Two Small Auctions and Imaging for one Big Auction

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…

342 — One of the two images I took of the hypergiant flag

346 — A 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.

346-b — The other half of the supergiant flag

Lot 655 – a piece with local historical significance – and a gallery of seven images

675 — 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:

DSCN6462 — Various model aeroplanes are currentrly on display at locations around King’s Lynn, and this picture and the next feature two of them

DSCN6685 — A bird enjoying the metal artwork that adorns the market square in Fakenham

DSCN6704 — The image of the hypergiant flag that I decided not to use as the official one.

James and Sons April Auction

An account of James and Sons April auction, a plug for a petition to honour the Hillsborough campaigners and some photographs.

INTRODUCTION

The day before yesterday, at the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich, James and Sons had their April auction. Overall, the auction was a great success. Although the number of internet bidders did not equal that for the March auction, there were 180 internet bidders, and this was a one day sale whereas March had been a two day affair. I will also be sharing some other stuff, including photos, at the end of this piece.

GETTING THERE

My travel expenses have recently gone down, due to the introduction of an all-day ticket which covers travel on any Norfolk route save the Coast Hopper and costs £5.50. This did mean that I could not get to a Norwich auction as early as if I were to use the X1 route (run by a different bus company, therefore ipso facto not covered) but it was still a seriously early start, as I had to be on the first bus of the morning, at 6:10AM to arrive early enough to do everything that I had to do for the running of the auction. The run to Norwich was thankfully, save for the inevitable bottleneck near Hellesdon Hospital, a very clear one, and the bus arrived exactly on schedule.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE AUCTION

As I have indicated, this auction was a very successful one. The principal highlights according to my method of evaluating these things were in ascending lot number order:

Lot 78, a collection of British banknotes in a tin, valued at £30-40, sold for £65
Lot 87, a Lebanese 1 Livre note with a lilac overprint, valued at £25-30, sold for £45
Lot 232, an R101 Royal Airship Works cloth cap badge, estimated at £75-85 and sold for an eye-popping £170.
Lot 263, an Imperial German WI Zeppelin commemorative badge, estimated at £55-60, sold for £120
Lot 268, a British WWII Commandos Middle East cap badge (brass), estimated at £20-25, sold for £48
Lot 270, a WWI aerial flechette dart as dropped on enemy soldiers, estimated at £15-20, sold for £42
Lot 680, a postcard of the 1906 New Zealand rugby team, estimated at £10-20, sold for £45
Lot 714, a Victorian scrapbook assembled by Harriett Riches of Trunch, estimated at £40-50, sold for £90
Lot 715, a Victorian/ Edwardian scrapbook, estimated at £30-40, sold for £90 to the the same person who bought lot 714.

Here is a ’tiled mosaic’ of images of these lots – to see an image at full size click on it:

Lot 78

Lot 232

Lot 263

Lot 268

Lot 270

Lot 680

The main image of 714

714-a

714-b

714-c

715

PHOTOGRAPHER SNAPS UP THREE BARGAIN BASEMENT BUYS

I had contrived to arrange my breaks from computer work to coincide with periods when lots of interest to me were going under the hammer. The first such lot was number 460:

DSCN5242 — Don’s mugshot on one half of the stamps, him playing the pull shot (his trademark, and a shot about which he wrote a short piece which features in many a cricket anthology).

This was knocked down to me for £7, and better was to come near the end of the auction…

Lot 711 was a 1904 Erie Railway pass, for which a single bid of £8 sufficed:

Construction started on this railroad in 1835, and the first run along the full length of the route, from Piermont, New York to Dunkirk, New York took place in 1851. More information about this railroad can be found here. Below is a route map:

This map comes from erierailroad.org: http://i2.wp.com/www.erierailroad.org/erie-1914-map.gif

Lot 717, a print of old London Bridge based on the earliest known drawing of that structure, which is in the Pepys collection, attracted no interest from anyone save me, and was knocked down for £5:

A CALL TO HONOUR THE
HILLSBOROUGH CAMPAIGNERS

27 years ago 96 people lost their lives at Hillsborough football ground. Through most of this period people seeking justice for the dead faced a media and governments that were almost uniformly hostile to them, while the police force involved consistently refused to accept responsibility for the disaster. At long last, after a full inquiry and inquest into the deaths it has been established that these 96 people were unlawfully killed and that blame for their deaths lies squarely with the police. Just this morning I found out about a petition on 38 Degrees to honour the campaigners who have fought so hard for this outcome. They are far more worthy of being honoured than many who have already been honoured (As a resident of King’s Lynn I think of Sir Henry Bellingham MP, apparently knighted for the great feat of having attended the same school as the prime minister, albeit at a different time). If you share my view…

P LEASE SIGN AND SHARE THE PETITION!

