England Interwar Years XI

A look at England’s best cricketers of the interwar years, a piece of railwayana and a large photo gallery.

Last time out I created an XI of England cricketers from before WWI. Now I look at the next period – the interwar years, well covered by Gerald Howat in “Cricket’s Second Golden Age”. In this period England had immense batting strength with the result that some huge names miss out. The bowling was by no means weak either.

THE XI IN BATTING ORDER

Jack Hobbs (right handed opening batter). The Master. At Melbourne in 1929 he became the oldest ever test centurion at the age of 46 – the last his 12 Ashes centuries.
Herbert Sutcliffe (right handed opening batter). His entry into first class cricket was delayed by WWI (he was already 24 when that conflict ended in November 1918) while the outbreak of WWII in 1939 marked the end of his FC career (his test career had ended in 1935, but his performance in FC cricket in 1939 was excellent even at the age of 44). He was the ultimate big occasion player as shown by the progression of his averages: 52.02 in all FC cricket, 60.73 in all test cricket and 66.85 in the cauldron of The Ashes. He and Jack Hobbs were the greatest of all test match opening combinations, averaging 87.81 per partnership.
Walter Hammond (right handed batter, ace slip fielder, useful right arm medium fast bowler). Had Hammond like the older Sutcliffe allowed WWII to end his career he would have bowed out with a test batting average of 61.75 (6,883 runs), but he attempted a comeback post war, which dragged his average below 60.
Eddie Paynter (left handed batter). Going by career batting averages England’s most successful ever left hander, averaging 59.23 at test level, including double centuries against Australia and South Africa. His career was truncated at both ends, by the immense strength of Lancashire’s batting when he first started to come through and by the outbreak of WWII.
Patsy Hendren (right handed batter). Only Hobbs scored more FC centuries than Hendren’s 170, and his test record was also impressive.
*Frank Woolley (left handed batter, left arm orthodox spinner, excellent fielder and my chosen skipper). At Lord’s in 1921 when everyone else was helpless in the face of Jack Gregory and Ted McDonald he scored 95 and 93. I have named him as skipper even though as a professional of that era he never actually had the job because I believe his tactical nous, illustrated in his book “King of Games”, would have served him well in the role, and Hammond, the conventional choice of captain for this XI, appears to have not actually been even a good skipper.
+Les Ames (right handed batter, wicket keeper). The first wicket keeper to average over 40 with the bat at test level and a destructive stroke maker, he is the ideal number seven for a side like this.
Maurice Tate (right arm fast medium bowler, useful lower order batter). In the ill-fated 1924-5 Ashes series he claimed 38 wickets for a well beaten side. In 1926 he was one of the stars of a successful Ashes campaign, and he was involved in both the 1928-9 and 1932-3 tours when England won 4-1 each time.
Harold Larwood (right arm fast bowler, useful lower order batter). In the 1932-3 Ashes he was unplayable, claiming 33 wickets before hobbling off injured in the final match (made to wait until Bradman was out by skipper Jardine).
Hedley Verity (left arm orthodox spinner, useful lower order batter). In a career that lasted less than a decade he took 1,956 wickets at 14.90 a piece. At test level, where he encountered Bradman, he was less devastating, but 144 wickets at 24 is still a fine record, and I defer to the judgement of the Don himself who only acknowledged facing one bowler as an equal: Hedley Verity.
Bill Voce (left arm fast medium bowler, lower order batter). This slot was the toughest to fill, but I opted to give Larwood his most regular bowling partner and rely on two other left armers, Verity and Woolley for the spin.

