A post about my recent return to work and some of things associated with it.
Regular followers of this blog will be well aware that I had a very serious illness in 2018 (I put up various posts about this). This post tells the story of my path back to work (albeit on a very part time basis).
A False Dawn – Winter 2019 to Spring 2020
By the time a year had elapsed since the worst of my illness I was thinking about the possibility of returning to work, but I did not feel that winter was the right time (some long term lung damage and a compromised immune system influenced this). The plan which my employer was fully on board with was that I would return in April 2020. Then of course the covid-19 pandemic hit, preventing any possibility of a return to work at that stage. However, on July 1st of this year I returned to work on a one day per week basis…
PUBLIC TRANSPORT NIGHTMARE
At the time of my illness Lynx Bus had taken over the services between King’s Lynn and Fakenham (the town where I work), and at the time of my illness they had been starting to provide a proper service. Unfortunately, as I discovered when checking out bus times for my return I discovered that the pandemic had reduced their services to skeleton levels, and to date that has not changed. James and Sons open their doors between 10AM and 3PM. There are three options, all far from ideal for getting into Fakenham in the morning: 7:00AM direct bus, gets to Fakenham at 7:49, leaving me a couple of hours to kill in Fakenham, leave at the same early hour and go via Hunstanton and Wells, arriving in Fakenham at 9:30, or 10:00, getting to Fakenham at 10:50. Of these three only the latter is really practicable as a route in. Getting home is worse still: there is no direct bus between 1:00PM and 6:00PM. Therefore I board the 3:00PM bus and take the scenic route back to Lynn (Fakenham – Wells – Hunstanton – Lynn), usually arriving home at about 5:45PM. It is these issues with travel that prevent me from committing to more than one day per week.
PRESS RELEASES
The auction of August 31st and September 1st 2021 was notably successful. I put out a press release about lots 1 and 2, two Steven pennies, which went for £700 and £900 respectively.
Many other items sold for huge money at that auction. A gold bracelet of Egyptian pattern attracted particularly vigorous bidding, going for £1,150, while a gold hunter watch went for £600, and a pair of diamond earrings fetched over £400. Here are some the images of lots that sold well…
Lot 613 – a pair of diamond earrings which fetched over £400
Lot 614 (two images).
Lot 619, the star of the auction (two images)…
These Chinese postcards replicating bonds went for £420.
Lot 151 attracted vigorous bidding.
Lot 152 attracted some vigorous bidding.
Lots 1 and 2 (last four images)
RECENT IMAGING
My most recent imaging has been for our October auction, in which a number of swagger sticks feature…
Three images minimum per swagger stick – the whole stick at an angle of about 45 degrees, a close up of the military insignia and a composite like this.
THE SEPTEMBER AUCTION
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week James and Sons had a two day stamp auction. By and large things went well. I was a successful bidder on three lots – 663 (French railway stamps, hammer price £5), 892 (Benham mini FDCs, railway themed, hammer price £18) and lot 936 (Channel Tunnel opening FDCs with certificates of authenticity, hammer price £8). I did not originally image these lots, but have done so in great detail since taking possession, and I end this post with those images…
My original scan of lot 663…
The edited version of the entire lot
Individual images of each stamp, extracted from the original and edited as required.
As well as the four pieces mentioned in the title I have some pictures to share.
TORY ELECTION FRAUD
Although the Biased Bull****ting Conservatives (BBC for short) are still not giving this story much coverage, and have had the cheek on one of the rare occasions when they did cover it to use the word ‘mistake’, which is one thing it most certainly was not, other sources including Channel 4 have been giving it proper coverage. The Skwawkboxblog, noted for the regularity with which it beats mainstream media to the breaking of stories, and this piece, under the title “THE ‘LONGEST CONFESSION NOTE IN HISTORY’? CONHOME ADMITS WHAT CCHQ WANT TO HIDE”. The image below links to the piece on Skwawkbox.
