Pictures from the last few days, an important video and petition link.
INTRODUCTION
I have a variety of pictures and links to share with you.
IMAGES FOR THE NOVEMBER AUCTION
These images are from yesterday.
I took two lpictures of this fort, lot 419, onje with the drabridge down and one with it up. It also disassembles readuly, with a drawer in the base for putting the bits in when it is not in use.
Lot 598 – a selection of interesting beer mats – I made a display of the best ones, keeping the box with the rest inside it in shot.
NEW SEAT DESIGN CELEBRATES PIONEER AUTOBIOGRAPHER MARGERY KEMPE
Margery Kempe was born and raised in King’s Lynn (one of her former abodes was on the site now occupied by 117 High Street. For more about her check out this link. The seat design is for the Saturday Market Place, which happens to be pretty much on the doorstep of the formed abode of hers mentioned above. Here is a picture:
TIMES CARTOONIST NAILS IT
The picture below is The Times cartoonist’s take on our current Prime Minister:
A PHOTOGRAPHIC WALK
These are a staple of this blog, and I offer you these pictures from Monday:
CAMPAIGN FOR CLEANER AIR IN BRISTOL
Bristolians are campaigning over pollution levels in their city, and deserve wider support. Below is a video, followed by a link to a 38 Degrees petition:
A brief account of James and Sons’ October auction with some photographs.
INTRODUCTION
James and Sons’ October Auction took place in the Erpingham Room in the Maids Head Hotel, Norwich on Wednesday. Lots 1-450 were fairly normal James and Sons auction fare, and then lots 451 onwards were a lifetime collection of posters. Thus the plan was to have a break after lot 450.
A DIFFICULT START
We started the day with the internet not working properly. We were able to connect using Wifi, but our card reader requires a cable connection to function properly. Nevertheless, the auction got underway on time, and there were some notable successes early in the auction, especially the militaria.
THE POSTERS
As well as imaging pretty well all of the posters I had described most of them, so it was with interest but little expectation that following a short lunch break that I awaited the outcome of this part of the sale. A few posters sold well, but the majority did not. Slightly frustratingly in the circumstances with so much not finding buyers all four of the railway themed posters I had been considering went way beyond my price range. Here are the fab four in question:
Lot 729 – I had not particularly expected to get this one given that it was laminated and clearly old.Lot 737, which I used as the centrepiece for a post about the Museum of London on my website (this one), this being where the Lord Mayor’s carriage is displayed when not in use – again this was not a great hope.Lot 763, an advert for one-day travelcards – this was the one that I had reckoned I was most likely to get.The double sided laminated poster that was lot 764 also sold for much more than I could have afforded.
The auction done, it was time to load the van back up. This task accomplished I was able to go my own way (the van would be unloaded the following morning, so I would not be needed in Fakenham). I had just enough time before the last bus I could catch home using my dayrider plus to make a trip to the library worthwhile. I got home 13 hours after setting out.
THE FINAL VERDICT
Fortunately enough good things happened during lots 1-450 to more than cover the disappointing outcome of the poster sale, and it was overall a very good sale.
I have some pictures to share, and a few links, but no main subject matter, hence the title of this post.
THE MUSEUM OF LONDON
This is a signpost to my London transport website, and simultaneously a mention of James and Sons’James and Sons’ next auction, since the post was built around lot 737 in said sale…
How does this poster connect to the Museum of London? To find out follow the link below.
http://www.londontu.be/the-museum-of-london/
AN AUTISM RELATED PIECE ON WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK
This story is about a 4 year old boy who was hospitalised after being fed a ‘holistic cure’ for autism on the advice of someone describing themselves as a ‘naturopath’. The notion of any sort of ‘cure’ for autism is of course offensive nonsense. Equally, the idea that a ‘naturopath’ should be entitled to prescribe remedies for anything should probably be considered offensive nonsense. The combination of one person’s belief in the offensive nonsense of a ‘cure’ for autism and one person’s cynical willingness to exploit this gullibility created a situation that was very dangerous for an innocent child. The full piece can be viewed here.
