INTRODUCTION

This is the story of Lot 51 at our last auction. I was immediately struck by it when imaging – no great surprise since I am an avid fan of both maps and railwayana.

IMAGING

This item was one of a number of railway themed lots that I imaged that day, but apart from lot 52, which also appealed none of the others caused me much pause. Here is the original image that I took then…

PUTTING A BID IN

When I checked the valuation of this and lot 52 I saw that both had a minimum estimate of £25, and realised that therefore I had to concentrate my attentions on just one of them, so went for lot 51. My parents are now registered with Air B and B, and a couple who had previously stayed there to house hunt were staying there again to view a property that they were particularly keen on. My mother arranged for the night’s rent to be paid to me in cash so that I would have the benefit of it (for which I am very grateful). Fortified by this knowledge I duly placed a bid of up to £30 on lot 51 (£30 plus Buyers Premium at 15% = £34.50 actual cost – and the nights rent was £35).

DISPLAYING AT THE VENUE

Although I had a personal interest as shown above, I was determined that this item should be on full view for all, and I believe that I positioned it well.

When it came to time for this lot to go under the hammer auctioneer David started the bidding at £25, and that was where it finished.

GETTING IT HOME

I looked after it with due care and attention, and when i got home I spread it out on the sitting room floor, anchoring the bottom end with a couple of weighty tomes…

THE FINAL LOCATION

I had decided that this item needed to be out on display, and this is how I chose to display it…

MORE ABOUT THE MAP

The map was created by John Bartholomew of the Edinburgh Geographical Institute, and the company whose advertisement appears at the top was incorporated in 1877. I also know from studying the London & Suburbs close up section that this particular map must be from before 1910 as it shows a connection that ceased operating that year. Don’t forget that in the not too distant future I will be launching the website londontu.be which will feature many pictures of maps and schematic disgrams. I end this post with a few more pics from the map…