A Successful Day At Fakenham Racecourse

An account of yesterday’s auction at Fakenham Racecourse.

INTRODUCTION

Yesterday James and Sons had an auction at Fakenham Racecourse, the first in 2018 to take place anywhere other than our shop in Fakenham, and the first at that venue with me in sole control of the IT side of things (the latter being a cause of some trepidation). The auctioneer and I had visited the racecourse the Friday before to establish that our IT setup (including the card terminal as part of the IT setup) would work there, and the auction lots and IT stuff were moved down to the racecourse on Tuesday.

GETTING THERE

I caught the 7:00 bus to Fakenham (the earliest, and my regular one on workdays anyway these days) and on what was already a warm sunny morning enjoyed the walk from Oak Street to the Racecourse (which is located not as its name suggests in Fakenham but just outside the adjoining village of Hempton), arriving at the venue at just before ten past eight. The auctioneer arrived a few minutes later and I was able to accomplish the IT setup before any viewers arrived. We had Croc’s providing catering at the event, and I took the opportunity in a quiet period to fortify myself with a bacon bap.

Mute Swans — Crossing the Wensum en route to the racecourse I spotted this pair of mute swans enjoying the sun.

Mute swans approaching the bridge — This bridge across the Wensum gives Bridge Street, Fakenham its name.

A BRIGHT START

For various reasons (to do with a combination of over-ambitious planning and an important member of staff being absent for a long period of time) this auction had some odd numbering of lots (it started at lot 741, and then there was a 50 lot gap between the end of the first section and the start of the coins at lot 901, then a massive gap after the last coin lot, no 1072 to the start of the Militaria at 1,466, then another major gap from the end of the militaria at lot 1,620 to the start of final segment at lot 1,920, with the last lot of the sale being lot 2,000), but although there was a range of almost 1,300 between the first and last lot number there were only 503 lots in the sale. We originally planned to take a short break at the end of the coin section before starting on the Militaria, but this as you will see changed part way through.

The first big success of the auction came at lot 747, three gold rings, which had been valued at £70-100 but ended up selling for £150…

Then lots 757 and 760, a ladies cigarette case and a ladies powder compact of similar styles, both esitmated at £30-40 went for £65 and £60 respectively, both to the same online bidder.

These however were a mere curtain-raiser for…

LOT 764 – A PHOTOGRAPHER’S TRIUMPH

There were indications that this elegant Mantle Clock, with a case carefully designed to show off its workings was going to do extraordinarily well, but we were all absolutely gobsmacked by what actually happened. The item had gone in with a modest valuation of £10-20, but I having noted the effort to which the makers of this clock had gone to put the workings on display created an image gallery for it which reflected this:

764 — The main image, showing the whole clock.

764-a — This metal plaque was obviously of some significance, hence a close-up photograph of that.

764-b — And since the makers had been so determined to make the workings visible I devoted no fewer than four photographs to ensuring that thsi was reflected in my online image gallery.

The opening bid was £310! Then, a bidding war between four internet bidders who all obviously saw something that eluded those who are not experts on clocks pushed this already barely credible looking price up to an eye-popping £750!!

Incidentally, just for the record, the valuer himself said that it was the photographs that did it for us, hence my title for this subsection. Here are some photographs of this item that I took during the break:

UP TO THE BREAK

After the events described above almost anything else was going to feel a little anticlimactic, but a few items fared well nevertheless. Lot 919, a forged 1791 farthing estimated at £5-10 ended up going for £35.

The other effect that the early excitement had was that we were progressing slower than normal, and in the end the auctioneer brought our midauction break forward to lot 1,000.

AFTER THE BREAK

We finished the coins, ending with lot 1072, which went to me for £4 (it is a small medallion, which I considered to be railwayana by association since it refers to Isambard Kingdom Brunel):

The Militaria section went pretty well, with most items selling, and two doing very well indeed:

1552 — With this lot of badges being sold as one I could not spare the time to provide close-ups of all the badges…

1552-a — …so I nselected a couple of what I considered to be good ones…

1552-b — …the lots had been valued at £100-200, but interest possibly stoked by my choice of close-ups, pushed the final price up to £300.