SAJID AND THE FRACKERS
Some of you will know that the Dishonourable Sajid Javid has recently made a decision to ignore the will of a community and give Cuadrilla the go ahead to frack there in defiance of clearly expressed local wishes. Mr Javid receives big money from fracking companies and as such should have had the decency to admit to a conflict of interest and say that this was a decision that he could not be involved in making, but of course Tory and decency do not go together, and so unsurprisingly he made a decision in favour of his rich mates and against the community and against the environment. I end this section by linking to a piece that details the environmental impact of fracking.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS
I am presenting this pictures in two tranches, starting with the general…
I bring this post to a finish with some pictures of the new £5 note, which before I got this one in change I had not seen in the flesh…
The two faces of the note in one pictureThe Churchill sideThe Queen side
An account of james and Sons’ September auction, with a spotlight on the October auction.
INTRODUCTION
James and Sons’ September auction took place this Wednesday at Fakenham Racecourse, while apart from on that day my recent work has mainly been focussed on the October auction (Wednesday 26th, Maids Head Hotel, Norwich.
THE SEPTEMBER AUCTION
I was not involved with setting this auction up on the Tuesday due to having other work to do back at base, but I did make a flying visit to the racecourse that day to resolve some queries that people had raised at the last minute about auction items (one potential customer wanted an image that had been missed and another wanted a detailed condition report on pair of vintage spectacles – the fact that both items sold to the customers who had made the inquiries was final proof that their queries had been resolved). That just left…
THE DAY OF THE AUCTION
My work day did not get off to the best of starts, because I fell victim to a recent timetable change and arrived at the racecourse a little later than I would have liked (I now have a copy of the timetable that will come into force from this Sunday). Fortunately there were no serious issues with the IT, and the auction started on time.
INADEQUATE COVER
With the auctioneer needing regular breaks from the rostrum, and the only person capable of substituting for him being also the only person who could substitute for my role on the rostrum I was at my post while the first 650 lots went under the hammer, finally getting to consume my sandwiches at 2:20PM, before resuming my post for the last 50 or so lots (the auction ended at lot 781). This, combined with the heavy lifting work at the end, made for an exhausting and stressful day.
THE TALE OF THE HAMMER
The auction began with banknotes and coins, which fared pretty well overall. Then there were a large number of stamp lots, which predictably enough did not attract huge attention (www.the-saleroom.com while good for many things are poor on stamps, and there were not many people there in the room). After that there were a variety of different items, some of which sold well. In among the medley of items in this middle and latter part of the auction was lot 461, four decorative plates produced by Coalport, all in their original boxes with paperwork. This might not sound like the kind of lot to catch the photographer’s eye, but the the images below may provide some explanation…
My opening bid of £12 proved sufficient to secure the items (I had prepared for the possibility of success by bringing a stout, empty, fabric bag with me to transport them).
The auction ended with some ‘Bradbury’ stamp pages, which may as well not have gone under the hammer at all since by then there was no one left in the room save staff.
Overall it was a successful sale.
THE CLEAR UP
While two of my colleagues took a few items to our storage unit near the village of Syderstone (principally the rostrum and the stools that we sit on behind it) I moved as much stuff as I could (almost all of it) over to the door so that it could be loaded straight on to the van once they were back. The van duly loaded it was time to head back into town, and thanks to my colleague dropping me on Oak Street I was just able to catch the 16:38 bus home. The bus to work yesterday morning was 20 minutes late leaving King’s Lynn, so by the time I arrived there were a mere five boxes of stuff left to carry in to the building, a task I accomplished in not much more time than it took the kettle to boil for my coffee.
SPOTLIGHT ON OCTOBER
Wednesday apart, since September 15 I have been engaged on a major project at work – describing and imaging a vast number of posters – a task that is not quite finished, but which is responsible for almost 250 lots so far. The first 230 or so of these lots were film posters, ranging in size from a colossal 40 inches by 30 to 16.5 inches by 16.5. Here are a few examples…
This poster is definitely worth money.
This is an example of a double sided poster – one side facing inside, the other with mirror writing on it designed to show in a passing driver’s mirror.
Yesterday, after a few more film posters I finally got some variety…
I particularly appreciated this poster and the next.
An account of yesterday’s auction, complete with photos, a link to a book review and a (well-merited) swipe at Stagecoach.
INTRODUCTION
This is my account of the latest auction held by my employers, James and Sons, which took place yesterday at the Maid’s Head Hotel in Norwich.