THE #GIDIOT
The piece by David Hencke that I link to at the end of this section details yet more public transport problems facing Britain, and especially northern Britain. It is titled “Is George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse about to hit the buffers?” Many of my readers will already be aware that the Downright Dishonourable Member for Tatton (in Cheshire), aka the #Gidiot, aka Gideon George Oliver Osborne has just been named as the new editor of the Evening Standard, a purely London based newspaper. Before providing the link, as usual by way of an image, I shall give in bullet form my objections to this latest example of Westminster and mainstream media getting cozy (btw although I firmly believe that Osborne should not be allowed to be both MP and newspaper editor, I can’t help wondering whether if he arrogantly stays on as MP he might not end up making what in view of his constituency I shall call a ‘Hamiltonian’ exit from parliament – unfortunately Tatton does seem to get more than its fair share of bad ‘uns!).
REASONS WHY AN MP SHOULD NOT BE AN EDITOR
One of the concerns highlighted in the Leveson Report was a degree of unacceptable closeness between the press and Westminster. In view of this it should not be possible for a current MP to also be a newspaper editor.
Conflict of interest several ways – between the role of MP and that of editor, between his southern based newspaper and his northern constituency, and between his role as editor and the several other important roles that he has had the arrogance to take.
It demonstrates contempt for his constituents by yet further reducing the amount of time he can spend attending to them.
Additional to the above, the Downright Dishionourable Member for Tatton has zero qualification for the task of editing a newspaper.
Click on the image below to read the David Hencke piece.
Picture of Great Bentley station by Ben Brooksbank
STANDING UP TO A MEDIA MOGUL
From a newly minted media menace to one of much longer standing, namely Rupert Murdoch – embedded below is a video from 38 Degrees titled “How to stand up to a media mogul”. It is very short – enjoy!
SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE
I recognize that this is a thorny issue. I will start by making two things clear:
The future of Scotland should be decided by the Scots.
Extending from my first point, while as a Sassenach I can express no personal opinion on whether Scotland should or should not vote for independence I can say for a certainty that if I was a Scot I would be voting for independence.
My link in this section is to an STV piece titled “Sturgeon refuses to rule out wildcat independence vote”, and I link to it by means of an image.
PICTURES
These pictures were all obtained by means of the scanner. These are pictures of 18 hammered coins which will be going under the hammer in April, and other than myself you are the first people to see them.
An account of the ,last four days, some pictures, some links, and a special science and nature section.
INTRODUCTION
This post, which comes with plenty of pictures and some cracking links, covers what I have been doing over the course of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Each of these days was very different in character from its predecessor. The links will be in two parts, a couple appearing between Wednesday and Thursday, and the remainder florming a special science and nature section at the end of the post.
TUESDAY
A day at James and Sons getting as many images done as possible before the catalogue for our next auction went online (here, for those who would like to see it). This day went fairly quietly and without any major incidents. Here are some general pictures…
My second set of images for this day consists of coins and small medallions…
There are a number of these tokens from the gigantic wheel at Earls Court – I am planning to feature the entire selection (eight lots) in a post on my London transport themed website, possibly linking to the present by means of another substantial wheel.
WEDNESDAY
On Wednesday I started the day by typing up the minutes from NAS West Norfolk’s last committee meeting (as branch secretary this is one of my regular tasks). The in the afternoon I attended a meeting of the West Norfolk Disability Forum, which came with a little extra pressure as the branch chair of NAS West Norfolk could not arrange childcare which left me as NAS West Norfolk’s sole representative at the meeting. I found the meeting disappointing – many things talked about but little sign of any real progress having been made.