SOME FINAL PHOTOGRAPHS

To finish, here are some more photographs…

DSCN5206 — Does this look like the start of a public footpath to you? It is, and you are looking at one reason why the developer who perpetrated this (with whose name I shall not sully this blog) are personae non grata in King’s Lynn

DSCN5209 — My contribution to this document was to scan the postcard that appears on the front cover.

DSCN5238 — This is the only example of this particular £2 coin that I have thus far seen. I approve of commemorating Darwin, but not necessarily of the chosen picture (a Galapagos tortoise, or finch, or a map of the Galapagos islands would have been my choice).

PUBLIC MEETING ON DISABILITY AND PROTEST AGAINST POTENTIAL CLOSURE OF THE FERMOY UNIT

Accounts of a public meeting about disability and a protest against the possible closure of the Fermoy Unit, enlivened with photographs. Read, enjoy and please share!

INTRODUCTION

I am treating these two events together because my attendance at each was connected, and I talked about one at the other. While I had strong personal reasons for attending both events, I was also motivated by not wanting to be in a position of “when they came for me there was no one left to speak out”. I will deal with the two events in chronological order and at the very end will also share some unrelated photos.

THE PUBLIC MEETING ON DISABILITY

This toom place at the Vauxhall Centre in Norwich on Thursday evening. After speeches from various prominent local campaigners came the keynote speech of the evening. This was Roddy Slorach, author of “The Politics of Disability”, talking about the ideas expounded in his book. After this there was time for contributions from the floor. It was during this period that today’s demonstration was mentioned, and more details provided by me as the second part of my own contribution following mentioning the Positive Autism Awareness Conference of the previous Friday. Here are some photos from that evening for you…

DSCN5089 — One of the organizing groups displayed this banner.

DSCN5090 — Equal Lives provided this superb display board

DSCN5091 — Norfolk DPAC had this on show

DSCN5093 — The full platform plus the young woman doing sign language translations for deaf people.

THE PROTEST AGAINST THE POSSIBLE CLOSURE OF THE FERMOY UNIT

I took custody of the National Autistic Society West Norfolk Branch banners and some NAS flags yesterday evening, and worked out a way to set up the banners that was suitable for them being on a march:

DSCN5190 — Some string and a couple of old cricket stumps provided my answer to the question of how to make these banners suitable for carrying on a march. The appearance may be less than convincing, but it held up for the duration of the march – job done!

We assembled at the bandstand in The Walks at 12 noon, and Jo Rust who did most of the organizing introduced a few speakers, before we set off on our march around the town. Many people expressed support for us while we marched through town, and at least one person took the trouble to express their gratitude that NAS were represented on the march. The event then finished with a few speeches outside the Majestic Cinema. Although organized by the local Labour Party and the King’s Lynn and District Trades Union Council this march was not a party political event, and Sir Henry Bellingham MP had been invited to attend and to make a speech, an invitation that he spurned. The turnout was excellent, helped by bright sunny weather (yes there was a serious nip to the wind, but this is King’s Lynn after all).

I finish this brief account with a few photos…

DSCN5192 — A great placard produced by a teenage mental health camapigner

DSCN5194 — The NAS West Norfolk banner post-march

DSCN5195 — Jo Rust making her final speech of the day.

SOME UNRELATED PHOTOS

I start this section with a photographic message for those who have reached this part of the post…

My remaining photos are presented as a’tiled mosaic’ – to view an individual image at full size click on it…

Rugby, Links and Pictures

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:

TTIP LEGAL ADVICE

This is a direct link to Michael Bowsher’s legal advice about TTIP.

COSMOS UP

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.

The last link before the pictures that end this post comes courtesy of we own it and is a call to stop some our finest stations from being sold.

Composite badge — Both sides of the two combined badges in one picture.

DSCN4519 — The front off= the ‘composite badge’

The March Auction: Spotlight on Maps

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:

416-c — Another demonstration of the closeness of Ongar and Chelmsford (see http://www.londontu.be/the-central-line/ for more details)

A SPEEDWAY SPREAD

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.

To book tickets click here
To view my previous posts about this conference click here and here

AN ANTI-CUTS MEETING IN NORWICH

Brief coverage of an important meeting that took place in Norwich this Friday.

INTRODUCTION

This meeting took place at Blackfriars Hall in Norwich on Friday. It featured an excellent panel of speakers plus contributions from local activists.

