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.
This post arises from several issues: changes to the bus services in my region, and the way in which the company in question has handled those changes; a campaign that has recently come to my attention to restore rail links to Wisbech, and finally the fact that I have recently been in Sweden and thus privileged to see at first hand how a properly run public transport system works.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT SHOULD MEAN PUBLICLY OWNED TRANSPORT
The more I see of public transport (and as a 41 year old non-driver I see plenty) the more convinced I become that private companies should play no role in running it. Whether you consider the blatant failures such as the current situation involving Southern Rail, the high and increasing prices of tickets across the board or the frequency with public transport in Britain is affected by delays or suspensions of services, it is plain for all to see that private companies cannot do the job.
I regularly see people in Fakenham, where I work, who have missed a connection due to a late running bus. A missed connection means a loss of at least one hour, possibly more due to the infrequency of services.
A NOTE ON INTEGRATION
Those of you who are familiar with my London Transport themed website will have noticed that I am strong believer in integration of services, which is manifested on that site mainly by my suggestions for improvements to existing lines. Ideally all routes would be interconnected.
TWO CASE STUDIES
My first case study concerns…
STAGECOACH BETWEEN KING’S LYNN AND NORWICH
There have been two major changes on this route recently. Firstly, the service between Fakenham and Norwich has been halved (it is now hourly rather than half hourly), albeit with a couple of gaps in the service between Fakenham and King’s Lynn closed to make that a proper hourly service. The effect of the axing of half of the services between Fakenham and Norwich has been that for the first time standing passengers are a regular feature of that route. A week ago today the X8 designation vanished, the whole route now being referred to as X29. While there is a certain logic to taking this step, especially if it means that all Norwich-Fakenham buses go through to Lynn, the way in which it was handled earns Stagecoach a major black mark. Apart from messages on the screens at King’s Lynn bus station (the way I learned about it), this change was given no advance publicity, with the result that those passengers who do not use King’s Lynn bus station were caught on the hop, and even on Friday evening the sight on X29 to King’s Lynn was still capable of causing confusion with certain passengers.
THE TRAIN BETWEEN KING’S LYNN AND LONDON (WITH A SIDELIGHT ON PROPOSALS INVOLVING WISBECH)
The train service between London and King’s Lynn is hourly, and after a non-stop run to Cambridge it splits into two, with four coaches continuing north to King’s Lynn and four returning to King’s Cross. The necessity to be in the front four coaches if going beyond Cambridge can mean standing all the way to that station or even beyond (I have stood from London to Waterbeach at least once). I am aware that the restriction to four coaches beyond Cambridge is due to the shortness the platforms at some the intermediate stations, but there are least two possible solutions, and variations thereon:
In addition to the through services from London run regular (half hourly, or even quarter hourly) shuttle services between Cambridge and King’s Lynn). This (especially with the more frequent services) would mean that not everyone journeying between Cambridge and King’s Lynn or intermediate stations would need to board through trains at Cambridge – I for one would aim to make the return leg of a trip to Cambridge on one of the shuttles rather than a through service.
For points north of Cambridge have an interleaving of shuttle services as above with faster through services calling at only the stations with long platforms (Ely, Downham Market, King’s Lynn), so that services between London and King’s Lynn would consist of hourly through services, with changes at Cambridge, Ely or Downham Market as appropriate for intermediate stations) which would be augmented by shuttle services on the Cambridge-King’s Lynn section.
You will note that I have not even touched on the possibility of lengthening the platforms at Waterbeach, Littleport and Watlington so that eight carriage trains could call at those stations – I have merely mentioned the possibilities that do not require work on the existing infratsructure.
WISBECH RAIL LINKS
I found out about the campaign to bring the railways back to Wisbech via twitter. They have a website which gives considerable detail about their proposals. I conclude this post by aking use of one of more recent bargain basement acquisitions, this what Wisbech’s rail connections looked like in 1947…
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.
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.
An account of setting up for the auction that will be taking place Tomorrow and Thursday at Fakenham Racecourse, and some pictures from yesterday at Fakenham races.
INTRODUCTION
Today was setup day for the James and Sons auction that is taking place at Fakenham Racecourse tomorrow and Thursday (lots 1-699 tomorrow and lots 700-1050 plus clear-up on Thursday).
TWO VAN LOADS
This auction being so large, it required two trips with the van to get everything down to the racecourse. Then came the sorting out, and checking that everything was there. I also had some queries to resolve, which meant taking a few pictures before getting back to the shop, from where I could send the necessary emails. All is now set for tomorrow.
PICTURES
Although I had no opportunity to take pictures that I could use here while I was helping with the setup, I was at the racecourse yesterday for its primary purpose, and have some pictures from then…
Hints of blue in the sky
This shell is mounted on the wall behind the bar in Prince of Wales stand.
God’s promise not to send another universal deluge (or the bridge of Bif-rost if you prefer Norse mythology) – yes a splendid rainbow.This one is colour-boosted
This horse, Master Workman had my £2 on it and came second (rather better than my horses usually manage!)