The other big success in this range was lot 1584, valued at £80-100 and going for £140.

The books fared poorly, although The Royal Liverpool Golf Club by Guy Farrar which I had given a deliberately cautious estimate of £15-20 fetched £55.

The auction over, all that was left was the clear up, which was done by 3PM. I had one worrying moment when it seemed that a problem was developing with the internet connection, but fortunately it never got serious.

On Saturday the action shifts to The Maids Head Hotel, Norwich and the focus to cigarette cards. A full caftalogue listing for that auction can be viewed here.

A Successful Work Week

An account of James and Sons’ October auctions.

INTRODUCTION

This week was auction week at James and Sons. This post covers the events of the three days.

MONDAY – JAMES AND SONS PREMISES

I arrived at our premises in Fakenham at about 7:15AM, and made a cup of coffee, checked my emails and attended to IT setup. I had time to take a few photographs before anyone else arrived.

Day 1 setup — The layout of the ersatz auction room.

Big screen — The big screen running the slideshow.

Cig and trade cards — The last lots we would be seeing today.

LOTS 1-250 (POSTCARDS)

These fared reasonably thanks to the internet. Three lots in particular went way above estimate. Lots 175 was estimated at £8-12, but courtesy of an internet battle soared to £28. Lot 213 with a modest estimate of £5-8 went for £25. Lot 227 had an estimate of £8-12 and sold for £30. Here are the items in question.

All these pictures incidentally are scans, at 200dpi.

LOTS 251-400 – EPHEMERA

No high prices from this section, although lot 353 went for significantly over estimate. Lot 321 fell my way unopposed, and lot 399, which I had had an eye on also fell to me (I ventured a hopeful bid, not expecting for an instant to get the item, only because lot 353 which I had assessed as the more likely bet went elsewhere).

Lot 353 – the railway outlined in this bill now forms part of a line that runs from London Waterloo to Reading.

CIGARETTE/ TRADE CARDS – LOTS 401-500

Nothing noteworthy happened in this section. The auction finished, it was still necessary to move the items from this sale upstairs and to bring the stock (save the very large stuff) for the next day’s sale downstairs.

TUESDAY – JAMES AND SONS PREMISES

Again an early arrival gave me time to do a bit before anyone else was there. I also had time for a few pre-auction photographs.

601 — The opening lot of the day as shown on the big screen.

The closing lot of the day as shown on the big screen (I had the slide show on a loop, so that after showing lot 1100 it started again at lot 601)

LOTS 601-900 – POSTAL HISTORY AND STAMPS

Although this was in absolute terms a quiet period, this items fared much better than usual. The headline grabber was lot 850, which had an estimate of £40-50 but sold in the end for £85.

COINS AND BANKNOTES – LOTS 901-1100

Lot 947, which was an 1809 Demi-Franc, had an estimate of £30-50, but some vigorous internet bidding pushed the price up to £130. Lot 980, a brass token from Long Sutton had an esimate of £8-12, but attracted sufficient interest to sell for £20.

Lot 947 (3 images). I do small coin lots on the scanner, at 600dpi and with the scan area set to A5 landscape, which means I can only use half the scanner bed, but this saves time in the end, as they scan more than twice as quickly than if I had used the full plate). This main image is the two scans (of each face of the coin) joined together to make a single image.

Lot 980 – the usual three images for a single coin.

The auction concluded, it remained to render the premises something that looked more like a shop and of course to ensure that the IT stuff got the racecourse, where the stock bar a dolls house that was still in the shop had already been laid out.

WEDNESDAY – FAKENHAM RACECOURSE

My first action an arrival the venue inadvertently caused a problem. I had been equipped with a key to the venue, as it was highly likely that I would be the first James and Sons employee on the scene. Unfortunately I had not been told that an alarm had been set, much less what the alarm code was. I only realised this when I unlocked the door and heard the telltale bleep of an alarm that needed to be deactivated. Fortunately that was the only significant problem I was to have in the course of the day. The fact that I had to use my employer’s laptop as the master machine because my machine has nowhere to attach the cable that connects the big screen to a computer and the third laptop was needed by my colleague for the invoicing (which apparently could only be done on that specific machine). The trouble with using my employer’s laptop as the main machine is that goes to sleep every few minutes, which in turn means that the slide show will go blank. I had time for a bit of photography.