INTERLUDE – A COUPLE OF LINKS
Most of my links will feature at the end of this post, but there are two I choose to share here to break things up a bit:
AUTISM AWARENESS CUP 2017
Following the success of last year’s inaugural Autism Awareness Cup, a second event is being staged this year, on June 4th at Ingoldisthorpe Social Club between 12 and 5PM. A facebook page for this event has been launched – please click the graphic below to visit, and if you are on facebook, like the page:
HEATHER HASTIE ON A TELEVANGELIST
Heather Hastie’s blogis always worth reading, and this post, about a chap by the name of Jim Bakker, is no exception.
THURSDAY – SPARKS FLY
I had just started work on Thursday morning when I looked at my computer and noticed that the power had gone (I was taking photographs, so all the computer was on ready for editing them later, I was not yet using it). It soon transpired that none of the computers or heaters had power (the lights being on a different circuit did). One of my colleagues tested a particular plug socket that was most likely to have caused the problem, and it proved right (fortunately although shaken he was not seriously hurt, though we were all worried at the time). We then used a long extension lead to connect to the only spare socket available, which brought things to life for a few moments, before (as it transpired), the extension lead proved unable to cope with the amount of power it was having to transmit.
The plug socket that started it all after it had been proved to be faulty.
With no possibility of using the computers that day, the two people who were committed to remaining at work there for the day (the other person directly involved in the drama went back to working at his computer repair business) took as many photographs as possible, and it being fiendishly cold without any source of heat, gained permission to lock up a bit early. It was also in the course of this day that I took custody of a key to the shop.
Although editing and uploading them was for obvious reasons my first work activity of Friday, here are some pictures from Thursday…
This is lot 650, and the first of its kind I have ever seen – as a collection of cheese spread labels (not even real cheese!)
A collection of 15 pictures if old London – lot 706
For the Shakespearians among you, lot 725
Match boxes, some whole and some in parts.
This set and the next were kin old cigar boxes.
FRIDAY – CALM AFTER THE STORM
I arrived at work on Friday morning and was delighted to see that the electrician was just finishing up, and that discussion about having a serious look at the electrics at some lpoint in the future were taking place (much needed – looking back the only real surprise about Thursday’s incident was that it had taken so long for it to happen).
Nevertheless, the amount of new work I accomplished on Friday was somewhat reduced, first by having to finish Thursday’s work, then by having to a bulk upload of previously created images due to mishap oin the original uploading process which meant that most of the last thousand lots were showing with no images and finally by having to make a trip to the post office, where it took the person handling our parcels 40 minutes to do the job (at least three times as long as it should have). Here are some of the new images that I did mange to create and upload…
A SCIENCE AND NATURE SPECIAL
We start with two sides of a story that may or may not be one of the most significant achievements in science history – if the experiment can be successfully duplicated a Nobel prize is a certainty. Here, courtesy of www.independent.co.uk comes…
THE PRODUCTION OF METALLIC HYDROGEN?
First of all, the story of the claimed discovery, complete with video footage:
Please click the link below to read (and below that is the video)…
This then is still to be resolved, unlike the subject matter of my next link, which deals with…
THE EXTINCTION OF THE DINOSAURS
I have already shared a link to this piece, from space.com, but I consider it worth sharing again. To read this fascinating piece please click the graphic below:
Still dealing in the spectacular, we come to a post about…
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS
The science blog rationalisingtheuniverse has produced a post about this phenomenon which you can read by clicking on the graphic below:
We finish with links to two pieces on a theme that is always relevant and still does not the kind of coverage it should…
PROTECTING NATURE
First in this section, a video with an accompanying petition, regarding a serious threat tko wildlife in Cromarty:
I end this post with a link to a 38 Degrees campaign, which I encourage you all to look at:
An illustrated account of James and Sons’ first three day auction.
INTRODUCTION
On Monday, Tuesday and Yesterday my employers staged their first ever three-day auction, all three days of the sale taking place at our shop in Fakenham. This post describes the event.