This was my choice for the last race, but the favourite, Kayf Grace (but for a spelling change a doubly cricketing name – Mohammed Kaif, current Indian international and W G Grace) demonstrated precisely the bookies had her at 6-1 ON as she won by almost the length of the home straight.
An account of this weekend’s six nations action plus some pictures and some links.
INTRODUCTION
The third weekend of the six nations rugby tournament is done and dusted. As indicated in the title I also have some links and pictures to share.
THE SIX NATIONS
On Friday night Wales took on France at the Principality (nee Millennium) Stadium. Yesterday’s two matches featured Italy versus Scotland at Stadio Olimpico and England versus Ireland at Twickenham.
WALES V FRANCE
Wales came into this match with one win and one draw to their name, France with wins over Scotland and Italy (a record which flattered them – given a decent kicker Italy would have beaten them and they were not convincing in the second game either). The match was fairly close throughout, and not of the highest quality. The Welsh emerged victorious and thus temporarily sat at the top of the table.
ITALY V SCOTLAND
Since Italy were included in the tournament, making it the Six Nations, these two sides have accrued 14 wooden spoons between them (Italy 10, Scotland 4) and few would bet against one or other adding to that tally this year. Often of late Italy have come to grief in the kicking department (see above) so it was ironic that on a day when Kelly Haimona was flawless with the boot they were well beaten, and are now very likely to finish bottom.
ENGLAND V IRELAND
England came into this match having won both games, unconvincingly against Scotland in the Calcutta Cup match and very comfortably against Italy. Ireland, winners in 2014 and 2015 had started with a draw and a defeat. England dominated the first half but failed to register the points to reflect that, and when James Haskell got himself sin-binned (for the fifth time in his international career) defeat was more than a possibility. However England were only one point behind when Haskell was able to rejoin the action, and two converted tries in a short space of time thereafter put them 13 points ahead. Although Ireland pressed hard in the closing stages England had done enough and on the balance of play over the whole 80 minutes their victory was well deserved.
THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR
England now lead with three wins from three games, Wales are second, and France third, with Scotland currently fourth, Ireland fifth and Italy sixth. England and Wales face each other in their next match, and the winner of that will be a strong favourite for the trophy, with France likely to finish third. Ireland, Scotland and Italy are fighting out the bottom half of the table. Thus far the quality of the play has not been especially high.
PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE
After a big chunk of text, here are some pictures…
This is the frontage of the Royal Arcade, Norwich
The back of the Guildhall – the work is nearly complete.
LINKS
Although there are not that many of them I am splitting these links into sections, starting with:
A link to a very interesting piece about Asteroid 2013 TX68, accompanied by an image:
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Three links, and also three pictures, the latter showing how I have combined two metal badges to make a composite public transport badge. Since I am talking about public transport, here is a reminder of my London transport themed website, www.londontu.be on which I have already posted two of the links.
Citymetric expose in great detail the lack of a business case for the controversial garden bridge.
Following on from the previous link, change.org are running a petition against the building of the garden bridge – please sign and share.
Some details and images from James and Sons, and another mention of the Positive Autism Awareness Conference.
INTRODUCTION
Imaging for James and Sons’ March Auction (March 30th and probably 31st) is proceeding apace. I imaged the maps that from the bulk of this post a while back, although I am also including something from today.
A BINDER FULL OF ANTIQUE MAPS
These maps form a continuous sequence from lot 391-416 inclusive, and without further ado here are the pictures:
I am concluding this section with the images of a set of speedway badges mounted on canvas which have been divided into 10 lots. Here is a single image of the entire collection:
Here is the gallery of individual images, including some close ups of distinctive badges:
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
The images I have shared above are all for the March Auction, as previously stated, but James and Sons have auctions before that, our main February auction at the Maids Head Hotel, Norwich on the 24th, and a smaller auction taking place at our shop on 5 Norwich Street, Fakenham on the 25th. Full catalogues for both auctions are ready for viewing:
For the big auction on the 24th click here.
For the smaller auction on the 25th click here.
The March auction, at the Prince of Wales Suite, Fakenham Racecourse, is likely be a two day sale, on the 30th and 31st.
Since I have a ‘dates for your diary section’ I conclude this post with a reminder of the Postive Autism Awareness Conference taking place at the Dukes Head Hotel, King’s Lynn on April 15th, commencing at 9:30. I am reliably informed that tickets are selling like hot cakes. After the links below, a copy of the official poster is at the bottom of this post.
A brief account of yesterday;s episode of Antiques Road Trip, which featured both my home town and my employer. Also some photographs and some links.
INTRODUCTION
Although I do have a few other things to share this post is mainly concerned with yesterday’s episode of Antiques Road Trip, which happened to feature an auction at Fakenham Racecourse (which took place on April 29th 2015).
For those who watch, I am the person in the red jacket sitting next to the auctioneer.