ANTIQUES AND BYGONES – LOTS 1201-1300

Some of these items were very interesting. Two achieved significantly more than expected. Lot 1245 was a set of four world cup 1966 placemats and four world cup 1966 coasters which had been given a modest estimate of £5-10. They actually sold for £25. Lot 1252, which was a set of two railway themed badges which I had been interested in, estimated at £8-10, caught the attention of the internet and ended up going for £20.

Lot 1252 (five images, as the second badge is double sided, which had to be shown.

MILITARIA – LOTS 1301-1540

Most of the lots in this section found buyers, but not for very large amounts. There was one headline maker however. Lot 1520 was a Luftwaffe Paratrooper’s Private Purchase Dagger, estimated at £40-50, which ended up going for £85.

TOYS – LOTS 1541-1600

Again it was a case of steady rather than spectacular sales, but three items did particularly well. Lot 1547, a model train that had been valued at £5-10 ended up selling for £20 (it had been described as a Hornby, but was actually a Triang, a better name as far as collectors are concerned,). Lot 1590, which was a complete Hornby train set, and had been estimated at £20-30 went for £50. Finally, the last lot of the sale, a Star Wars Millennium Falcon estimated at £15-20 went for £30 (this was a case of patience being rewarded – the successful bidder was a chap who had travelled over from Norwich specifically to bid on that one item and waited out the entire day’s selling until it came up).

THE FINAL FURLONG

After the last lot had sold, and the last payment from a room bidder had been taken it was time for the clear up, which was accomplished swiftly. Back at the shop, once everything had been unloaded from the van I produced a printed list of online bidders to bring my working week to a close.

Auction Delayed

The rescheduling of an auction – a first in my time at James and Sons.

INTRODUCTION

Yesterday was the day on which James and Sons’ second August auction should have taken place. This post is about what actually happened.

TECHNOLOGY ISSUES

I arrived at Fakenham Racecourse precisely as planned, which was about the last occasion on that day that anything could be said to have gone to plan. We were slightly late getting things set up. Then my computer failed to connect to the racecourse’s internet as their set up is not secure enough for my computer’s liking. Another laptop having been located it then became apparent that we would not be able to run video, although the audio seemed fine.

Just after lot 923 went under the hammer we finally and definitively lost our audio as well. Discussion with the folks at the-saleroom.com, which included them being given remote access to one of our computers failed to resolve the situation, and after 15 minutes attempting to resolve the situation we decided that the only option was to postpone the auction, so on Friday 8th September at 10AM we will be having an auction at our shop which will start at lot 924 and end at lot 1600.

DAMAGE LIMITATION

Once the we had got the stuff back to the shop we got the auction officially rescheduled and I sent out a bulk email and a press release about the new auction. Here are both documents, and all the images used in their creation save for that of the record.

publicity — I know I got the date wrong on this one – I was very tired and failed to notice.

JAMES AUCTION ON SEPTEMBER 10TH JAMES AUCTION ALERT

Back to the Present: James and Sons June Auction

An account of James and Sons’ June auction.

INTRODUCTION

Having completed my series of posts about Scotland, I am now returning to the present with an account of James and Sons’ June Auction, which happened earlier this week.

THE AUCTION SCHEDULE

To set the scene for the rest of this post, the auction was arranged to run in two parts. Lots 1-600 went under the hammer at our own premises in central Fakenham on Monday June 26th, while lots 701-1300 were auctioned at Fakenham Racecourse on Wednesday June 28th. The Tuesday was set aside for getting things set up down at the racecourse, since experience had taught us that combining this with a day of auctioning at the shop was not a goer.