THE JOURNEY IN
Stagecoach, who have subsumed Norfolk Green, have very recently and without anything approaching proper communication cut a large number of services. One casualty of this piece of axe wielding is the 6:10 AM from King’s Lynn to Fakenham, which used to become the 6:55 from Fakenham to Norwich, and would see me arrive at the venue around about 8am, as needed. Fortunately, having been alerted to the mayhem while at work on Tuesday I had the foresight to check the timetables posted at King’s Lynn Bus Station and was able to come up with a back-up plan – I bought a single ticket on the X1 to Dereham and Norwich which is run by First Eastern Counties, departing at 5:55am and was in Norwich at the appointed time. This single fare and the single fare back from Fakenham (having travelled from Norwich to Fakenham as a passenger in the company van) amounted to £10 between them (£6 and £4 respectively) instead of £5.50 for a Dayrider Plus, to say nothing of the uncertainty created by the ham-fisted way in which these cuts were made. Surely if significant cuts to services are to be made (and I consider cutting what was the first bus of the morning on a particular route to be significant on its own – and I also know that half of the services that used to run between Fakenham and Norwich have been axed) the announcement should be made long in advance of the cuts happening, and every bus travelling on an affected route should be well stocked with new timetables that accurately reflect the planned reduction in services. Also, especially given the parlous state of public transport services in Norfolk, I consider any cuts to be unacceptable in any case.
THE LAYOUT
With people arriving to view stuff not long after we had got there, there was not a lot of scope laying stuff out artistically, especially given how much of it there was, but a couple of areas were reasonably well done nevertheless…
Part of the toy display – inside that suitcase marked is lot 363 was a large collection of items of rolling stock.A little cluttered, but at least the three smartest hats got due prominence.
THE SALE ITSELF
I am glad to be able to report that there were no IT issues at any stage of the sale. While the coins & tokens, some of the militaria and some of the ephemera sold well, the stamps did not go well, and the vinyls did less well than we would have liked.
Once the auction finished we picked out all the stuff that had sold to bidders not in the room, loaded the van up for the return journey and were able to head back. I was able to catch the 17:38 rather than have the dicey prospect of relying on the 18:35 not having been cut (if they can cut the first bus of the day, why not the last?). However, I was not yet at liberty to relax – there was still the matter of watering a few plants at Hampton Court, Nelson Street. Thus, it was almost exactly 14 hours after I had left my flat that my time was my own again.
MY ROLE AND LOT 450
There are two members of James and Sons staff who can manage the IT during the auction, so we swap duties during the day (auction days are the only time I regularly do front-line customer service). My colleague did an IT session between lots 200 and 300, at which point we had a scheduled break. I then did the first 75 lots after the break, before swapping for 100 lots or so, for a period when a few things I was interested in were coming up, before I then went back to IT duties until the end of the sale.
The first items that I was interested in were five sets of railway postcards, lots 391-5:
These as expected went beyond my possible price range. Next to command attention was lot 403, a book of views of Cambridge:
Again, to no great surprise this rapidly went beyond my price range.
The next items of interest were some antique maps, which I was fully aware I would not be able to afford but enjoyed seeing go under the hammer. This set the stage for the last lot to command my interest, and unlike any of the foregoing it was one that I was determined to get if at all possible. Lot 450, “The Bus We Loved: London’s Affair With the Routemaster”, was not an item that I as someone who runs a London transport themed website could happily countenance going elsewhere. There was a mini bidding war as someone else was also interested, but when I went to £10 that secured the item. For more about the book please visit myreview of it that is on my website.
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS
Yesterday was a very demanding day, both physically and mentally. However, everything went fairly smoothly. Given the Stagecoach schemozzle referred to earlier, the travel element of the day was as good as I could have hoped for.
A somewhat delayed account of Monday and Tuesday, with plenty of photos.
INTRODUCTION
A few brief commenst and some pictures.