This side has a formidably deep batting line up, and Larwood, Voce, Tate, Verity, Woolley and Hammond can hardly be considered a weak bowling combination.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Although Denis Compton and Bill Edrich had both played for England by the time WWII broke out both played their best cricket after the war, so I held them back for then. Leonard Hutton scored his England record 364 in 1938, but that Oval pitch was a featherbed, Australia were short of bowling, and I felt that the proven Hobbs/ Sutcliffe combination at the top was a better bet in any case. Hutton, like the Middlesex “twins” will feature in the post-war version of this post. Phil Mead missed out – one of he or Paynter had to be unlucky and I preferred the Lancastrian. Ernest Tyldesley was another casualty of England’s immense batting strength in this period. Maurice Leyland of Yorkshire was another unlucky one in this regard. Several fine wicket keepers missed out – Herbert Strudwick, EJ “Tiger” Smith and George Duckworth being the most notable, while advocates of batter-keepers might have considered Paul Gibb. Vallance Jupp did the double eight times in successive seasons in the 1920s, but his England appearances were sporadic, so the off spinning all rounder missed out. Ted ‘Nobby’ Clark, a left arm fast bowler, was a candidate for the slot I gave to Voce. Three leg spinners, ‘Tich’ Freeman, Ian Peebles and Tommy Mitchell all had moments at the highest level but not substantial enough records at that level to claim a place. Two right arm medium-fast bowlers who were unlucky to be squeezed out were George Geary and Alec Kennedy, both outstanding at FC level and in Geary’s case also proven in test cricket. Tom Goddard, the best off spinner of the interwar years, was as he often was in real life, unlucky – the only way to include him would have been in place of Tate, relying on Hammond as third seamer. Finally, although Verity’s selection is incontrovertible several notable left arm tweakers missed out in consequence: Charlie Parker (treated scurvily by the selectors of his era, to end up as a one-cap wonder at test level while taking over 3,000 FC wickets), JC ‘Farmer’ White and Roy Kilner.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Before moving on to the main photo gallery, James and Sons’ March auction took place on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, and was a considerable success. In amongst the stuff going for big money I secured an interesting little piece of South African railwayana for a modest £12 – it was featured on the back cover of the printed catalogue, and online bidders saw these two images:

and…

Here are some images of the item taken since I took possession of it…

I also took a high resolution scan of the item itself…

The scan after cropping and editing.

Now for my regular photo gallery…

Appropriately enough given the nickname of King’s Lynn Town FC and the fact that this was taken in King’s Lynn I think this is a linnet.

A Great Auction

An account of James and Sons February Auction and a regular photo gallery at the end.

This post looks back at James & Sons’ February auction, which took place on Wednesday. It was a general sale, albeit with posters predominating.

EARLY PROMISE

When lot seven attracted a bidding battle that pushed the price up to £180 it looked like a promising sign. There were a few other good signs among the early lots, and lot 114, a set of bakelite Draughts pieces, fetched £70, remarkable given that it had held no great promise of success – £10 would have been an acceptable selling price as far as we were concerned.

Lot 114, a remarkable overachiever at auction.

CAMERAS HIT THE HEIGHTS

We had some cameras and photographic equipment in the auction, and these lots really got the bidders going. Four lots fetched over £150 a piece, lot 352 reaching the dizzy heights of £330. Two other lots in this category, nos 364 and 368, went for bigger than expected prices, £65 and £45 respectively.

Lots 351, 352 and 354 – selling prices £160, ££330 and £250.

BOOK SUCCESSES

My general opinion of trying to sell books for anything approaching significant money in these days of internet searches is that 99% of the time it won’t happen. I was therefore modestly satisfied that an 1898 hardback edition of Oscar Wilde’s “Ballad of Reading Gaol” sold for £800, minimum estimate. This particular edition is fairly rare, though not the rarest (the latter would have fetched several thousand), and the copy we were selling was in good condition. I had helped to value it, conducting an internet search and establishing that was indeed a rare and special edition and worth decent money. It was also on my advice that we ‘lowballed’ our own estimate in the hope of attracting attention. Lot 427, a selection of Dickens books in nice, though not special, bindings went over estimate as well.

Lot 427.

The Tail End

Lot 460, a collection of antique and collectable plates found some eager bidders, and went well beyond our expectations…

Lot 460.

Lot 498, some German anthropological slides, got the bidders going in a major way – the bidding finally ended at £290, about ten times as much as we had expected it to go for.

Lot 498 – the full collection (left), and a sample slide (right).

There was one final flourish – lot 510, a minor piece of Sherlockiana, did better than expected.

THREE OPPORTUNIST BIDS

I secured three lots at bargain prices (£5 a piece to be exact). First lot 338:

Lot 492 was also bird themed – figurines of birds, some ceramic and some wood – and at 83.33p per bird definitely a bargain…

Lot 492 in its new location, my bedroom window ledge.

Lot 501, “A Little Book About London” was my third lucky strike…

James and Sons next auction takes place on the 21st (stamps) and 22nd (militaria) of March, and a full catelogue can be viewed here or here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Rawalpindi Runfest

A look at goings on in Rawalpindi where Pakistan are playing England in a test match that has already seen seven centuries and the first test wickets by a bowler with first two initials WG since 1890.