This was the start of a new week, so we were introduced to the two experts and shown the car that they would be using first. Then the buying part of the episode happened, which features some excellent footage of King’s Lynn among other places.
The episode concluded, as they all do, with the auction. While I do not know much about what happened to these items after the auction I can tell you that following a couple of other unsuccessful outings the baker’s scales are still on the James and Sons van.
The program was well made, and even though I of course already knew which items were destined to be bought for sale at that auction, nevertheless it held my attention all the way through.
A PICTORIAL INTERLUDE
I mentioned that there was some good footage from King’s Lynn on yesterday’s episode of Antiques Road Trip, and here some photos from King’s Lynn…
St Nicholas Chapel, taken in AugustThe Corn Exchange, also from AugustThe Custom House, from AugustTaken yesterdayTaken yesterdayTaken yesterdayOne of three images of the flag flying above King’s Lynn station, all taken yesterdayThe Red Mount Chapel, taken yesterday
Taken yesterdayTaken yesterdayIt is not often that a poll produces this result! – the story was about a Tory lord who was claiming that their daily allowance was insufficient!The front of the Duke’s Head Hotel where the Positive Autism Awareness Conference will be happening on April 15th.
WWW.LONDONTU.BE
I conclude this post by sharing a few recent posts connected with my London transport themed website:
The story of a failed pair of spectacles, plus a few other bits.
INTRODUCTION
This post covers the new glasses in the title, a day at the races and a new badge.
THE GLASSES
This is a story that spans some months. First one arm came off the frame (and as the picture at the end of this section will show, refixing it properly was an impossibility). Then the second arm detached itself in the same way. I visited the Eye Man, an independent optician in Fakenham, to see what he could do, and as a proper repair job was impossible he did a band-aid job for which he did not charge.
That band-aid job then ceased to function properly, so eight days ago I obtained my prescription from Specsavers and took it to the Eye Man to have a new pair made. The Eye Man had an unexpected delay receiving a delivery, so it was only yesterday that I was able to pick up the new glasses, which by the way are a great success. In the mean time, the old frame developed one final problem at the tail-end of its working life – the frame had slightly warped, so that the left lens was no longer tightly held – and fell out several times.
I conclude this section with a picture of the defunct pair of glasses…
A DAY AT THE RACES
New Year’s Day was a race-day at Fakenham. I was staying at East Rudham, there being no buses, and attended along with several other family members. My mother had two huge wins, which between them left her some £200 in credit for the day (even though she paid for day memberships for all five of us), and all of us save one had a win somewhere along the way. I have some pictures from the day…
The Prince of Wales Suite (rather more crowded than for a James & Sons auction) and Tote tower.A packed house in the grandstand (we were watching from the other side of the course, having crossed early to save a bit of time getting out)Fakenham church tower in the distance.
That evening my nephew set off some sparklers in the courtyard…
THE BADGE
Yesterday was my first day at work in 2016, and a colleague gave me an old badge (I had earlier given him one of my calendars) which he had got hold of. As a public transport user and proud supporter of Bring Back British RailI was delighted with this…
An account of last night’s presentation at Fakenham Racecourse.
INTRODUCTION
The first Great Centenary Charity Auction was held on June 28th 2015, and the Centre for Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London benefitted to the tune of £20,000. The second auction, for which we have already received some donations, will take place on June 29th 2016. This post is about an event that took place last night at Fakenham Racecourse which was simultaneously a presentation of certificates for those who had contributed to the success of the first auction and the official launch of the second.
GETTING THERE
The journey there was uneventful, and I arrived very early, having walked direct from Oak Street where the bus drops off down to the racecourse. Once I had located the event, which was happening at a…
NEW VENUE
Rather than use the same venue that had been used for the auction, we were in the newly opened Cool Roxy Owners and Trainers Bar (named in honour of one of the most famous horses to have raced this course).
Within the bar was a nice display which served as a backdrop for the presentations.
The bar itself had some very interesting features…
Because we had the great good fortune to have the head of The Royal British Legion, John Crisford, taking part in the presentation we also had a standard bearer…
THE PRESENTATIONS
Auctioneer and Director of the Great Centenary Charity Auction David James told everyone the names and a bit about each person who was collecting a certificate, and they received their certificates and posed for a photo (one of the pictures of someone posing with their certificate looks different from the rest because the official photographer could not do the photograph of himself!).
SOME CLOSE UPS OF IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS
Here are some of the more important documents for you to see…
A hi-res scan of the certificate.The flyer for the auctionInfo about the Blast Injury Studies CentreEarly donations for auction II
A SMALL MISHAP ON THE WAY HOME
The plan had been that since there are no buses running from Fakenham late enough for me to get home under my own steam my parents would give me a lift back, but they forgot. Thankfully, a very helpful member of staff at the Bull on Bridge Street was able to locate a taxi, and my parents covered the fare for me. By the time I made it home I was too knackered to check and edit the photos, so I attended to that at 6:30 this morning, before setting off for work. I will conclude this post with a few mor pictures that are tangentially connected to its subject matter…
aspiblog 