AUGUST IMAGING
I havce made sure that nothing big has been left unimaged, with my flgiht out to Sweden now only three days distant. Here are a few imaghes from the last couple of days…
AN EMPHATIC ENGLAND WIN
Although for various reasons I did not catch much of the action in the second test match betwen England and Pakistan I congratulate England on responding in emphatic style to their defeat in the first match. While I consider the decision by Cook not to enforce the follow-on when looking at a first innings advantage of 391 to be bizarre, at least his team still managed to win. Possibly the most red-faced captain of all time over a decision not to invoke the follow-on was the Hon Freddie Calthorpe who in the final match of the 1929-30 series in the West Indies declined to do so with an advantage of 563 on the grounds that the match was scheduled to played to a finish. Unfortunately for him a combination of the weather and England’s return journey caused the match to be abandoned as a draw anyway. Six years earlier in a county game Calthorpe had suffered a different kind fo embarrassment when his Warwickshire side made 223 in their first innings, bowled out Hampshire for 15, and had them 177-6 after following on. Hampshire then made a spectacular recovery to reach 521 in that second innings, with Walter Livsey who had only reached even double figures three times in the course of the season before then making a century at no 10, and bowled a dispirited Warwickshire out for 158 in the second innings. Back to the present, and in the test match that finished yesterday evening Joe Root had the kind of match which had it been presented as fiction would undoubtedly have been laughed out of the publishers office – 254, 71 not out, four catches in the first Pakistan innings, and when given a bowl late in their second innings he picked up a wicket with his second ball!
SOME FINAL PHOTOGRAPHS
I conclude this post with a few non-work related pictures:
Images from the last couple of days at work and a mention of a future plan.
INTRODUCTION
A decision to attend an evening meeting in the fine city of Norwich yesterday somewhat limited my computer access then, hence I am sharing stuff from more than one day.
AUCTION IMAGES
Here are some images of auction lots taken over the last couple of days…
The first of nine images I took of lot 390
This book warranted six images
The specs of two supersonic aircraft – fans of Matthew Reilly will recognize the top one as the plane that replaces the destroyed Halicarnassus (Boeing 747) at the end of the Five Greatest Warriors.
Another aviation book that warranted multiple images
Colour pics of the two supersonic aeroplanes.
Lot 393 – local interest as it is about one of Norfolk’s most famous families.
SOME NON-AUCTION WORK IMAGES
These images were required for use on Ebay…
COMING UP ON ASPIBLOG
On Wednesday I attended the AGM of the West Norfolk Disability Forum, courtesy of an invite that came from Councillor Squire by way of NAS West Norfolk branch chair Karan McKerrow. I hope to put up a post about this tomorrow but for the moment as an appetiser, here is a montage featuring the extraordinary upstairs window of King’s Lynn town hall…
Highlights from today at work, a mention of yesterday, a comment on the Melania Trump story and lots of pictures.
INTRODUCTION
This post is about today at work and a couple of other things.
TODAY AT WORK
Apart from the fact that it is so hot that for the first time in over three years as a James & Sons employee I went to work in shorts, the things I did at work covered three areas…
RESOLVING QUERIES RELATING TO THE JULY SALE
These numbered five, one of which was a repeat question therefore requiring no new work. Nos 2 and 3 which I will treat together featured a mishap over coin lots, which I was easily able to sort out, by producing and uploading the following images:
Lot 28 was an incorrect image, and he wanted to see both faces
Lot 29 was incomplete rather than wrong – now resolved.
Query no 4 related to a medal – someone wanted to see pictures of the rim, which are fiendishly difficult to produce, but I came up with these…
The final query was more involved, requiring detail as to whether the item was still in working order, and more info about its provenance. To help with this I produced these images:
The main bulk of my day’s work was…
IMAGING FOR THE AUGUST SALE
There were some interesting items today and a decent variety. I will start with the non-coin items…
This box of matches may be sufficiently old that they are not so safe as ton be impossible to strike!
The cloth and the two bowling balls fir snugly inside the carrying case
There was so much stuff in this lot that I took two images and joined them together.
Finishing the August images where the queries started, here a few more…
COIN LOTS
I am not going to share all the coin images I did today (even with a mere 18 lots done that would be 54 images) but here are a few of the best…
Lot 132
Lot 138
Lot 140
Lot 143
Lot 145
Lot 147
Lot 148
Lot 149
USING OTHER PEOPLE’S STUFF
I recently posted about the Lynn News taking the entire text element of a report that had the byline of one of their journalists from my blog (see here for more details) and pointed out that while I was grateful to them for covering the event I would have been even happier had they acknowledged me. Now today Melania Trump’s speech has hit the news for the wrong reasons – as whyevolutionistrue (who I am happy to acknowledge as my source for the quotes that follow) among others have noted it is all but identical to an earlier speech by Michelle Obama. For WEIT’s whole post click here, meanwhile for comparison, here are the two speeches:
Here’s the text from Trump’s speech:
My parents impressed on me the value of that you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise. That you treat people with respect. Show the values and morals in in the daily life. That is the lesson that we continue to pass on to our son.