The Pakistan vs England test series, the first between these two teams to take place in Pakistan in 17 years (for most of that time Pakistan were restricted to playing “home” series at neutral venues such as the United Arab Emirates because of security concerns) got underway on Thursday morning (earlyish Pakistan time, very early – though “ridiculous o’clock” rather than “ludicrous o’clock” as would be the case for a series in Australia). This post looks at the first three days action.

ENGLAND MANAGE TO NAME A TEAM

There had been fears that the start of this match would be delayed due to illness in the England camp, but although they had to make some last minute changes England were able to come up with 11 fit players. In batting order the final XI was Crawley, Duckett, +Pope, Root, Brook, *Stokes, Livingstone, Jacks, Robinson, Leach, Anderson. Foakes being unavailable meant Pope keeping wicket, and the team looked colossally strong in batting but limited in bowling (while some of the bowlers concerned are excellent practitioners of their art an attack with three specialists – Anderson, Leach and Robinson, and back up options Stokes, Jacks and Livingston is no one’s definition of a stellar bowling unit, with Stokes the nearest thing to a properly fast bowler in the ranks). There was less drama around the Pakistan selections, though their bowling attack was a very inexperienced one. Fortunately for England Stokes won the toss and chose to bat first (IMO a decision to field first would have raised legitimate questions about whether Stokes had been doing deals with dodgy bookies so terrible would it have been).

DAY ONE: THE RUNS FLOW

A barely believable opening day saw England post a new record for the opening day of a test match of 506-4, and that with fading light in the evening restricting play to 79 overs. The previous record of 494 by Australia versus South Africa had stood since 1910. Crawley, Duckett, Pope and Brook all registered centuries on this amazing opening day, and all went at over a run a ball. In amongst the carnage Joe Root just for once failed with the bat. Pakistan bowled poorly, and England’s batters took no prisoners – every loose ball was remorselessly punished.

DAY TWO: PAKISTAN FIGHT BACK

It is not often that a team who score 657 batting first could be disappointed with their efforts, but England were in that position. On one of the flattest pitches ever seen and against an experienced attack they lost their last six wickets in less than a full session, though their blistering scoring rate made up for the lack of time that they batted for. The innings lasted exactly 101 overs, with Brook scoring England’s quickest ever test 150 (at 80 balls his 100 was third on the England list behind Gilbert Jessop and Jonathan Bairstow, while Crawley had taken 86 balls, the same number as Botham at Old in 1981). Zahid Mahmood had the remarkable figures of 33-1-235-4!

By the time fading light forced a second successive early closure of a day’s play Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s openers, were still together and the score was 181-0.

DAY THREE – LATE WICKETS SPARE ENGLAND’S BLUSHES

Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq each completed tons for Pakistan, making this the first test match in which all four openers had scored first innings centuries. Babar Azam also reached three figures, and at 413-3 Pakistan looked well capable of taking a first innings lead. The breaking of Pakistan’s open stand featured a bit of cricket history – debutant Will Jacks became the first person with first two initials WG to claim a test scalp since the original “WG” dismissed Aussie wicket keeper Jack Blackham at Lord’s in 1890. This also meant that it took approximately 19 and a half years less as a test cricketer to claim a scalp on Pakistan soil than Anderson, whose own first scalp in that country came later in the day.

Late in the day England got things to happen, and by the time the light forced a third straight early finish to a day’s play Pakistan were 499-7, still 158 in arrears. Jacks has three of the wickets (remarkable given that at the start of the 2022 English season he had a grand total of three first class wickets), Leach two and Anderson and Robinson one a piece. England will be looking to polish of Pakistan’s tail early tomorrow, and score quick enough in their second innings to have a bowl at Pakistan before the close of tomorrow. Pakistan will be looking to thwart England for as long as possible – for them a draw will now be the summit of their ambitions for this match, while England retain some hope of winning. Incidentally with seven centuries already racked up it is worth noting that the record for any test match is eight and the FC record is nine, in an absurd game between Bombay and Maharashtra in the late 1940s which the former won by 354 runs – Bombay 651-9d and 714-8d, Maharashtra 407 and 604.

Although this game is not utterly dead yet, that is more by accident than by design, and a pitch on which bowlers are as helpless as they have been these three days is a poor one for test cricket. My own feeling is that a draw remains the likeliest outcome, with the Pakistan win and the tie the two rank outsiders and an England win maybe 25%.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Today’s photographs are all work photographs. The auctions in which these items feature can be viewed here and here.

