An annoucnement that the catalogue for our June 29th auction is now ready for viewing. Please share widely.
INTRODUCTION
The catalogue for James and Sons’ auction on June 29th is now ready – it is back from the printers, and today was devoted to plugging the last gaps image-wise in the online version, which can be viewed by clicking here.
FILLING THE GAPS
Most of the gaps were due to images not being uploaded, but once these had been attended to, some items remained to be imaged, the bulk of them coins. Here to clear the decks are the non-coin items that I had to image today…
This was to field a request for extra detail rather than an image that had not been done.
Lot 460
The two supplementary images I produced for lot 460 were in response to a query.
Lot 627
Lot 742
The coins that needed doing were a run of 19 lots, all bar one of which could be scanned (396-414 incl), and one extra lot (416)…
Each of these coin lots has three images minimum (a composite and two individuals)
This one has an extra image – a close up of the date.
An account of Wednesday and yesterday – with plenty of pictures. Also a link to a splendi piece on WEIT.
INTRODUCTION
Most of this post deals with events of Wednesday and yesterday.
WEDNESDAY – NORWICH
We had a small stamp sale at the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich, which necessitated a seriously early start. I was at the bus station at 6:00 as intended (the bus I was going to catch is scheduled to leave at 6:10, and I always like to be there early), but the bus was very late. I considered briefly catching the alternative X1, but was not willing to pay twice as much money for the quicker journey (£11 for the X1, run by First, £5.50 for a day-rider plus on the X8/ X29 Stagecoach route). Finally, over 20 minutes after it was due to leave the bus arrived to pick up passengers. It made good time once it was under way, apart from the inevitable crawl past Hellesdon Hospital, and I was at the venue by 8:15. There were no computer issues, and the sale ran very smoothly. Those items that sold went for good money, and overall the sale was as good as we could have expected.
THURSDAY – FAKENHAM
Thursday featured an early start, but not so much as the previous day, since we were holding a postal history sale at our own premises in Fakenham. This sale was more of a success than the one the day before – due to the presence of internet bidders, and a number of items made good money. Once it had finished I had time to do some imaging for the big auction on June 29th, at which some lots will be sold to raise money for the Royal British Legion’s Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College, London, and for which the catalogue is currently at the printers. There were some very large flags, one of them so huge that the only way I could image it was in the open air with two of my colleagues holding it up, one at each end. Here are the images…
One of the two images I took of the hypergiant flagThis was one of two giant flagsThis was an ordinary size flagThe other giant flagA supergiant flag – by spreading it out on the shop floor and standing a chair I was able to obtain an image of each hal;f of the flag and use my editing skills to bolt the two images together.One half of the supergiant flagThe other half of the supergiant flagLot 655 – a piece with local historical significance – and a gallery of seven images
This table needed careful handling and crafty psoitioning to get a usable image.
To end this section, a challenge to my readers: from where did I get the descriptors (giant, supergiant and hypergiant) that I used for the outsize flags?
A LINK AND THE CURRENT TEST MATCH
Having already shared Richard Murphy’s piece on licences for company directors, when I then came across a gem of a piece on WEIT I felt that I could not justify a second such post within such a short space of time. Here therefore is a link to a piece about the Freedom for Religion Foundation going after NASA for giving a grant to a theological study.
England have recovered somewhat from a very poor start. Just before the close of day 1 of this third test against Sri Lanka Jonathan Bairstow reached his century, becoming only the second England wicketkeeper after Matt Prior to reach three test centuries in a calendar year and also only the second after Les Ames to reach two in the same test series.
I finish this piece with a few more photographs:
Various model aeroplanes are currentrly on display at locations around King’s Lynn, and this picture and the next feature two of them
A bird enjoying the metal artwork that adorns the market square in FakenhamThe image of the hypergiant flag that I decided not to use as the official one.
A brief and mainly, indeed almost entirely, pictorial account of my day at work.
INTRODCUTION
Today we were getting the catalogue for the auction on June 29th ready to go to the printers, which meant a lot of imaging for me.
A WIDE RANGE OF IMAGES
My days imaging started with some cigarette/ trade card lots…
These look like old coins but they are actually well disguised cigarette cards based on those coins.
Next up came some left over coin and stamp lots…
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Then there were a few small flags…
Then came 28 vinyl records, some of which are likely to fetch serious money…
Lot 751, first of the records in this sale
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Although I restricted myself to showing 10 of the 28 records this one had to be included.