MONDAY 26TH – NORWICH STREET

The set up was accomplished fairly straightforwardly, and the sound and video checks went swiftly and easily. The auction got under way with 100 cigarette card lots, then 100 postcard lots, then some general ephemera, some numismatic and philatelic covers and ending with the stamps. The day started quietly, with the cigarette cards attracting very little interest and the postcards not much. It was the numismatic and philatelic covers that provided the only consistent sales of the day.

TUESDAY 27TH – SETUP DAY

We had loaded the first van load of stuff for the racecourse at the end of the previous week, so I headed straight from the bus to the racecourse to help unload that. This done and some stuff unloaded from the boss’s car it was back to the shop to load up the van for the second time. This van load then went to the racecourse without me, as I would be of more use working at the shop than down there. Then one of my colleagues was left alone at the racecourse and so I walked back down there to minimise the period for which this situation continued (the person who could drive the van was going to be at the shop for half an hour at least, and I could walk it in much less time than that). Finally, after a few final things had been brought down to the racecourse I got a lift back to the shop. At the end of the day I locked the shop, handed my key to a colleague who would need it on the morrow and headed home. Here are some pictures from the setup.

I was at the racecourse before my colleague arrived with a key, and this wagtail caught my eye while I was waiting.

Toys1 — We had a lot of toys in this auction.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 28TH –
THE RACECOURSE

This was a very tiring day. It was raining heavily most of the time, including for the entire duration of the walk from Fakenham town centre to the racecourse in the morning.

We had been assured by the racecourse that they now had working wifi, but this proved to be an optimistic assessment and we had to use a wired connection, which dropped out four times in the course of the day (fortunately never for very long).

Pre-auction — This was the scene immediately after I had carried out audio and video checks, as viewed from my seat.

The early lots passed quietly, but then with lot 633 the first tranch of toy lots went under the hammer, and the internet bidders got busy, with three figure prices the rule rather than the exception. The ‘Manod’ steam toys later on also sold spectacularly well. After a few books and related stuff went under the hammer it was time for a few jewellery lots, which also sold well. Then it was into the coins, which started with some proof sets which fetched remarkable prices.

LOT 933: THE BEST LAID PLANS OF
MICE AND MEN GANG AFT AGLEY

When you see the image gallery for this lot you will realise why I had had my sights on it to the exclusion of all else in this auction:

Unfortunately from a personal point of view I had competition, and although I bid up to £40, when that final bid of mine was topped I conceded defeat.

LOT 935: ROMAN STYLE COINS

Although these were not the genuine article I decided that at next to nothing they were worth securing as a tiny consolation for the disappointment of a few moments earlier.

935-a — …which is a combination of this…

935 - obverse — The first of two photos taken this morning.

The coins continued to sell well. After the coins it was time for some militaria. Lot 1051 fetched a good price, and then came lot 1052 fetching the only four figure price of the auction.

1052-a — Both faces of the medal, assembled from the close-ups below.

1052-d — Three images which combined as here show the rim in full detail (important as it is generally the rim that people look at when checking the authenticity of a medal – and this is definitely NOT done with a modern engraving machine – I have seen enough such to know whereof I write!)

1052 composite — This combination of the whole lot and all the close ups was the feature image in an alert sent out to militaria buyers (click the link below to view it in full).

JAMES AUCTION ALERT (Militaria)

The auction finished with 100 miscellaneous lots, which went fairly quietly, although even these attracted some interest. After Monday we had needed Wednesday to be a successful day, and it was.

For us there was still the clearing up to be done, but even that was accomplished sufficiently swiftly that I was able to get the 16:37 bus home. This departed late, but for an acceptable reason – the driver was resolving a situation created by another driver who was guilty of dereliction of duty – he had arrived from Wells, let off passengers, switched his destination to “Sorry Not In Service” and had then dashed off without picking up passengers. Stagecoach track their buses, and identified that this one had been parked up just outside Fakenham, and the rogue driver who by his selfishness had let down about 10 passengers was ordered back into service. This same thing had happened the previous day according to the waiting passengers except that he had got away with it, the passengers getting the later bus.