Now on to the second sale (takes place on Dec 14th):

James and Sons April Auction

An account of James and Sons’ April auction.

This Wednesday saw James and Sons’ April auction, the first of three auctions that are devoted entirely to an old client’s collection of stamps, postal history and first day covers (these auctions are interleaved with regular general sales, of which our next will be on May 18th). This post looks back at the day.

A GOOD AUCTION

With a large number of bidders registered, many of them newcomers, we were hoping for a good sale, and we got it in spades. Lot 66 attracted some lively bidding and ended up fetching £80. Lot 85 went for £100

A complete set of FDCs depicting the 1999 Treble Winning Manchester United.

Lot 120 netted £150 after some brisk bidding.

Lot 132 was the most remarkable story of the auction. It included some rare Wonderland stamps, and with the bidding starting at £30 an amazing stampede by online bidders pushed the final price up to an eye-popping £540!

Lots 161-9 were sheets of railway stamps. Two of those lots had attracted my own attention, but I was outbid on them – professionally satisfying, while personally disappointing.

Lot 198 saw another bidding war, a starting price of £60 mushrooming to £200.

Lot 204 raised £65.

Lot 278 was a consolation prize after the railway stamps got away – my opening bid of £8 closed proceedings.

Lot 295 was another I might have been interested in, but the price went too high for me, not very surprisingly in view of Terence Cuneo’s status:

Lot 302 soared to £170.

Lot 396 went to m5 for £55. If you are wondering about this price, which is more than I normally bid for a single lot, it was for a large box of FDCs which I knew to contain some quality railwayana and I was expecting it to comfortably pay for itself – I would select the stuff I wished to keep and would sell the rest. I have already split this lot into the stuff I intend to keep for myself and the stuff I wish to sell. The stuff I will be looking to sell includes some football FDCs and some military FDCs as well as some other stuff.

Here are some pictures showing the division of this lot as it stands currently…

The lid (at rear) contains the stuff I don’t want to keep, while the body of the box contains the stuff I am keeping.

Lots 444 and 445 attracted plenty of bidders, going for £130 and £140 respectively, while lot 489 fetched £100. I have no images for these lots, but lot 462, which I snagged for £8 is below:

These images were taken at home yesterday evening.

The auction took almost five and a half hours (about half as long again as would be expected for a 500 lot auction), and I followed it from home via www.easyliveauction.com.

FINAL PHOTOGRAPHS

Just a few pictures from walks near my home:

Three Little Snippets

Exactly what the title suggests!

Just a brief post to remind people of my existence. I shall follow my title precisely…

ONE: HEARING AID

Ten days ago I was fitted with a hearing aid. I have had to change the batteries once (this is in keeping with the advice I was given that these batteries, which are specially made for use with hearing aids, and can be obtained free of charge either at the hospital or at the West Norfolk Deaf Association have a lifespan of approximately one week.

TWO: A MASSIVE AUCTION

A longstanding client of James and Sons is selling his collection. He was a bulk collector of stamps, postal history and first day covers. Yesterday I began the process of imaging these items, which will be going under the hammer in April. Even selling the stuff by the box/ crate, with no small lots, it will be a two day sale. Here are some samples from yesterday…

Lot 396 (I extracted the close ups above at home from this image).

UNUSUAL BIRD SIGHTING

This is today’s sign off – I was out walking earlier (it is sunny today in King’s Lynn, though still cold enough to warrant a coat), and I saw a Little Egret in Bawsey Drain, not very far from my house…

A Successful Auction

An account of James and Sons’ most recent auction.

This post is not about the IPL Super Auction which started today and finishes tomorrow, though I intend to write about that either tomorrow or Monday. It is about James and Sons auction on Wednesday, which went very well. I followed proceedings from home by way of www.easyliveauction.com, one of the two online platforms we use (see also www.the-saleroom.com).

PART 1 – CIGARETTE CARDS

A quietish start, with only a few items going over estimate. One of those items was lot 46, on which I was outbid. Another was lot 149, on which I was successful (even at above the top estimate it was still quite cheap). Lot 150 was the last of the Cigarette Card lots, and then it was time for…

PART 2 – MILITARIA

This was expected to be highly successful and it was. Lot 151, a medal group awarded to a ‘desert rat’ and accompanied by lots of relevant documentation sold for £400, helped by some good advance publicity (various people bit on a press release I had sent out, including the Eastern Daily Press who gave it a quarter of a page in their Saturday issue). Lot 160, a steering yoke from a B50 warplane fetched £2,100. Lot 161 then went for £160, four times the upper estimate. Lot 167, also with a top estimate of £40 fetched £150. Lots 192-7 inclusive, display folders full of military photographs (put together by my father) all sold for significantly above the top estimates, lot 194 being the most successful, going for £50 with a top estimate of £20. Lot 201 an 18th/19th century Indian Tulwar Golia sword which had been expected to for low three figures fetched £550. There were a number of other more modest successes along the way.