Lot 778, the last of the records.
Once the records were done, there was a stereograph and some accompanying slides, which occupied 20 odd lots between them…
The Stereograph
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When viewed through the stereograph you get a single picture in 3D
The stereograph was followed by a handful of toys…
The last items of the day were two highly decorated, framed title pages of atlases, for which I provide complete image galleries, all as individual images…
An account of today at work and yesterday at Musical keys.
INTRODUCTION
This post has two very disparate strands – yesterday’s Musical Keys event for Autistic People and tody at work.
IMAGING
While I have imaged a wide variety of stuff today at work I am going to concentrate on some commemorative coin lots that were of particular quality…
I did not have time to provide close-ups of all these coins……so I selected the one featuring a picture of Nelson (we are in Norfolk after all) for the treatmnent.
This lot featured an extra requirement.Namely providing a shot focussing on the coin and info sheet into which it is set.
The last of the commemorative coins.
A large collection of themed stamp books.
Inidvidual mounted stampsA close up of a single setan even close up of two individual stamps.
Old maps…
… and an even older map to finish
MUSICAL KEYS
The 12 years and older session of the Musical Keys workshop run as an NAS West Norfolk activity started at 4:45PM yesterday and ran until 6:15PM. I was there both as participant and as one 0f the two designated committee members to be present at the event (the other was group leader Karan whose younger son was participating). As usual with Musical Keys the main piece of equipment we were using was a miniature computer:
For the first part of the session we were playing computer drums:
After a mid-session break during which a birthday cake which Karan had very kindly made (gluten-free as her son has an adverse reaction to gluten) and which was absolutely delicious, we moved on to the second part of the session, which featured a system whereby lines had to be drawn across the screen so that balls would bounce of them to create sounds. For those of my generation it looks a bit like a very early BBC Micro game!
The basic set up
An arrangement of lines which prevents any of the balls (released from the nozzle you can see top centre) from escaping. I do not know what kind of sound this generates, as at no time while the sound was on did I have this many lines in place.
As anyone who knows what the weather was like in King’s Lynn yesterday early evening will be aware it was not suitable for photography on the way to the Scout Hut, where as so often with NAS West Norfolk events this took place, but I did get this picture on the way home…
Yesterday was James and Sons’ May auction, at Fakenham Racecourse, and today we had a badge sale at our shop in Fakenham.
WEDNESDAY
Our main auction was blighted by problems with the internet connection at the venue. Eventually we relocated the auction itself to Cool Roxy, the owners and trainers bar, while leaving the stock in the Prince of Wales Suite. This left us way behind schedule. Nevertheless, the sale was very successful, with five pieces of postcard artwork accompanied by sample postcards by a man called Twelvetrees selling phenomenally well, some old vinyl records selling well (a Black Sabbath recording went for £340), and many other items faring well. Among the lesser lights a book of photographs from King’s Lynn’s past went for just £4 (it goes well with my substantial digital archive of pictures from King’s Lynn’s present thank you), while a Cornwall Polytechnic Society medallion featuring a bust of James Watt (he after whom the unit of power is named, and who along with his distant predecessor Heron of Alexandria, his closer predecessor Thomas Newcomen and his near contemporary Richard Trevithick played a key role in the development of the steam engine, the first power source for locomotives) went for £11. In amongst all this I had to get images of the reverse sides of the some of the badges being sold today to resolve queries.
Overall, the early problems not withstanding it was a successful day, and here are some photos…
These helmet plates all did well
The model aerolplane was another success
The model soldiers (of which we had vast numbers in various lots) also went down well.
These mounted soldiers were one lot
The Twelvetrees artwork and sample postcards referred to in the text.
This map piqued my interest but was beyond my means.
This barometer has seen almost as many auctions as I have, but this time it found a buyer.
Had this been being sold individually instead of as part of a much larger lot I would have been interested.
A plastic case full of fishing flies, of which this is just a sample, sold.
The medallion referred to in the text.
TODAY
Today’s sale proceeded smoothly. Although no huge prices were recorded a number of items did better than expected. Overall therefore I think we can say it was a successful week, although very draining (especially yesterday).
Details of four significant press releases that I have put out recently.
INTRODUCTION
This post covers one particular qaspect of my work at James and Sons. Everything yousee has gone out between Thursday of last week and this morning.
