Tag: Binoculars

Anatomy of a Press Release

INTRODUCTION

This fairly short post is just reminding people of my existence, as I have not blogged for a few days. On Tuesday and Wednesday I was very busy with James and Sons’ June Auction, and although yesterday, a day out in Norwich with my parents, sister and nephew will yield several posts in due course I have not yet had time to finish prepping the photos. As well as my title piece I have a couple of links to share.

ANATOMY OF A PRESS RELEASE

This was a matter of great urgency, since it was referring to events that will happen tomorrow and on Sunday connected with the Great Centenary Charity Auction. I had some text, detailing the schedule, which is as follows:

Saturday 2PM – 6PM Viewing Session
Saturday 6PM to close – Hog Roast and WWII Concert

Sunday 8PM – 12 noon Viewing Session
Sunday 12 Noon – approx 4PM The first Great Centenary Charity Auction (another is scheduled for March 2016)

Fortunately, I am not required at all on Saturday and on Sunday I will be required to do IT for the auction itself, but  have established that arriving at the venue at approximately 10:30 (the earliest I can manage under my own steam) will be sufficient.

As well as the text, I had to select soem good images that had previously not been used in press releases. These were the images I came up with…

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I turned the original word document, a link to which is included to end this section, into a jpg for use on social media, which I now reproduce…

A jpg of the press release, and our feature image.;
A jpg of the press release, and our feature image.

SPECTACULAR MILITARIA AUCTION NOW ON VIEW

LINKS

My first link is to details of a new study at the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge. If you have a diagnosis of Autism or Asperger’s, are aged 18-45 and can get to Cambridge I urge you to volunteer for this study on attention and perception.

Faraday’s Candle, a regular favourite, have produced a very interesting post about some the stranger snippets of science to come their way.

I hope that you have enjoyed this post and will be inspired to share it.

An Important Press Release, A Successgul Auction and Some Other Stuff

An important press release, a brief mention of yesterday’s auction and some other stuff

Starting with the biggest news: The Great Centenary Charity Auction will now have its first instalment at The Prince of Wales Stand, Fakenham Racecourse on June 28th, sale commencing at 10AM. A full press release is reproduced below:

AUCTION FOR BLAST INJURY RESEARCH BOOSTED BY 100 OLD UNIFORM AND HEAD-DRESS DONATION

The Great Charity Auction for The Royal British Legion Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London has received a valuable collection of uniforms and head-dresses. The collection, from an anonymous donor, includes uniforms from the Crimean War through to World War I and World War II, National Service and later. It covers Royal Navy,  British Army and Royal Air Force.

“This collection, added to the many uniforms, medals and militaria already received takes the number of lots to 600 and we have brought forward the auction date to June 28th” said the delighted auctioneer, Colonel David James. “We have also moved the venue to accommodate the large volume of lots to the Prince of Wales Stand at Fakenham Racecourse.”

“Viewing will be held on Saturday 27th June from 3pm to 7pm and from 8am to 11am on the morning of the auction” he added.

The auction will include live internet bidding worldwide on the-saleroom.com.

“We are pleased to announce that the-saleroom.com has joined the Eastern Daily Press and I-Post as sponsors.”

I-Post will, through The Royal British Legion collect and deliver cartons of donated items to Fakenham virtually free of charge from United Kingdom donors. Details are available from the auction website, www.greatcharity.org

Catalogues for the first Centenary Auction will be available from June 5th post free for a donation of £10.

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The original document and a full image gallery can be viewed here:

AUCTION FOR BLAST INJURY RESEARCH BOOSTED BY 100 LD UNIFORM AND HEAD Combo 1 Helmet ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????Yesterday’s auction at the Racecourse (a regular James and Sons affair) was overall very successful. A combination of a matchday brochure, team sheet and ticket from a Spurs v Chelsea match of the early 1900s (in which the legendary Vivian Woodward appeared for Chelsea) fetched a credulity-stretching £600. There were many other notable successes, fuelled by a substantial number of people registering for online bidding via http://www.the-saleroom.com

SDC18154One of my favourite Autistic Spectrum Condition related bloggers is Autism Mom, and one of her recent posts, which I have already tweeted to my followers I found particularly impressive:

http://blog.autism-mom.com/2015/01/dinosaurs-to-the-rescue

An Important Press Release, Twitter Following hits Four Figures and National Autism Day

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 flat
The binocs lying flat
The binocs standing up.
The binocs standing up.
The composite image that went in the press release.
The composite image that went in the press release.
The banner type heading used for the press release
The banner type heading used for the press release
A jpg of the final press release.
A jpg of the final press release.

Press Release

Invoicing, Stock Database and Resolving an Image Issue

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.

The catalogue listing we now have for this auction, which takes place at the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich, is available at: http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/james-and-son-auctioneers/catalogue-id-2901714  while those who would like to follow the auction but cannot get to Norwich can sign up to bid via www.the-saleroom.com.

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 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!

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This whistle managed only to double its estimate!
This whistle managed only to double its estimate!
Lot 109 scanned in by me today as part of the3 resolution of a problem.
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.
These binoculars were the bigger issue since they carry a four figure price tag.

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A tough day at James and Sons

In between unloading the van, sorting stuff for tomorrow’s fair and loading that stuff on to the van I did manage to get some imaging for the November sale (29th Nov, Prince of Wales Suite, Fakenham Racecourse) done. My first batch of imaging was d0ne with scanner as it consisted of tax discs and log books, then late in the day I did some photographing of a variety of interesting items. Here are the highlights as far as I was concerned…

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This hydrometer was fun to image.
This hydrometer was fun to image.

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Just to demonstrate the amount of editing necessary post scanning for best images this is what the unedited scans of a set of six discs look like!
Just to demonstrate the amount of editing necessary post scanning for best images this is what the unedited scans of a set of six discs look like!

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Log books do not image particularly well, but I include this one as a sample.
Log books do not image particularly well, but I include this one as a sample.