The above gallery features images for all the lots mentioned in the Militaria section save numbers 192-7 inclusive.

PART 3 – FABRIC AND OTHER

There were 120 fabric items, and then a few random lots to finish. Although none of these lots reached the heights of the militaria section there were some good sales even so.

POST AUCTION PRESS RELEASE

On Thursday I did a press release about the auction, focussing on the militaria. I will find out in due course whether it gets published by anyone. Here is the composite image of highlighted lots I created for it:

This image features lots 201 (top left, centre and right), 167 (above and below the two centrepiece items), 194 (centre left and bottom right), 266 (bottom left and centre right) and 151 & 161 (centrepiece).

James and Sons’ next auction is on March 16th, and catalogue listings can be viewed here (easyliveauction) and here (saleroom)

PHOTOGRAPHS

I finish with some my non-work photographs:

Interior design at The Gatehouse (I was there for an NAS West Norfolk meal out (the Globe, our previous location of choice for this had let us down so we switched, very successfully).

T20 World Cup – Round One Reviewed

A look back at round one of the T20 World Cup currently happening in Oman and the United Arab Emirates.

Yesterday the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup in Dubai got underway, with Australia beating South Africa and England obliterating the West Indies. In this post I look back at the events of the first round matches, which provided four of the teams contesting the Super 12s. Before that, I have a small piece of business to attend to: Phoebe has once again opened up her blog for people to share details of their own blogs.

EARLY EXCHANGES

I covered the opening day in this post. The day after those events the second group got underway. Ireland beat the Netherlands, with Curtis Campher taking four wickets in four balls, only the third bowler ever to do so in an international match (Lasith Malinga has done so twice, in an ODI and a T20I, and Rashid Khan of Afghanistan did it against Ireland in a T20I). Max O’Dowd scored a fighting 50 for the Netherlands but had zero support from the rest of the order. Campher followed up his bowling by being there to see Ireland over the winning line. In the other match Sri Lanka beat Namibia.

The second set of fixtures in the other group saw Oman fight hard but ultimately lose to Bangladesh, while Scotland beat Papua New Guinea.

Sri Lanka beat Ireland, and Namibia got the better of the Netherlands, confirming the latter’s elimination with a round to go. O’Dowd once again batted well, but once again had no support.

With Bangladesh beating PNG the game between Scotland and Oman became effectively a straight fight for one qualification spot. Oman managed only 122 from their 20 overs, with Josh Davey bowling especially well. Scotland were in control throughout the chase, and Richie Berrington finished the match with a six. Scotland thus won the group with three wins out of three, Bangladesh were second and Oman third. The co-hosts have a couple of good batters and a number of good bowlers but they are a poor fielding side, and it was this that cost them qualification.

The final set of group games saw Ireland v Namibia and Netherlands v Sri Lanka. O’Dowd failed with the bat for the Netherlands, and the rest of the order went down like a house of cards. Leg spinning all rounder Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva (4-9) and right arm fast bowler Lahiru Kumara (4-7) were especially impressive with the ball, and off spinner Maheesh Theekshana also got among the wickets. Netherlands mustered a beggarly 44, the lowest total ever recorded in a T20 World cup. Ireland v Namibia was a magnificent match, going right down to the wire. In the end the vast experience of David Wiese told, as he steered Namibia over the winning line, and test playing Ireland found themselves eliminated at the first stage. Sri Lanka had dominated the group, winning all three matches and never really looking in trouble at any stage, Namibia deserve massive credit for getting the better of Ireland to join them in the Super 12s. The Netherlands’ awful showing was a sad way for Ryan ten Doeschate’s wonderful career to end.

A ‘MINNOWS’ XI

Many of the lesser nations involved at this stage had moments to cherish, and with the exception of one player from Ireland who can be considered their ‘given man’ (an expression dating from the days of professional touring XIs in the mid 19th century, when local teams sometimes had professionals to stiffen their ranks) the team I have selected is made up exclusively of players from non-test nations.