James and Sons March Auction

An account of James and Sons’ March auction with lots of photographs. Also a brief mention of the theme of my next blog post.

INTRODUCTION

James and Sons’ March auction took place on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, with the first two days taking place at our premises on Norwich Street, while the third took place at Fakenham Racecourse.

DAY 1: LOTS 1-500

I arrived at the shop at 8:30AM, the setup was accomplished with no serious hitches, and the sale got underway at 10AM as planned. The first lots to go under the hammer were coins, and a few of them sold well, with a large internet presence making up for the fact that we had very few people bidding live. After coins came banknotes and related epehmera, including the first Traveller’s Cheques to feature in a James and Sons auction. Here are some pictures of lots in this part of the sale…

Lot 254 (two images – the first Travellers Cheque lot)

255-b — Lot 255 (six images, the other Travellers Cheque lot)

The remaining lots to go under the hammer on day 1 were cigarette cards, Liebig cards and match attack cards. None of these fared especially well. I therefore end this section with a picture of one lot that did sell and will feature in much more detail in my next post…

Lot 369 went to me. My next post on this blog will be about what I shall be referring as Autism Acceptance Month in preference to the older, less expressive and misappropriated (I won’t name the culprits, but if you want a clue think blue jigsaw pieces) Autism Awareness Month, and I shall display these pictures in the context of talking about special interests.

DAY 2: LOTS 501-950

This was in many ways the most stressful of the three days, because in addition to the middle part of the auction it featured the setup at the racecourse to enable people to preview the third day lots in advance. The auction part of the day was very quiet, although there was one brief moment of excitement around lot 696, a Chinese stamp for which I do not have an image (I rarely do stamps these days because they are easy to scan and my time is better spent doing the more difficult imaging).

After the auction part of the day finished I helped with the unloading of items of the racecourse to be set up for the morrow, took some close up photographs of a couple of items that were needed to enable me to answer last minute queries and walked back to the shop (it takes about 15 minutes from the Prince of Wales Suite, the part of the racecourse where we hold our auctions) to edit the images and answer the queries. I also got a small amount of April imaging done before closing time (having arrived early to ensure that I had time to do the IT setup, and given the day that I knew to lie in store for me on the morrow I was not going to burning midnight oil, and when the last of my shop based colleagues finished his day at 3PM and I had seen him out I called it a day myself. Here are some pictures of the lots I was answering 11th hour queries about…

DSCN5315 — The first five of these images relate to lot 1142.

DSCN5320 — The remaining images relates to lot 1117 – a gun stock without the barrel which would have been stored inside it. Both these items sold for good money in the end.

DAY THREE: LOTS 951-1560

In view of the fact that the catalogue advertised viewing at the racecourse from 8AM I decided to get the first bus of the morning to Fakenham, which leaves King’s Lynn at 6:28AM. I was therefore outside the Prince of Wales Suite at about 7:30AM, and had to wait for someone else to arrive with a key to open it up. Still, while waiting I did get this picture:

With the setup accomplished, and knowing that all was working properly I could get some pictures from the venue (the first had actually been taken the day before):

The books at the near end of this shot did exactly as expected (those familiar with my opinions ion the subject of books at auction will have no difficulty working that one out).

Sadly this sledge failed to sell, largely because at the last moment the vendor put a reserve of £55 on it.

After a fairly quiet start to the day the militaria sold well and the toys/ collectors models also fared well. As on the first two days it was the online bidders (who by the end of the auction numbered some 350) who were responsible for most of the action. The auction finished, it remained to dismantle the sale, load the goods up and transport them back to the shop. This was accomplished just quick enough for me to get the 3:35 bus home. The third day more than made up for the comparative quietness of the first two. James and Sons next auction is on April 24, 25 and 26, with all three days happening at our shop on Norwich Street. Here are a few final pictures to conclude.

951 — This was the first lot under the hammer on day 3.

1110 — This lot was the subject of query that led to the taking of a number of extra images (the sale price justified the extra work many times over)

1301 — This was the first of toy/ collector’s model lots.

1458 — This little thing did not make big money (I will be collecting it and paying for both lots that I won when I go back to work on Tuesday).