DAY 1: COINS, BANKNOTES, BANKING EPHEMERA AND MILITARIA
There were a few technical issues early on, and we had to dispense with the live video because it just would not work. However, with close to 200 online bidders (this tally rose past 300 before the end of the auction on Wednesday) signed up before the sale started and a few people there in person it was not long before good things started happening. The first and biggest headline maker was…
LOT 22
This 1863 penny caused an internet dominated bidding battle which finally stopped at £1,200 (the estimate had been £250-300, and the bidding had started around that level). The successful bidder then telephoned in to clarify whether he could return the item if it turned out not to be as expected. This led to a tricky photographic assignment for yours truly. Looking at the pictures below can you see what is unusual about the dating on thkis coin?
I took a photo of the whole coin (for this I needed a larger image than I could get by scanning), and produced from that two full face pictures and two pictures focussing only the date.
THE REST OF THE COINS
Although nothing else approached lot 22 the coins did continue to sell fairly well. I will feature one more lot, which although it did not reach great heights was contested…
LOT 141
This was a Lima Tramways Inauguration token. Two people were interested, myself and an internet bidder. When the online bidder went to £20 over my £18 I conceded defeat (I had decided that I was not going beyond £20 and adhered to that decision). In addition to the obvious public transport connection, there is also a more obscure and tenuous cricket related connection: Lima was also the birthplace of Freddie Brown, who went on Jardine’s 1932-33 ashes tour without being picked for a test match and captained the touring party for the 1950-51 ashes. Here is the image gallery for this lot to commemorate my near miss:
The main image for this lot consists of two 600dpi scans (one of each face) joined together.
I also keep the individual images so that interested parties can look at each individual face if they so desire.
THE BANKNOTES AND BANKING EPHEMERA
The banknotes fared well, while the experiment with banking ephemera (mainly but not entirely cheques) cannot yet be judged – more of the stuff will be going under the hammer at our next auction.
MILITARIA
The militaria was again largely successful. In a pattern of consistent successes there was one stand out, early in the section. The star of this second half of day one was…
LOT 309
This lot, a Free Polish Airforce pilots badge and RAF Dingley escape whistle with an estimate of £80-95 eventually sold for £320.
FINISHING THE FIRST DAY
After the end of the first day at lot 550 the stuff for that part of the sale had to be moved upstairs and the stuff for day two brought down into the shop. My involvement in this process and the fact the we had finished later than expected meant that I did not get any imaging done before going home.
INTERLUDE – ON IMAGING
This post has featured scanning and photography, so here is a brief guide to myt appraoch to imaging at work:
I scan the following items:
Coins – 600dpi, scan each face, brighten the images (this both improves the clarity of the image, and since I have also adopted the policy of using a white background, effectively eliminates the background) and join the two images together to create the master image). I can image up 20 single coin lots at a time in this way, and the scanner I use works fast even at high resolution.
Stamps – 300-400dpi according to the level of intricacy of the pattern. Small stamps usually have an automatic black background because of the holders that are used. Usually I image these lots four at a time, but occasionally if the stamps are particularly suitably placed in the holders I can do more.
Postcards – 200-300 dpi according to time considerations. When there has been a real hurry on I have got away with scanning postcards at 150dpi, but I do not recommend going this low. The bed of my scanner is big enough for four standard size postcards, and in general if I have more cards than that in a lot I photograph rather than scanning.
Banknotes and related items – 200dpi is usually right for these.
Small ephemera: Any printed item that is A4 or less in size can be scanned. These items can be done at 150dpi.
All items not in the above list are photographed, and for items in the above list the decision to scan is dependent on small size – I do not for example lay out the contents of a huge box of coins on the scanner bed and scan.
DAY 2: POSTCARDS, EPHEMERA, FILM POSTERS, CIGARETTE & LIEBIG CARDS
A slightly fractious start to the day, as it was still not possible to run the video. Also, due to the confusion caused by frantic attempts to find a way to run the video the first couple of lots went under the hammer without audio either.