I decided to select an opening pair who provenly work well together, and the Oman pair of Jatinder Singh and Aqib Ilyas demonstrated in their 10 wicket win over PNG that they certainly can bat well together. The Netherlands had a horrible time, but Max O’Dowd scored 50s in their first two matches, which is enough to give him the number three slot. At number four is leg spinning all rounder Charles Amini of PNG (it was a choice between him and Assad Vala for the PNG representative, and I have gone for Amini). Number five and my choice as captain is Zeeshan Maqsood of Oman, who led his team to three wins out of three. Scottish wicket keeper Matthew Cross gets the nod at number six. A second Scot in a row, with Chris Greaves in at no7 (his Player of the Match winning performance against test playing Bangladesh is worth the pick on its own). At number eight is the given man, Mr ‘four in four’ aka Curtis Campher of Ireland. At number nine is a third Scot, seam bowler Josh Davey. At number ten, and not just because he possesses THE name of the tournament, is Pikky Ya France, Namibia’s off spinner. Rounding out the order, at his customary position of no11 is our fourth Scot, pace bowler Brad Wheal. For ease of reference:

Aqib Ilyas – Oman
Jatinder Singh – Oman
Max O’Dowd – Netherlands
Charles Amini – Papua New Guinea
*Zeeshan Maqsood – Oman
+Matthew Cross – Scotland
Chris Greaves – Scotland
Curtis Campher – Ireland
Josh Davey – Scotland
Pikky Ya France – Namibia
Brad Wheal – Scotland

This side features eight players who could make major contributions with the bat, a superb new ball pair in Davey and Wheal, every kind of spin bar left arm wrist spin – Greaves and Amini both bowl leg spin and could certainly bowl a four over allocation between them, Maqsood is a left arm orthodox spinner and Ya France an off spinner. Finally, there is the bowling wildcard that is Curtis Campher. Additionally Aqib Ilyas is a Liam Livingstone type, able to bowl both off and leg spin.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Some work related pictures for my usual sign off. These items will be going under the hammer on November 24th, and you can view a full catalogue and sign up to bid here or here.

We start with lots 1-15 in number order.

Return to Work – A Story Three Years in the Making

A post about my recent return to work and some of things associated with it.

Regular followers of this blog will be well aware that I had a very serious illness in 2018 (I put up various posts about this). This post tells the story of my path back to work (albeit on a very part time basis).

A False Dawn – Winter 2019 to Spring 2020

By the time a year had elapsed since the worst of my illness I was thinking about the possibility of returning to work, but I did not feel that winter was the right time (some long term lung damage and a compromised immune system influenced this). The plan which my employer was fully on board with was that I would return in April 2020. Then of course the covid-19 pandemic hit, preventing any possibility of a return to work at that stage. However, on July 1st of this year I returned to work on a one day per week basis…

PUBLIC TRANSPORT NIGHTMARE

At the time of my illness Lynx Bus had taken over the services between King’s Lynn and Fakenham (the town where I work), and at the time of my illness they had been starting to provide a proper service. Unfortunately, as I discovered when checking out bus times for my return I discovered that the pandemic had reduced their services to skeleton levels, and to date that has not changed. James and Sons open their doors between 10AM and 3PM. There are three options, all far from ideal for getting into Fakenham in the morning: 7:00AM direct bus, gets to Fakenham at 7:49, leaving me a couple of hours to kill in Fakenham, leave at the same early hour and go via Hunstanton and Wells, arriving in Fakenham at 9:30, or 10:00, getting to Fakenham at 10:50. Of these three only the latter is really practicable as a route in. Getting home is worse still: there is no direct bus between 1:00PM and 6:00PM. Therefore I board the 3:00PM bus and take the scenic route back to Lynn (Fakenham – Wells – Hunstanton – Lynn), usually arriving home at about 5:45PM. It is these issues with travel that prevent me from committing to more than one day per week.

PRESS RELEASES

The auction of August 31st and September 1st 2021 was notably successful. I put out a press release about lots 1 and 2, two Steven pennies, which went for £700 and £900 respectively.

Many other items sold for huge money at that auction. A gold bracelet of Egyptian pattern attracted particularly vigorous bidding, going for £1,150, while a gold hunter watch went for £600, and a pair of diamond earrings fetched over £400. Here are some the images of lots that sold well…

Lot 613 – a pair of diamond earrings which fetched over £400

RECENT IMAGING

My most recent imaging has been for our October auction, in which a number of swagger sticks feature…

Three images minimum per swagger stick – the whole stick at an angle of about 45 degrees, a close up of the military insignia and a composite like this.