Overcoming Hurdles For The November Auction

An account of final preparations for James and Sons’ November auction.

INTRODUCTION

James and Sons’ November auction takes place at Fakenham Racecourse tomorrow, which combined with the somewhat stressed preliminaries led to the title of this post.

A CHANGE OF VENUE

Firstly, a miscommunication led to this auction being held in the Long Bar rather than the Prince of Wales Suite. Then when we arrived at the venue with the items for auction (as the picture below shows this was a very full van load) it was in state of disarray.

The next hiccough was the necessity of running a long cable from a building with an internet connection into the Long Bar, which involved stretching it across a bit of road that was due to be used by caravans, but some metal supports of the type more usually used for putting up shelving came in handy to provide a secure guard for that bit of wiring…

Also, the Long Bar has a very antiquated heater, which had clearly not been used in a long time.

I had a picture to take to resolve a query and also located a lot that had not previously been imaged…

46-a — This was the image used to resolve the query.

I also in odd quiet moments got some pictures from the Long Bar, and on the way back to the shop took a few pictures through the open window of the van…

dscn7667 — This horse turned its head at the key moment, so the white flash down the front of its head is not visible here.

BACK AT THE SHOP

Back at the shop I had some big stamp lots for our December auction (on the 14th) to attend to, and was then required to buy some paper (there is a stationer down the road who sells plain A4 at £17 for five reams).

261 — The box with the books in had fallen to the floor shedding some of its contents, so had to be dealth with as a matter of urgency.

The September Auction and a Sneak Preview of Some October Items

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…

495 — This poster is definitely worth money.

551-a — 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…

698 — I particularly appreciated this poster and the next.

Trials and Tribulations

An account of recent events at James and Sons.

INTRODUCTION

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).

A TWO DAY AUCTION

An account of James and Sons auction on March 3oth and 31st, with some other stuff at the end.

INTRODUCTION

As the main part of this post, about James and Sons’ March auction (I am also sharing a few other bits at the end) develops it will become obvious why I am doing it now as one big post, and why I have posted very little these last few days.

PART 1: THE PRELIMINARIES (TUESDAY)

With the auction scheduled for Wednesday 30th (lots 1-699) and Thursday 31st (Lots 700-1051) the setup at the venue (The Prince of Wales Suite, Fakenham Racecourse) had to be accomplished on the Tuesday. This day did not require any earlier start than a regular work day would, and although a lot of heavy lifting was involved (a thousand plus lot auction, four people fit to do serious carrying) it was less draining than the other two days.

PART TWO: DAY 1 (WEDNESDAY)

I had to be at the venue by 8AM, which meant leaving my flat at 6:30AM to be sure of catching the 6:50 bus, to make sure that the IT setup was working and to assist with the viewing the precedes the sale. A couple of technical hitches at the start aside the day went smoothly. There were some great successes, although the flag that we had hoped would raise serious money did not attract a bid high enough to warrant selling it. The books tanked, as anyone with any experience of books at auction would have expected. Lot 466 fell to me, and lot 494, five volumes on Buildings of Scotland, found its way to East Rudham. Here are some pictures from day 1 at the venue…

This was still in the sky when I left my flat on the Wednesday morning!

Not one of ours – one the racecourse’s own pictures)

The view from the rostrum

The rostrum before the auction started.

This shell has been interestingly decorated, although it would still have looked better when it was on a turtle’s back.

The flag

A building frontage in Bridge Street, Fakenham that I had not previously noticed.

After the sale had concluded it was time to get the unsold lots from day 1 back to the shop (and they had to go on the top floor of the shop, including four plastic tubs full of back issues of Private Eye magazine). Then finally, work was done for the day.