GETTING THERE AND BACK

With the meeting starting at 7:00PM I had either to arrange to stay overnight in Norwich or get back to my flat at about 1AM. Fortunately I was able to find somewhere to stay overnight in Norwich, which made the event more manageable.

THE MEETING

The meeting was well worth all the travelling to get to and from it. There were many excellent contributions, both from the platform speakers and from local activists. As for one piece of future activity, there was a leaflet awaiting us on the seats…

DSCN7994

For the rest of this post, I have two sets of pictures, first those showing aspects of the meeting…

My second set of pictures focus on the hall itself, which is in a building called The Halls, which adjoins another historic hall, St Andrews Hall.

Although I stress once again that I enjoyed and appreciated every contribution, I have also to say that I was drawn to this meeting by the presence of two particular individuals, Jo Rust (who showed considerable enthusiasm about my presence when we met just outside the hall as I was heading to take my seat) and Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK who was as impressive in person as he is in the pages of his blog.

Please share this and help spread the word, especially about January 16th.

A Day Out in Norwich 5: The Cathedral Close

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my concluding post about a day out in Norwich that i enjoyed on Thursday. Previous posts about the day are as follows:

1)Introductory Post

2)Enter the Dragons

3)Lunch at the Belgian Monk

4)The River Wensum

I hope that you will enjoy this post and will be encouraged to share it.

THE CATHEDRAL CLOSE

It is unusual in the 21st century to find a Cathedral Close, but Norwich still has one, and there were many splendid things to photograph. The first of two dragons (note the title of the second post referred to above) was Biggles, the RAF dragon…

There are also two statues of famous warriors, Nelson and Wellington…

There were also many birds around…

Of course, in a place of this nature one would expect plenty of interesting old architecture, and such expectation was met…

This iron sculpture also appealed, as did this chance to include a dragon and a blackbird in the same shot…

My survey of the Cathedral Close began with one dragon and its with another, Norwich Serafina, the Norwich School Dragon…

A Day Out In Norwich 4: The Wensum

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this, my fourth post about a family day out inn Norwich this Thursday. Previous posts about this day are:

1)Introductory Post

2)Enter the Dragons

3)Lunch at the Belgian Monk

I hope that you will enjoy this post and be encouraged to share it.

THE WENSUM

The Wensum is the river that flows through the centre of Norwich. There are many fine sights to be seen along its banks. Here is a view looking along one bank…

You will notice a boat in this shot, here is what it looks like closer up…

DSCN8236

Is there any information available about this riverside? You bet there is…

DSCN8239

You may have glimpsed a stone bridge in the first picture I showed. I have a close up of the centre portion and two shots showing how the smooth waters of the Wensum reflect it back…

DSCN8240 DSCN8242 DSCN8243

Here is the approach to river via Ferry Lane…

DSCN8325 DSCN8331 DSCN8324

Two pub signs on opposite sides of the river provide a fine contrast – one an unusual name in a plain style and one the commonest of all English pub names in a more elaborate style…

DSCN8341

After these signs we came to a decorative wooden seat…

DSCN8344

Now we come to the exraordinarily named Cow Tower, one of Britain’s oldest artillery placements, dating from 1398…

DSCN8346 DSCN8347 DSCN8348 DSCN8349

Next, one for the swan fanciers…

DSCN8351

These water lilies made for decent picture…

DSCN8353

Two more closing shots for you, from just before we left the river for the last time…

DSCN8356 DSCN8357

A Day Out In Norwich 3: Lunch At The Belgian Monk

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my third post about our family day out in Norwich on Thursday. For those who missed them, the first two posts were:

1)Introductory Post

2)Enter the Dragons

I hope that you will enjoy this post and be inspired to share it.

LUNCH AT THE BELGIAN MONK

A DELAYED START

A combination of rigid adherence to a silly rule (no one under 16 to sit in the bar area) and the fact that the place was busy meant that we had to wait a few minutes before a table large enough for five became available.

THE BEER

The beer was superb – I had a Petrus Dubbel Bruin and a Grimbergen Dubbel both of which were splendid drinks. I got some photos of logos etc…

This sign is outside the back of the pub, where we were sitting

My father's second beer. — My father’s second beer.

THE FOOD

My sister and my mother both opted for mussels, which come with a ‘sconce’ of chips…

My mother holding a 'sconce' of chips aloft. — My mother holding a ‘sconce’ of chips aloft.