THE SEPTEMBER AUCTION

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week James and Sons had a two day stamp auction. By and large things went well. I was a successful bidder on three lots – 663 (French railway stamps, hammer price £5), 892 (Benham mini FDCs, railway themed, hammer price £18) and lot 936 (Channel Tunnel opening FDCs with certificates of authenticity, hammer price £8). I did not originally image these lots, but have done so in great detail since taking possession, and I end this post with those images…

A Massively Successful Auction

An account of yesterday’s splendidly successful auction.

INTRODUCTION

On Wednesday James and Sons had a small but very important auction featuring gold coins and proof sets. We were anticipating a very considerable success, because we knew that there were bids of sufficient size on every lot that everything would sell, and we also knew that some of the items had a very large number of watchers online (one had no fewer than 17). The rest of this post tells the story of a truly amazing auction.

TUESDAY – FINAL PREPARATIONS

In view of the high value of the gold the only items that were set out on display were as many of the proof sets as I could lay out on one large table. I also made sure that the IT was all fully functional, as the last thing we wanted was for a glitch to affect this auction. I was able to enjoy the NAS West Norfolk Steak Night at The Globe later that evening in the knowledge that all had gone as smoothly as it could have (I restricted myself to a modest two pints of Ringwood Fortyniner in view of the importance of the following day).

WEDNESDAY – A DAY OF TRIUMPHS

I awoke a few minutes before my alarm was due to go off (not uncommon with me – the alarm is more insurance policy than necessity) and left my flat precisely as intended at 6:45, ensuring that there was no chance of missing the bus. Arriving at the shop, I unlocked, deactivated the alarm, then relocked the door as in view of what was in the shop I did not want customers coming in while I was there on my own. I then began to set up for the day. The auctioneer arrived not very long after me, and I was able to complete the setup, verify that everything was working and take some photographs. Before nine o’clock customers started arriving, and by 9:30 it was standing room only in the shop, as no fewer than 16 potential room bidders were present, in addition to over 60 online bidders and not a few who had put commission bids in in advance of the sale.

P1190889 — The proof set display, with lot 135 front centre

P1190886 — One of the two significant coins from lot 139…

P1190888 — The setup before anyone else had arrived.

P1190892 — Potential room bidders (three pics)

: Lot 139 on the big screen.

THE AUCTION STARTS

The first five lots were 1974 Krugerrands which were expected to make approximately £800 each and did exactly that. Then came lot 6, the James II Guinea which was one of two items that had been the subject of a query the previous day as a result of which it had extra images above the regular image gallery for such an item. Estimated at £500-750 the interest it had attracted saw the final hammer price reach exactly £1,000.

The first three images constitute my regular image gallery for a single coin.

6-c — One of the questions asked about this coin related to the edge, and to help back up my own comments on the edge of this coin I took two photographs that between showed it in its entirety.

Lot 7 was a William III Half Guinea, which in relative terms fared even better since with an estimate of £300-500 it actually went for £900!

Lots 8 to 24 inclusive were half sovereigns, and all sold well, most going for around the £100 mark. Lots 25 to 90 incluisve were…

SOVEREIGNS FROM VICTORIA THROUGH ELIZABETH II

These we knew would sell respectably, because a major and long standing client whose job is to sell gold items had put in commission bids of £180 a time on the whole lot, confirming our auctioneers valuation was on the mark. Most of the sovereigns actually sold for more than that, £190 being a common figure and a few of them going to and in some cases beyond £200. Then came…

LOTS 91-5 – THE HUGE SUCCESSES

The first four of these lots were high value gold proof sets which we were expecting to be on or around the four figure mark. Actually, and barely believable they went for £1,600, £2,000, £2,000 and £1,600 respectively!!

Lot 95 was a sovereign in a gold mount with a gold chain and 8 1mm diamonds (in otherwords a very fancy necklace). Estimate at £300-400 it eventually sold for £550.

After these it was time for…

THE REGULAR PROOF SETS

Of course after what gone before the proof sets were a little bit “after the Lord Mayor’s show”, but there were still a handful of highlights to come.