PART THREE: DAY 2 (THURSDAY)

Fortunately I was able to set off an hour later than on the first day as although I would still have to do some preliminary IT stuff there were unlikely to be many viewers present (and indeed there weren’t). The internet was still very lively however, and a number of the early commemorative and proof coins on this second day sold exceptionally well. The stamps and postal history did not shine especially brightly. Lot 920, an Isambard Kingdom Brunel £2 set, went to me. The last lot went under the hammer just before 12:00, after which it was time for the clear-up. Once we had the first van load back at the shop we stopped for lunch, before doing the unloading, heading back to the racecourse for the last bits and getting them back. At this point there was a break from heavy lifting, during which I obtained a full printed list of those who had signed up to bid via http://www.the-saleroom.com, which ran to a James and Sons record 277 (paddle numbers 400-676 inclusive). There was a little bit more lifting to do before the end of my day, as it was necessary to get some stuff ready for loading for a collectors fair on the morrow. I have some pictures from day 2 as well…

One of theirs again!

This tapestry is also theirs.

Caravans parked where on race days there would be bookies.

Golfers in action, srrounded by the racecourse (hence no golf on racedays – a mishit shot might do more than frighten the horses!)

Che Simnor auditioning for the role of security guard!

An item on display in the shop.

The Fakenham Sign

A FINAL THOUGHT ON THE AUCTION

I have not previously been involved in running a two-day auction, and it was an incredibly tiring three days. However, the auction was very successful.

LOTS 466 AND 920

These were the two lots I bid on, and I got both. Both lots attracted my attention because of my special interest (in the best autism circles we do not use the word obsession) in railways (and indeed public transport generally – check out my website www.londontu.be).

LOT 466

This was a rail atlas of Britain, dating from around 1980 (Blake Hall station was open so it is pre-1982, but that whole section of the Central line – Epping– Ongar – was already being considered for closure), and it is very detailed, showing goods and passenger lines. Here are pictures, starting with the images that were available at auction and finishing with some later shots…

466 — This was the image that people saw during the auction – the front cover

466-a — The three images starting with this one were also available to internet viewers.

DSCN4229 — A picture showing the Ongar page – and note where the Chelmsford oage continues to…

DSCN4231 — The page from which this picture comes…

DSCN4232 — A new post in ‘stations’ on my website will be coming soon.

Witham — A joint pic of the images from pps 32 and 33 showing that the downright dishonourable “costs a Priti penny” Patel has nothing approaching a justification for claiming more in expenses than any other MP in the house – her constituency is hardly far-flung!

LOT 920

This was the Brunel £2 set, and I have the image that was available to auction followers, some images taken of it on display at the venue and some further images taken of it at home…

920 auction img — This image was one of the few at this auction not done me, hence the rookie mistake of showing an ‘obverse’ (just a portrait of a ridiculously over-privileged old woman), when the ‘reverse’ is the key face.

DSCN4228 — One of the reverses (still at the auction)

DSCN4248 — A picture taken at my workstation back at the shop

DSCN4254 — This one, showing both reverses and the accompanying info is an example of what the auction image should have looked like.

DSCN4255 — A close up of the ‘reverse’ showing Brunel in his top hat

DSCN4256 — a close-up of the other ‘reverse’, a pattern based on Paddington station

DSCN4264 — What the folder looks like closed.

HAIRPIN POINT – UNINTENTIONAL COMEDY FROM THE GOP

I have called this ‘Hairpin Point’ because it represents a switch in direction on this post away from anything connected with my work to other matters. To set the scene, here is a screen-dump from my email inbox:

The Gun Obsessed Plonkers (GOP for short) have made a spectacular blunder here:

As my email address surely indicates (it ends .co.uk after all) I am not American.
Even I was American the odds against me ever even voting for a Republican, let alone being a registered member would be of the order of zillions to one against.

How someone came to perpetrate a bloomer on this scale I do not know, but it did provide a laugh.

A FEW LINKS TO FINISH

First up from the Daily Mirror comes this story about how putting a kiss at the end of a letter was enough for the DWP to question the professionalism of an MP.

And at the very end, a link to a piece by Mike Sivier of Vox Political about what Labour is doing to attempt to save British Steel, and a follow-up link to a petition on the same subject that has already garnered more than the 100,000 signatures needed for a debate in Parliament:

Mike Sivier’s piece.
The petition (please sign and share to amp up the pressure on Scameron)

March Catalogue With The Printers

An account of yesterday at work and the current state of play as regards James and Sons March Auction.

