I have spent my entire working day imaging auction lots for James and Sons November Auction (Saturday 29th November, Prince of Wales Suite, Fakenham Racecourse, starts 10AM sharp). I have already tweeted some of the images and will be doing some more before today is out. Meanwhile collected here is a a selection of the best images…
Two batteries going phut in quick succession, first on the old Nikon that is our official work camera, and then on the second camera I used immediately afterwards meant that with my Nikon Coolpix P520 still at the repair shop most of my imaging today was done on my old Samsung, which after almost 5 years and 16,000 photos is still working as well as ever. Finally I concluded a day devoted entirely to imaging by using the scanner for some small items. I have plenty of decent pictures, some of which I have already put on twitter…
Another busy day at James and Sons. I have done some database work, and also started imaging lots for our next auction, which will take place on November 29th. Although I am still stuck with my old camera, I still managed to produce some decent pictures. The lost I imaged today were an interesting mix…
Actually given the weather that title is a trifle optimistic! Nevertheless, the October auction of James and Sons was a MASSIVE success. There will be press releases in the near future about Hornby train sets, stamps and militaria to name but three successful areas. Also look out for related posts on my personal twitter account. The single most astonishing story from the auction concerns a box of loose penny red-browns, with may be a few penny rose reds in there as well, which started at £30 and ended up fetching a cool £350!
I do have some photos for you, but because my good camera is at the repair shop they were taken with my old camera and are therefore not as good as they would be had I been using my camera of choice…
James and Sons October auction is tomorrow, starting at 10AM. A full catalogue can be viewed at: http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/james-and-son-auctioneers/catalogue-id-2901719
Today we were making final preparations, making sure that everything we needed was at the venue (The Prince of Wales Sui
te, Faklenham Racecourse), and answering late queries (the latter yielded me some decent photos as well).
All is set for a good sale, with some large bids already in.
Meantime enjoy a sneak preview of some of the lots…
On Saturday James and Sons had their September Auction in the Erpingham Room at the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich. The auction featured two lifetime stamp collections, a large amount of militaria, some interesting coin lots, three folders of Liebig Company Picture Cards and sundry other items.
In order to assist with setting things up, and to be ready for action at the 10AM start time it was necessary for me to catch the 6:00 bus from King’s Lynn, arriving at Norwich Bus Station just after 7:30. After a slightly slower than usual start (for the right reason – lots of bidding), the pace picked up in the later stages of the auction. On a whim I purchased a tub of thru’penny bits for £7, and a little later a made a more considered purchase of a set of Liebig Picture Cards featuring “Divers systemes de Chemins de Fer” for the same price.
Although the massive lot 83 (all 16 boxes of it) did sell, it went to an internet bidder, so it still had to be loaded back on the van. Overall it was a very successful sale, and in the end I got back to my flat a mere 13 hours after setting forth.
I have some pictures from before, during and after the sale, and you can expect pictures of thru’penny bits, and when the coin in question comes out juxtapositions of thru’penny bits and the new style of £1 coin to feature in future posts!
As well as the press releases I have been producing invoices for the August Auction and have made a start on the imaging for the September auction (Saturday 27th, Maids Head Hotel, Norwich, starts 10AM sharp). This upcoming auction features industrial quantities of stamps (one of the lots I imaged today required 20 shots to do it something approaching justice – it was that big) among other stuff.
Here are todays images…
I have decided to do two blog posts today because I wanted to devote one exclusively to press releases.
There were som many fantastic results at this auction that I decided to split the press releases into categories: Coins, Medals, Militaria, Stamps and a portmanteau category that I privately dubbed “quirkies”. Thus below thsi you can find links to all five press releases and view any or all as you choose. Also I am including full photo galleries of associated images…
Coins MEDAL SUCCESSES AT FAKENHAM AUCTION 
Militaria Makes Massive Money at Fakenham Auction 
Quirkies 
STAMPS SELL WELL AT FAKENHAM AUCTION 
To start with getting a small item out of the way: I now have an official James and Sons email address: thomas.sutcliffe@jamesandsonsnorfolk.com. This is my work email, and only queries relating specifically to Jamers and Sons should be sent there – non work-related emails should still go to my regular email address.
Over the weekend we had various relations around – my Australian aunt was still in the country, and my other maternal aunt had a birthday on Sunday.
Yesterday I took part in some research relating to Autistic Spectrum Conditions in Cambridge, at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge. Most of this went exceedingly well, until it came to the last activity, which entailed being in an MRI scanner, and I could not cope with the level of confinement, so ducked out.
I have some splendid photos from Cambridge to share with you – all the plants are in the garden of the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit.
Yesterday James and Sons of Fakenham had their August auction at Fakenham Racecourse, and the day went very smoothly. The database system that has been 16 months in the development process is now functioning very well for purpose – at no time was I more than about 10 lots behind the action, meaning that I was able to produce invoices without many delays. The internet connection worked perfectly, so we got our full ration of internet bids.
After I have pulled everything together today I will begin writing up the best success stories (my role at James and Sons could be described as at least a quadruple one – database developer, data input clerk, imager and press release creator). Without as yet revealing any content I can say that Coins, Medals, Militaria and Stamps will all definitely feature.
I have some pictures from the auction venue for you…
aspiblog 