THE POSTCARDS
There was no danger of any of these not selling because one of our regulars had left a block of bids on all of them, and some ended up going to other people.
EPHEMERA AND FILM POSTERS
These as might be expected were fairly quiet, although even they did not completely bomb – some decorated menus sold reasonably well.
THE CIGARETTE AND LIEBIG CARDS
The big news from these lots was that the majority actually sold. Near the end there was a very minor controversy concerning…
LOT 789
This was the second and last lot ion the catalogue that was of personal interest to me. I opened the bidding at £16, and as I as recording this information an internet bit for the same amount registered. James and Sons policy on the matter is clear – a room bid has privilege over an internet bid. I thus pressed the ‘room’ button on the console to disallow the internet bid. The item was then knocked down at £16. Just in case the unlucky internet bidder is reading this, they would have had to go to £22 to get the item, since I was adhering to the same policy that I had adopted with regard to lot 141 – I was prepared to go to but not beyond £20. As a further point please note that had I secured lot 141 I would not have bid on this item. When I have been through it in detail I will produce a full post about this item, but for the moment here are the official images:
The whole item.
Close focus on some of the cards.
THE SWAP OVER
The moving of items so that the setup was ready for day 3 was swiftly accomplished, and having done fewer lots and the auction having run more smoothly there was plenty of time for me to finish the day with some…
FEBRUARY IMAGING
The February auction will be another three day affair, but with an extra twist – days 1 and 2 will be at the shop again, but day 3 (A Wednesday again) will be at The Maids Head Hotel in Norwich. Here are some of the images I produced on Tuesday afternoon…
Please do not draw any conclusions from the fact that I have included images of third Reich coins in this post!
DAY 3: STAMPS, FIRST DAY COVERS AND POSTAL HISTORY
The day started with a wait outside the shop as the colleague who was opening up was delayed, continued with a quick trip to get a replacement strip bulb because one was shining a very ugly shade of pink but the setupo went smoothly, and the auction proceeded with no problems. These lots were not expected to generate bidding fireworks, but a reasonable number of them did actually sell.
There was no immediate need to transfer the stuff, so I was able to do other work, starting with…
SOME HIGH VALUE FEBRUARY IMAGING
These needed to be done first as some would be featuring in the print catalogue…
This is about the biggest coin lot that could be sensibly scanned.
I departed from usual policy with banknotes and scanned this one at 600 dpi because it is a very rare item.
After lunch and a quick trip to the stationer for a box of paper I did some more ordinary imaging…
A repeat of my earlier disclaimer re images of stuff from the third Reich.
This whole set of 25 lots of Liebig cards had to be imaged – I have selected a range rather than sharing all 25.
CONCLUSION
James and Sons’ first three day auction was definitely a success. The use of the shop as a venue massively reduces overhead costs, and the fact that we can only seat a few people there is no great disadvantage. February’s auction, on the 20th and 21st at the shop and then the 22nd at the Maids Head Hotel, Norwich will provide an interesting comparison. I end this post with some pictures of the layout on the first two days of the January auction (day 3 did not warrant a picture):
Most of the lots were laid on or under this table
The small, high valued stuff such as coins was in this display cabinet.
Day 2, followed by a couple of close ups (day three was not worth photographing).
Pictures from the last few days, an important video and petition link.
INTRODUCTION
I have a variety of pictures and links to share with you.
IMAGES FOR THE NOVEMBER AUCTION
These images are from yesterday.
I took two lpictures of this fort, lot 419, onje with the drabridge down and one with it up. It also disassembles readuly, with a drawer in the base for putting the bits in when it is not in use.
Lot 598 – a selection of interesting beer mats – I made a display of the best ones, keeping the box with the rest inside it in shot.