I opted for a steak and Belgian beer pie, which was good overall but loses marks for failing to be a proper pie – it was that thoroughly annoying and difficult to eat cheat, a casserole with a ridiculously puffy layer of puff pastry on top. The chips, were excellent. Taking into account the overall quality, and inflicting three penalty points for cheating, I award the meal 6.5 out of 10.

I have a few remaining pics from the Belgian Monk to share,..

The church tower visible from the beer garden (in Norwich you are never very far from a medieval church!)

The Belgian Monk's account of their mussels. — The Belgian Monk’s account of their mussels.

A Day Out In Norwich 2: Enter The Dragons

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this, my second post about a family day out in Norwich which happened on Thursday. You may wish to check out the first post before proceeding. I hope you will enjoy this post and will be inspired to share it.

ENTER THE DRAGONS

Norwich has an affinity for large brightly coloured model animals. There have been elephants and monkeys/apes on display at various times. The latest thing is dragons, which will be sold off at auction to raise funds for Break, the children’s charity. There are apparently 84 full size dragons and over 120 baby dragons around Norwich.

I cannot pretend that we actually spotted that many, but we did see quite a few, starting with Flambeau, just after we had left the car

Our next sighting was while we were in Jarrold’s, the Norwich department store, who are sponsors of the project…

The Jarrold's dragon — The Jarrold’s dragon

We saw one more before lunch, just outside a shop I will not name but which sells clothing and is run by people without consciences…

DSCN8220

Post lunch, the dragon count really picked up, starting with Gogohoratio, a dragon with the head of a well known admiral who was born at Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk (although they gave him a full complement of eyes – which he famously did not have)…

DSCN8237

Next up was Steam the Clockwork Dragon of whom I got several shots…

DSCN8245 DSCN8246 DSCN8247 DSCN8248 DSCN8249 DSCN8250

Our next encounter with a dragon was with Mosaic, whose name becomes understandable as soon as you get a close look…

DSCN8251 DSCN8252 DSCN8253 DSCN8254

There were two dragons in the Cathedral Close, Biggles the RAF dragon and Serafina, the Norwich School dragon, made from pupil’s fingerprints, but I will be covering the Cathedral Close in a separate post, so the next dragon you will see is Daisy, the first we saw after leaving the Cathedral Close…

DSCN8316 DSCN8317 DSCN8318 DSCN8319 DSCN8320

Down by the Wensum, the river that flows through Norwich, was Raptorsfire…

DSCN8327 DSCN8328 DSCN8329 DSCN8330

Our next dragon was glimpsed on the other side of the Wensum…

DSCN8342

Then came this one…

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The next dragon was this red-golden one…

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That was followed by a black dragon…

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The penultimate dragon we saw was this flint patterned chappy…

DSCN8363 DSCN8364 DSCN8365 DSCN8366

Finally, the last dragon we managed to spot was this one…

DSCN8367

	GP on A Cornish Christmas 1: A Curat…
	Renegades Blown Away… on England Fightback Comes Too…
	The First Two Days i… on A Successful Auction
	Marizanne’s Mastercl… on From Victory to Rout in Two…
	From Victory to Rout… on An Extraordinary Opening …

INTRODUCTION

WEDNESDAY – NORWICH

THURSDAY – FAKENHAM

A LINK AND THE CURRENT TEST MATCH

INTRODUCTION

GETTING THERE

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE AUCTION

PHOTOGRAPHER SNAPS UP THREE BARGAIN BASEMENT BUYS

A CALL TO HONOUR THE HILLSBOROUGH CAMPAIGNERS

SOME FINAL PHOTOGRAPHS

INTRODUCTION

THE PUBLIC MEETING ON DISABILITY

THE PROTEST AGAINST THE POSSIBLE CLOSURE OF THE FERMOY UNIT

SOME UNRELATED PHOTOS

INTRODUCTION

THE SIX NATIONS

WALES V FRANCE

ITALY V SCOTLAND

ENGLAND V IRELAND

THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR

PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE

LINKS

TTIP LEGAL ADVICE

COSMOS UP

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

INTRODUCTION

A BINDER FULL OF ANTIQUE MAPS

A SPEEDWAY SPREAD

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

INTRODUCTION

GETTING THERE AND BACK

THE MEETING

INTRODUCTION

THE CATHEDRAL CLOSE

INTRODUCTION

THE WENSUM

INTRODUCTION

LUNCH AT THE BELGIAN MONK

A DELAYED START

THE BEER

THE FOOD

INTRODUCTION

ENTER THE DRAGONS

A CALL TO HONOUR THE
HILLSBOROUGH CAMPAIGNERS