We need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. [Cheering] Because we want our children in these nations to know that the only limit to your achievement is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.
And here’s Obama:
And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with them.
And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children — and all children in this nation — to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.
In this latter case, of course we can be absolutely sure that Michelle Obama would not be pleased to hear her words from the lips of Mrs Trump.
To sum up this section:
If using stuff from someone else (and Melania Trump’s speechwriters must have been aware of the origins of the words in her speech even if she was not) make sure that you are using it in a way that the original author would condone.
Even if you have carte blanche to use stuff from someone else for goodness sake acknowledge the fact that you are doing so.
SOME FINAL PHOTOS
These last few photos come from yesterday, some of them featuring a barbecue lunch in East Rudham, with my parents, my aunt and my nephew.
Two boats moored on the pontoon jetty, South Quay (before setting off in the morning)
The first of two shots of my newphew tending the barbie!
Bees love the wild marjoram the grows just outside my parents house, and this was the best shot I managed to get of one.Heading for home that evening – a couple of shots of the newly restored building on Purfleet Street – I would have knocked it down and started over but this still a massive improvement on what was there.
An account of a day’s imaging, including some of the most interesting pictures.
INTRODUCTION
This post is about the imaging I have done at James and Sons today. In total I have produced 180 images today (no, I am not going to share them all!), using the scanner for the coin lots and the camera for the rest.
THE BULK JOB – THE FIRST TRANCHE OF COINS FOR THE AUGUST SALE
The coins I imaged today were lots 1-50 in the August auction, except that lot 3 was missing. Images of both faces of each coin were required, which meant two sets of scans, and then some editorial work, resulting in three images for each lot. Here to further explain the process is lot 1…
The image that becomes 1-a in the images folder1-bThe two images joined together (1 in the main image folder.
I scan these many lots at a time at very high resolution (600 dpi), the exact number of lots depending on the size of the coins, and on the number of coins that make up the lots. The 49 coin lots I scanned today were achieved in four tranches (i.e eight scans in total). Here some of the more interesting specimens…
Lot 5
Lot 6
Lot 10
Lot 13
Lot 17
Lot 23
Lot 25
Lot 31
Lot 38
Lot 45
Lot 48
Lot 50 – last of today’s tranche of coins
RECORDS FOR EBAY
There were some interesting items here. In total there were 11 separate items, all boxed sets of multiple records, and I offer you a selection of images…
Unlike a couple of others that I imaged today this is not a duplicate – it is a different recording of La Boheme to the one that I imaged on Tuesday.
THE FINAL SESSION – MILITARIA
Having finished the records it was time to image some items of militaria. This once again required the camera. Here are are a few highlights to conclude this post…
I have lots of new pictures, relating to the James and Sons’ August sale (Wednesday 31st). Today’s imaging has involved two types of item…
MILITARIA
You will notice that one item that has been included with militaria is actually not so, but most of these items do count as militaria…
Lot 197Lot 198Lot 199Lot 200Close-ups of both sides of the medallionEven closer-up of the ‘heads’ sideEven-closer up of the ‘tails side’The non-military item.close-up of the heads sideclose-upf of the tails side.Lot 202The cover of lot 202Lot 203close-up of the medal faceseven closer-up of the obverseeven closer-up of the reverse
Now it is time to move on to the other auction items I had to image…
EPHEMERA/ BOOKS
This section starts with lot 361, which can be thought of as an anatomisation of a rolls-royce…
The rest of the items were not quite this impressive, but there were a few other good moments…
Lot 362362-a – this mag still has it’s fold out poster (highly unusual)366366-a (again still has it’s fold out poster)Lot 372 – a box full of old calendars – I chose to showcase this one.From the very early history of cricketEngland recorded an innings victory in this match, Arthur Shrewsbury battimg six hours for a then Englan d record score of 164The Gabba over 60 years ago.Lot 376 – a scrapbook featuring cars376-a377377-aLot 551 – a remarkable album551-b551-g
EBAY IMAGES
In addition to the auction lots I had to image a few records for sale on ebay (the pictures I have included were only some of the records I imaged).
aspiblog 