NEW SEAT DESIGN CELEBRATES PIONEER AUTOBIOGRAPHER MARGERY KEMPE
Margery Kempe was born and raised in King’s Lynn (one of her former abodes was on the site now occupied by 117 High Street. For more about her check out this link. The seat design is for the Saturday Market Place, which happens to be pretty much on the doorstep of the formed abode of hers mentioned above. Here is a picture:
TIMES CARTOONIST NAILS IT
The picture below is The Times cartoonist’s take on our current Prime Minister:
A PHOTOGRAPHIC WALK
These are a staple of this blog, and I offer you these pictures from Monday:
CAMPAIGN FOR CLEANER AIR IN BRISTOL
Bristolians are campaigning over pollution levels in their city, and deserve wider support. Below is a video, followed by a link to a 38 Degrees petition:
An account of james and Sons’ September auction, with a spotlight on the October auction.
INTRODUCTION
James and Sons’ September auction took place this Wednesday at Fakenham Racecourse, while apart from on that day my recent work has mainly been focussed on the October auction (Wednesday 26th, Maids Head Hotel, Norwich.
THE SEPTEMBER AUCTION
I was not involved with setting this auction up on the Tuesday due to having other work to do back at base, but I did make a flying visit to the racecourse that day to resolve some queries that people had raised at the last minute about auction items (one potential customer wanted an image that had been missed and another wanted a detailed condition report on pair of vintage spectacles – the fact that both items sold to the customers who had made the inquiries was final proof that their queries had been resolved). That just left…
THE DAY OF THE AUCTION
My work day did not get off to the best of starts, because I fell victim to a recent timetable change and arrived at the racecourse a little later than I would have liked (I now have a copy of the timetable that will come into force from this Sunday). Fortunately there were no serious issues with the IT, and the auction started on time.
INADEQUATE COVER
With the auctioneer needing regular breaks from the rostrum, and the only person capable of substituting for him being also the only person who could substitute for my role on the rostrum I was at my post while the first 650 lots went under the hammer, finally getting to consume my sandwiches at 2:20PM, before resuming my post for the last 50 or so lots (the auction ended at lot 781). This, combined with the heavy lifting work at the end, made for an exhausting and stressful day.
THE TALE OF THE HAMMER
The auction began with banknotes and coins, which fared pretty well overall. Then there were a large number of stamp lots, which predictably enough did not attract huge attention (www.the-saleroom.com while good for many things are poor on stamps, and there were not many people there in the room). After that there were a variety of different items, some of which sold well. In among the medley of items in this middle and latter part of the auction was lot 461, four decorative plates produced by Coalport, all in their original boxes with paperwork. This might not sound like the kind of lot to catch the photographer’s eye, but the the images below may provide some explanation…
My opening bid of £12 proved sufficient to secure the items (I had prepared for the possibility of success by bringing a stout, empty, fabric bag with me to transport them).
The auction ended with some ‘Bradbury’ stamp pages, which may as well not have gone under the hammer at all since by then there was no one left in the room save staff.
Overall it was a successful sale.
THE CLEAR UP
While two of my colleagues took a few items to our storage unit near the village of Syderstone (principally the rostrum and the stools that we sit on behind it) I moved as much stuff as I could (almost all of it) over to the door so that it could be loaded straight on to the van once they were back. The van duly loaded it was time to head back into town, and thanks to my colleague dropping me on Oak Street I was just able to catch the 16:38 bus home. The bus to work yesterday morning was 20 minutes late leaving King’s Lynn, so by the time I arrived there were a mere five boxes of stuff left to carry in to the building, a task I accomplished in not much more time than it took the kettle to boil for my coffee.
SPOTLIGHT ON OCTOBER
Wednesday apart, since September 15 I have been engaged on a major project at work – describing and imaging a vast number of posters – a task that is not quite finished, but which is responsible for almost 250 lots so far. The first 230 or so of these lots were film posters, ranging in size from a colossal 40 inches by 30 to 16.5 inches by 16.5. Here are a few examples…
This poster is definitely worth money.