PRESS RELEASES
I am sharing four of these with you:
MILITARY BADGE AUCTION ALERT
This one is about our upcoming auctions on Wednesday and Thursday, the first of which contains a few military badges, including both of those used in the image, and the second of which, taking place at our own premises, is a pure badge auction. I will provide the images, a jpg of the full document and a link to the original word document:
For various reasons instead of a dedicated auction devoted entirely to fund-raising we are incorporating the Great Centenary Charity Auction within our own programme, with lots in June and November being sold for fund-raising purposes. I have put out two press releases thus far about this:
WHERE MILITARIA AND SCOUTING COMBINE
The first press release focuses on a collection of medals and paperwork relating to Jack Cornwell, who at the battle of Jutland became the youngest person ever to win the VC. He was also a boy scout, giving an extra connection. I have a jpg of the press release, the press release itself and all the images I took of the various items:
The second Great Centenary Charity Auction press release is about an oil painting of the Poppies at the Tower by one of the two artists who created the real thing…
An account of today at work, featuring the creation of a poster, a laminated copy of which is on display in our shop window at 5 Norwich Street, Fakenham, NR21 9AF
INTRODUCTION
Today as well as producing the poster which forms the first part of the title I did some more postal history imaging and imaged a couple of lots for a small militaria sale in which i have otherwise had no involvement. Also, I assembled a metal detector for display in the shop.
ASSEMBLING THE POSTER
The purpose of this poster was to advertise the hats and helmets I blogged about yesterday. This required selecting the images which would work best, getting brief descriptions of the items chosen to feature and fitting the whole together in a visually appealing way. The three images I selected were:
I went for the white helmet to provide a contrast withe dark colour of the other two. Putting these together with the descriptions and appropriate top and tail pieces gave this final product:
POLICE HEADGEAR AT JAMES – this is a link to the original word document – a screenshot is below…
An account of voting in the Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner election and of my day at work.
INTRODUCTION
I have had a busy day imaging auction items at James and Sons, but before going to work I did find time to…
VOTE
The only election in which us Norfolk folk had a vote today was for Police and Crime Commissioner, and to put it mildly I was not 100% convinced that this was an election worth voting in. However, in my inbox this morning was an email from the Grteen Party candidate, and that settled the issue – I would vote. The polling station was not a hive of activity (indeed to judge from the reaction to my arrival I may well have been the first voter the folks running that polling station had seen that day). This election used a preference system – one vote for your favourite candidate and one for your second favourite. With three of the candidates being respectively Tory, UKIP and a highly suspect Independent, and a fourth standing for what is effectively an ex-party, I used my votes for the Green party candidate (1st) and Labour (2nd):
IMAGING
Today’s imaging consisted of two distinct parts, first a collection of police helmets and such, and second starting work on some postal history items. I will start with the…
POLICE HEADGEAR
These feature a wide range of police organisations.
POSTAL HISTORY
Most of the postal history stuff was not so interesting in appearance, although there were a few hihglights…
This cruciform pattern was the most distinctive of all the postmarks I saw today.
With so much of interest lot 371 merited a five image gallery
An account of James and Sons April auction, a plug for a petition to honour the Hillsborough campaigners and some photographs.
INTRODUCTION
The day before yesterday, at the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich, James and Sons had their April auction. Overall, the auction was a great success. Although the number of internet bidders did not equal that for the March auction, there were 180 internet bidders, and this was a one day sale whereas March had been a two day affair. I will also be sharing some other stuff, including photos, at the end of this piece.
GETTING THERE
My travel expenses have recently gone down, due to the introduction of an all-day ticket which covers travel on any Norfolk route save the Coast Hopper and costs £5.50. This did mean that I could not get to a Norwich auction as early as if I were to use the X1 route (run by a different bus company, therefore ipso facto not covered) but it was still a seriously early start, as I had to be on the first bus of the morning, at 6:10AM to arrive early enough to do everything that I had to do for the running of the auction. The run to Norwich was thankfully, save for the inevitable bottleneck near Hellesdon Hospital, a very clear one, and the bus arrived exactly on schedule.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE AUCTION
As I have indicated, this auction was a very successful one. The principal highlights according to my method of evaluating these things were in ascending lot number order:
Lot 78, a collection of British banknotes in a tin, valued at £30-40, sold for £65
Lot 87, a Lebanese 1 Livre note with a lilac overprint, valued at £25-30, sold for £45
Lot 232, an R101 Royal Airship Works cloth cap badge, estimated at £75-85 and sold for an eye-popping £170.
