in the Purfleet
The first of four shots I have included of “Cormorant Platform” – I have never previously seen this many of them all at once.
aspiblog 