This is an example of a double sided poster – one side facing inside, the other with mirror writing on it designed to show in a passing driver’s mirror.
Yesterday, after a few more film posters I finally got some variety…
I particularly appreciated this poster and the next.
Continuing my account of my holiday in Sweden with a virtual tour of the Uppsala University Museum.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the next installment of posts about my recent holiday in Sweden. This post picks up where my previous one left off, heading into this building:
The outside of the University Museum
INSIDE THE MUSEUM
The Uppsala University Museum (students get in free), also known as the Gustavianum is housed in the oldest university building in Sweden. If you approach the museum as I did and start at the bottom and work your way up, the first exhibits you encounter are from the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans:
This object sits in the entrance hall.
It is a very minor quibble, but the red background is too strong a colour and therefore detracts somewhat from the coins themselves. Having produced images of a very large number of coins I have arrived at the conclusion that a white background, so that all the eye sees in the picture is the coin or set of coins is best.
The next two floors are taken up with items of various kinds from the more recent past…
The world’s first commercially successful portable computer – our ideas of portability have changed somewhat since then, as has the storage capacity of such machines!
This picture and the next combined to form
This picture
After these treasures it was time to see the inside of the dome – a perfectly preserved anatomy theatre…
Students would have stood in rows around the room, while the corpse that was being anatomised would be spread out on the table.
The last exhibits that I saw were those relating to the Vikings…
A somewhat delayed account of Monday and Tuesday, with plenty of photos.
INTRODUCTION
A few brief commenst and some pictures.
AUGUST IMAGING
I havce made sure that nothing big has been left unimaged, with my flgiht out to Sweden now only three days distant. Here are a few imaghes from the last couple of days…
AN EMPHATIC ENGLAND WIN
Although for various reasons I did not catch much of the action in the second test match betwen England and Pakistan I congratulate England on responding in emphatic style to their defeat in the first match. While I consider the decision by Cook not to enforce the follow-on when looking at a first innings advantage of 391 to be bizarre, at least his team still managed to win. Possibly the most red-faced captain of all time over a decision not to invoke the follow-on was the Hon Freddie Calthorpe who in the final match of the 1929-30 series in the West Indies declined to do so with an advantage of 563 on the grounds that the match was scheduled to played to a finish. Unfortunately for him a combination of the weather and England’s return journey caused the match to be abandoned as a draw anyway. Six years earlier in a county game Calthorpe had suffered a different kind fo embarrassment when his Warwickshire side made 223 in their first innings, bowled out Hampshire for 15, and had them 177-6 after following on. Hampshire then made a spectacular recovery to reach 521 in that second innings, with Walter Livsey who had only reached even double figures three times in the course of the season before then making a century at no 10, and bowled a dispirited Warwickshire out for 158 in the second innings. Back to the present, and in the test match that finished yesterday evening Joe Root had the kind of match which had it been presented as fiction would undoubtedly have been laughed out of the publishers office – 254, 71 not out, four catches in the first Pakistan innings, and when given a bowl late in their second innings he picked up a wicket with his second ball!
SOME FINAL PHOTOGRAPHS
I conclude this post with a few non-work related pictures:
Highlights from today at work, a mention of yesterday, a comment on the Melania Trump story and lots of pictures.
INTRODUCTION
This post is about today at work and a couple of other things.
TODAY AT WORK
Apart from the fact that it is so hot that for the first time in over three years as a James & Sons employee I went to work in shorts, the things I did at work covered three areas…
RESOLVING QUERIES RELATING TO THE JULY SALE
These numbered five, one of which was a repeat question therefore requiring no new work. Nos 2 and 3 which I will treat together featured a mishap over coin lots, which I was easily able to sort out, by producing and uploading the following images:
Lot 28 was an incorrect image, and he wanted to see both faces
Lot 29 was incomplete rather than wrong – now resolved.