Lot 263, an Imperial German WI Zeppelin commemorative badge, estimated at £55-60, sold for £120
Lot 268, a British WWII Commandos Middle East cap badge (brass), estimated at £20-25, sold for £48
Lot 270, a WWI aerial flechette dart as dropped on enemy soldiers, estimated at £15-20, sold for £42
Lot 680, a postcard of the 1906 New Zealand rugby team, estimated at £10-20, sold for £45
Lot 714, a Victorian scrapbook assembled by Harriett Riches of Trunch, estimated at £40-50, sold for £90
Lot 715, a Victorian/ Edwardian scrapbook, estimated at £30-40, sold for £90 to the the same person who bought lot 714.
Here is a ’tiled mosaic’ of images of these lots – to see an image at full size click on it:
Lot 78
Lot 232
Lot 263
Lot 268
Lot 270
Lot 680
The main image of 714
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714-b
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715
PHOTOGRAPHER SNAPS UP THREE BARGAIN BASEMENT BUYS
I had contrived to arrange my breaks from computer work to coincide with periods when lots of interest to me were going under the hammer. The first such lot was number 460:
Don’s mugshot on one half of the stamps, him playing the pull shot (his trademark, and a shot about which he wrote a short piece which features in many a cricket anthology).
This was knocked down to me for £7, and better was to come near the end of the auction…
Lot 711 was a 1904 Erie Railway pass, for which a single bid of £8 sufficed:
The front of the pass.The back of the pass.Both sides of the pass.
Construction started on this railroad in 1835, and the first run along the full length of the route, from Piermont, New York to Dunkirk, New York took place in 1851. More information about this railroad can be found here. Below is a route map:
Lot 717, a print of old London Bridge based on the earliest known drawing of that structure, which is in the Pepys collection, attracted no interest from anyone save me, and was knocked down for £5:
A CALL TO HONOUR THE
HILLSBOROUGH CAMPAIGNERS
27 years ago 96 people lost their lives at Hillsborough football ground. Through most of this period people seeking justice for the dead faced a media and governments that were almost uniformly hostile to them, while the police force involved consistently refused to accept responsibility for the disaster. At long last, after a full inquiry and inquest into the deaths it has been established that these 96 people were unlawfully killed and that blame for their deaths lies squarely with the police. Just this morning I found out about a petition on38 Degrees to honour the campaigners who have fought so hard for this outcome. They are far more worthy of being honoured than many who have already been honoured (As a resident of King’s Lynn I think of Sir Henry Bellingham MP, apparently knighted for the great feat of having attended the same school as the prime minister, albeit at a different time). If you share my view…
Does this look like the start of a public footpath to you? It is, and you are looking at one reason why the developer who perpetrated this (with whose name I shall not sully this blog) are personae non grata in King’s Lynn
My contribution to this document was to scan the postcard that appears on the front cover.This is the only example of this particular £2 coin that I have thus far seen. I approve of commemorating Darwin, but not necessarily of the chosen picture (a Galapagos tortoise, or finch, or a map of the Galapagos islands would have been my choice).
Yesterday and today were both work days for me, and I stayed overnight in Norwich as I was attending an evening meeting in that fine city. I will not be covering said meeting in this post as I plan to write about it and about tomorrow’s protest against the possible closure of the Fermoy Unit in detail in another post. All my images today are presented as ’tiled mosaics’ – to view an individual image at full size click on it.
THURSDAY
Thursday was all imaging for the May auction. I finished the militaria imaging before moving on to some other stuff. Here a few highlights from these lots…
After the militaria I dealt with the coin lots that were unsuitable for being scanned…
These last two lots (three images each) are ex-coins that have been turned into jewellery.
There was then a mixture of items to finish the day…
Lot 275
Lot 392
Lot 397 – an item of local interest.
FRIDAY
Some of the last lots in theApril auction(this Wednesday in Norwich) were located, and there was some interesting stuff for the May auction to image as well. I start with some of those April lots…
This scrapbook is lot 714 – it has some Norfolk interest because the girl who assembled it back in the Victorian age lived in Trunch.
Lot 730 – four very miniature books in a plastic case
Lot 726 (two images for this one)
Lot 717 – an interesting old picture. One of Susanna Gregory’s Chaloner novels features London Bridge, and Edward Marston’s Elizabethan book-holder Nick Bracewell almost certainly finds himself on this birdge at some stage in his adventures.
Lot 725
Now for some of the lots for the May auction that I imaged today…