INTRODUCTION

A brief post about two interlinked things – yesterday at work and the plans for James and Sons March Auction, which is at Fakenham Racecourse.

A TWO DAY SALE

Due the quantity of items we have received, we have over a thousand lots in this sale, so we will be conducting it over two days. The format for this auction will be:

Tuesday 29th March: Set up and viewing
Wednesday 30th March: Day 1 – lots 1-600 go under the hammer (the cut-off is after half-way as we can leave the stuff at the venue overnight).
Thursday 31st March: Lots 601-1050 and clear-up

The catalogue has been sent to the printers and will therefore be available shortly, and an online version should be ready for viewing by the end of the week.

IMAGING

Although the vast amount of stuff in this auction and lack of staff to image it has left us a little behind where we would like to be in that regard there are only about 200 lots in this sale for which we thus far have no image. I conclude this post with some of the best of yesterday’s images…

600 — The war that led to the creation of this silk map was one that I am proud to say that I virulently opposed, but the map itself is splendid.

921 — This was the lest lot O imaged yesterday.

For those interested in historic buildings, these five volumes which form lot 494 represent effectively a “Complete Guide to Scotland’s Historic Buildings”.

	Thomas on Northern Diamonds Finish On a…
	cindy knoke on Northern Diamonds Finish On a…
	We Finally Have A Ga… on The Biggest Upset In Men…
	Comrie 2024 –… on Scotland 2022: Homeward B…
	Thomas on 49

INTRODUCTION

GETTING THERE

A BRIGHT START

LOT 764 – A PHOTOGRAPHER’S TRIUMPH

UP TO THE BREAK

AFTER THE BREAK

INTRODUCTION

MONDAY – JAMES AND SONS PREMISES

LOTS 1-250 (POSTCARDS)

LOTS 251-400 – EPHEMERA

CIGARETTE/ TRADE CARDS – LOTS 401-500

TUESDAY – JAMES AND SONS PREMISES

LOTS 601-900 – POSTAL HISTORY AND STAMPS

COINS AND BANKNOTES – LOTS 901-1100

WEDNESDAY – FAKENHAM RACECOURSE

ANTIQUES AND BYGONES – LOTS 1201-1300

MILITARIA – LOTS 1301-1540

TOYS – LOTS 1541-1600

THE FINAL FURLONG

INTRODUCTION

TECHNOLOGY ISSUES

DAMAGE LIMITATION

INTRODUCTION

THE AUCTION SCHEDULE

MONDAY 26TH – NORWICH STREET

TUESDAY 27TH – SETUP DAY

WEDNESDAY JUNE 28TH – THE RACECOURSE

LOT 933: THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE AND MEN GANG AFT AGLEY

LOT 935: ROMAN STYLE COINS

INTRODUCTION

DAY 1: LOTS 1-500

DAY 2: LOTS 501-950

DAY THREE: LOTS 951-1560

INTRODUCTION

A CHANGE OF VENUE

BACK AT THE SHOP

INTRODUCTION

THE SEPTEMBER AUCTION

THE DAY OF THE AUCTION

INADEQUATE COVER

THE TALE OF THE HAMMER

THE CLEAR UP

SPOTLIGHT ON OCTOBER

INTRODUCTION

WEDNESDAY

TODAY

INTRODUCTION

PART 1: THE PRELIMINARIES (TUESDAY)

PART TWO: DAY 1 (WEDNESDAY)

PART THREE: DAY 2 (THURSDAY)

A FINAL THOUGHT ON THE AUCTION

LOTS 466 AND 920

LOT 466

LOT 920

HAIRPIN POINT – UNINTENTIONAL COMEDY FROM THE GOP

A FEW LINKS TO FINISH

INTRODUCTION

A TWO DAY SALE

IMAGING

WEDNESDAY JUNE 28TH –
THE RACECOURSE

LOT 933: THE BEST LAID PLANS OF
MICE AND MEN GANG AFT AGLEY