Query no 4 related to a medal – someone wanted to see pictures of the rim, which are fiendishly difficult to produce, but I came up with these…
The final query was more involved, requiring detail as to whether the item was still in working order, and more info about its provenance. To help with this I produced these images:
The main bulk of my day’s work was…
IMAGING FOR THE AUGUST SALE
There were some interesting items today and a decent variety. I will start with the non-coin items…
This box of matches may be sufficiently old that they are not so safe as ton be impossible to strike!
The cloth and the two bowling balls fir snugly inside the carrying case
There was so much stuff in this lot that I took two images and joined them together.
Finishing the August images where the queries started, here a few more…
COIN LOTS
I am not going to share all the coin images I did today (even with a mere 18 lots done that would be 54 images) but here are a few of the best…
Lot 132
Lot 138
Lot 140
Lot 143
Lot 145
Lot 147
Lot 148
Lot 149
USING OTHER PEOPLE’S STUFF
I recently posted about the Lynn News taking the entire text element of a report that had the byline of one of their journalists from my blog (see here for more details) and pointed out that while I was grateful to them for covering the event I would have been even happier had they acknowledged me. Now today Melania Trump’s speech has hit the news for the wrong reasons – as whyevolutionistrue (who I am happy to acknowledge as my source for the quotes that follow) among others have noted it is all but identical to an earlier speech by Michelle Obama. For WEIT’s whole post click here, meanwhile for comparison, here are the two speeches:
Here’s the text from Trump’s speech:
My parents impressed on me the value of that you work hard for what you want in life. That your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise. That you treat people with respect. Show the values and morals in in the daily life. That is the lesson that we continue to pass on to our son.
We need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. [Cheering] Because we want our children in these nations to know that the only limit to your achievement is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.
And here’s Obama:
And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with them.
And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children — and all children in this nation — to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.
In this latter case, of course we can be absolutely sure that Michelle Obama would not be pleased to hear her words from the lips of Mrs Trump.
To sum up this section:
If using stuff from someone else (and Melania Trump’s speechwriters must have been aware of the origins of the words in her speech even if she was not) make sure that you are using it in a way that the original author would condone.
Even if you have carte blanche to use stuff from someone else for goodness sake acknowledge the fact that you are doing so.
SOME FINAL PHOTOS
These last few photos come from yesterday, some of them featuring a barbecue lunch in East Rudham, with my parents, my aunt and my nephew.
Two boats moored on the pontoon jetty, South Quay (before setting off in the morning)
The first of two shots of my newphew tending the barbie!
Bees love the wild marjoram the grows just outside my parents house, and this was the best shot I managed to get of one.
Heading for home that evening – a couple of shots of the newly restored building on Purfleet Street – I would have knocked it down and started over but this still a massive improvement on what was there.
Some of the highlights from the early lots in the July auction, and a few good links.
INTRODUCTION
Although the links I shall be sharing have nothing in common with the main part of this post, which is about the start of imaging for James and Sons July auction, there are not enough of them to justify a post all to themselves, so I am tacking them on.
THURSDAY: COINS
On Thursday the imaging I was doing was all of coin lots…
Lot 60, the lowest numbered lot that I imaged on Thursday (I scanned these lots at high resolution, a number of lots at a time – scan each face, and bolt together to make the main image…
…while keeping the individual images to enable viewers to see them in closer focus.
These ‘cartwheel pennies’ were produced only in 1797, because it was discovered that the amount of copper in them was worth more than the face value of the coin. They were therefore removed from circulation, which had the effect of causing a coin shortage.
FRIDAY
Yesterday’s imaging was more varied, featuring a few more coin lots, toys and some militaria…
This is lot 151, and will start the militaria section – the four sets of medals that I arrnaged around the commemorative plaque were awarded to four brothers who served together.
The first of five close-ups of parts of the whole.
LINKS
First of all, a link to an excellent in=depth piece about the murder of Jo Cox, written by kittysjones.
aspiblog 