LOTS 113 AND 114

These were respectively a Scottish and Welsh proof set (hence the split colouring of the heading) each expected to make £8-12. The Scottish set went for £20 and the Welsh for £18

These were a mere curtain raiser for…

LOT 121

A 1992 proof set featuring an EEC 50p coin the rarity of which turned a £10-15 estimate into a £50 hammer price!

The next big success was…

LOT 128

This 1999 proof set featuring a Diana Princess of Wales £5, a bimetallic rugby £2 and Scottish coins from £1 down to 1p had an estimate of £15-20 and ended up going for £32.

Then came two successive monster successes with…

LOTS 135 and 136

Lot 135, a 2009 proof set, featuring as it did the highly prized Kew Gardens 50p, the Henry VIII £5, and the Darwin and Burns £2 coins was estimated at £100-120 but ended up going for £220!

135-d — A close up of this one was mandatory.

135-e — I also deemed the Darwin £2 worthy of a close-up

Lot 136 was a 2010 proof set featuring a Restoration of the Monarchy £5 (350th anniversary thereof), A Florence Nightingale £2, a London £1 and a Girl Guiding 50p. Estimated at £20-25 it sold for £100!!

Not long later came…

LOT 139 – A BITTERSWEET IMAGER’S TRIUMPH

This London Underground 150th anniversary proof set had been badly misdescribed, with one of the £2 coins mentioned as featuring trains, and the roundel coin not even mentioned, but the imager’s efforts more than compensated for this. Estimated at £25-30 it attracted sufficient interest to push the final price up to £52 (and inter alia out of the imager’s reach, hence the heading of this section).

139-c — The ’roundel’ coin which is fairly rare.

139-b — The other London Underground 150th anniversary coin, which is much less rare.

That was the last of the yearly proof sets, but there were still a few lots to go, and two of them provided noteworthy results.

LOT 148 – A SENEGALESE STUNNER

This 1975 Senegal Triple Crown, solid sterling silver, Euroafrique 150 franc coin, boxed and with a certificate was estimated at £15-20, but a lively bidding battle pushed the final price up to £48.

Finally, came…

A STRONG FINISH

Lot 151, the final lot in this small sale, was an accumulation box containing a few good bits and some ordinary stuff. Estimated at £40-50 it ended up going for £95.

Once the auction setup had been dismantled and the last room bidders had gone it was time for me to attend to other matters. You can view a catalogue for the general collector’s auction we have next Wednesday here.

THURSDAY – PUTTING TOGETHER A PRESS RELEASE ABOUT THIS AUCTION

Yesterday morning I produced a PR piece about the success of this sale, going big on the images as well. I conclude this piece with a link and a screenshot:

GOLD COIN AUCTION GIVES FAKENHAM AUCTIONEER BEST RESULT IN YEARS

Press Releases and Triangular Bridges

Some stuff about upcoming auctions and press coverage thereof and the solution to my most recent mathematical teaser.

INTRODUCTION

This post deals with some of my work at James and Sons and also includes a solution to a problem I posed last week.

PRESS RELEASES

In my recent post about James and Sons’ upcoming gold coin and proof set auction I included a copy of the official press release I had put out about it. What I did not mention in that post is that we also have a less significant ajuction coming up this Monday, for which I had also out out a press release. Both are reproduced below to set the scene for what follows:

On Thursday morning I checked into the James and Sons twitter account and was delighted to spot a link to an article in the Fakenham and Wells Times (part of the Archant stable and therefore connected to the Eastern Daily Press) about the coin auction. Below is a scan of the print version of this article:

Then yesterday morning brought more positive news – a link to an article in that day’s Lynn News about Monday’s general collector’s auction. The focus of this article is some documents we have relating to William Hoste, after whom The Hoste in Burnham Market is named, and who was a protege of Lord Nelson and connected by marriage to Robert Walpole. Here is a scan of the print version of this article:

We have another auction in preparation, and I have already pretty much decided that this 19th century presentation conductors baton (it is too large to have been intended to be used) will be the feature image in the press release for that one:

11-a — For me the local connection revealed here clinches it.

THE TRIANGULAR BRIDGES

Here is the problem I set last week, followed by the answer and an official solution:

Here is a concise solution, courtesy of Chew-Seong Cheong :

	Lake District 2023 7… on Lake District 2023 5: Cruising…
	Lake District 2023 6… on Lake District 2023 5: Cruising…
	Thomas on Lake District 2023 5: Cruising…
	Karan Mckerrow on Lake District 2023 5: Cruising…
	Karan Mckerrow on 48