A look back at the James and Sons auction that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, with lots of photos. Also a gallery of my usual hobby photos.
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week James and Sons of Fakenham had their May auction. Tuesday was devoted to stamps and postal history, while Wednesday was a general auction, with lots of different types of stuff under the hammer. This post looks at some of the highlights of the two days.
TUESDAY – STAMPS ETC
I was working above the shop where the auction was taking place, so cannot comment on the sale as a whole. However lot 256 went to me, and was clearly uncontested given how low the hammer price was. These are the images that were available to the general public:
Time constraints limited the size of the image gallery I could produce for this lot, but my own interest in securing meant the gallery had to be as complete as I could reasonably make it.
Here are my own photos of the lot post acquisition, taken at home yesterday morning:
In the folder – for reaons that the final image will make clear I paired the Saint Kitts & Nevis item with something else with a Caribbean connection.I already had a copy of the Kiribati cover, so I needed five slots in total, hence the earlier image.
DAY TWO
This sale started very quietly (I was watching from home), with lot 526 going to me uncontested. This item will be at the heart of at least one major blog post and possibly more, so I present only the image gallery I produced for it to go under the hammer:
The auction picked up a bit of momentum when some old Guinness advertising posters, all in excellent condition, went under the hammer. Five of the posters fared especially well, lots 622, 641, 658, 661 and 669, which all went for above the top estimates. Here are the images of those lots:
622 (two images – front and back)641 (two images, front and back)658 (three images, front, close up of main part, back)661 (three images, front, close up of main part, and back)669 (five images – front, close up of each the three ‘layers’ of the front, back)
The star lot of the auction was number 795, which massively exceeded the top estimate. Here is the gallery.
I did not have the luxury of time to make a really detailed assessment of this lot, but I did do a detailed gallery, and my choice of what to feature clearly did its job!
Some of the toy lots in the low 800s also fared exceptionally well with 805 and 806 almost doubling the top estimate, and lots 807, 814 and 815 also going above the top estimate.
The images for lots 805 and 806 were taken by a colleague and edited for me, with the secondary images (one for 805, two for 806) extracted by me from single individual images.807 (eight images)814 (six images)815 (nine images)
PHOTOGRAPHS
There have been a lot of photographs in the body of this post, but I also include a gallery of my usual hobby photographs…
An account of a working day, and the journeys either way, and a photo gallery.
Yesterday was an eventful day at work – finishing the last of the imaging for the March auction, sending a mass email out (the second of two, the first went out on Tuesday) about that auction, and starting the imaging for the April sale. In this post I describe the day in full and say something about each element of the upcoming auctions.
PREPARING
My working hours, constrained by the operating hours of James and Sons and the way in which buses run in Norfolk are short – I start at 10:45 or thereabouts, and finish four hours later as the business shuts down for the day. However I get quite a bit done in that time, even on a somewhat fragmented day such as yesterday was. I generally leave home by 9:30, which allows me to take a scenic route to the bus stop (the direct route is about a five minute walk, but is not that interesting). Then I spend the bus journey reading, and will arrive at James and Sons’ premises in Fakenham clear-headed and ready to go.
IMAGING
My usual practice when imaging at work is photograph about 25 items (one column of lot numbers + indications of how many pictures I have taken of eahc item in my notebook) before loading them on to the computer and cropping and straightening them as required. If I am imaging for a sale that is not already online I will copy the images from the folder I save them in on my computer to the main images folder for that auction on the network drive at the end of the day, but when the auction is already online I also have to upload the new images, and sometimes notify bidders that the images are now available for viewing. I had initially started work on the April stuff, a quantity of which was already in my imaging area, but then had to switch back to the March stuff as there were some lots from day two of that sale (Stamps and Postal History) which had not been imaged. Near the end of the day I was able to revert to the April sale, but the next lot I came to for that sale (Sporting Memorabilia) was one that required a large photo gallery, so I had no time to do any more than that one extra lot.
Day one of the March sale is coins, banknotes and cheques, and can be viewed here and here. Day two, which I was finishing off the imaging for yesterday, is available on the same links, but for those who want to start on the page where the first lots of day two are can go here and here (the new day does not start on a new page because the auction is treated as a single entity on these platforms). I end this section with the image gallery for lot 655, the first item I imaged yesterday…
Lot 655 (seven images, capturing what i considered the most important aspects of it).This is lot 662 (two images)
THE END OF THE DAY
The next bus back to King’s Lynn after the end of the work day is at 3:45PM, so I generally fill in time by visiting Fakenham Library, as I did on this occasion. I get off the bus home one stop before the very closest stop to my home and walk home from there by way of the Gaywood River Path – always worth doing, especially in daylight, which by now is the case. I appreciated seeing several muntjac as I walked, though I was less impressed by lawbreaking oaf who roared past me (and a number of others) on a quad bike (illegal as it is a motorised vehicle and this path is for the use of pedestrians and cyclists only – an e-bike used with care and consideration would be acceptable, but a dirty great quadbike used with neither care nor consideration is most definitely not). This little section provides a useful lead into…
PHOTOGRAPHS
…My usual sign off…
From Wednesday afternoon’s walk.Taking the scenic route to from my home to the bus stop yesterday morning……I spotted ths unfortunate Tortoiseshell butterfly near Fakenham Church yesterday afternoon.Four shots from the walk home along the Gaywood river path.Today’s first walk (will be walking into town for supper this evening).
A look back at today’s world cup matches, especially England v Pakistan, , analysis of the group standings with one group match to go, a mention of a couple of upcoming auctions being held by my employer and my usual sign off.
Today saw two group matches at the 2023 ODI World Cup, Australia v Bangladesh and England v Pakistan. Most of this post is dedicated to the second of these fixtures. In the early game Bangladesh posted just over 300, and Australia chased them down very comfortably, Mitchell Marsh setting a new record for an Australian number three in ODIs by scoring 177 not out.
THE PRELIMINARIES
England were already eliminated, while Pakistan had a very outside chance of staying in the tournament. The least vanishingly unlikely scenario to allow this to happen would have seen Pakistan bat first, score a huge total and bowl England out cheaply. Going this way round would still have left Pakistan needing to win by 287 runs to go ahead of New Zealand on net RR. As it happened Buttler won the toss and decided to bat. This meant that the first landmark for England to reach was 169, at which point Pakistan would be in the position of needing at least one no-ball from England even if they hit everything for six if they were to overhaul New Zealand on net RR.
THE ENGLAND INNINGS
In the event England batted the best they had all tournament, and it was soon very obvious that any scenario involving Pakistan overhauling New Zealand was not so much vanishingly as Daniel Dennett’s usage of Vanishingly unlikely (in the book “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea”). Various players contributed for England, and all Pakistan’s bowlers took a fair amount of stick. In the end England posted 337 from their 50 overs.
THE PAKISTAN REPLY
Pakistan never looked at the races, and there were times when it looked like their net RR was going to take such a battering that they dipped below Afghanistan into sixth place. The magic number to avoid that was 187, and they reached that figure with eight wickets already gone, losing a ninth shortly afterwards. The last pair of Mohammad Wasim and Haris Rauf then managed to connect with some meaty blows, but long before they were even close to worrying England one such shot went higher than it did long and Stokes managed to get himself underneath it. Pakistan were all out for 244, beaten by 93 runs. Two England bowlers reached career landmarks along the way – David Willey whose retirement is already confirmed reached 100 ODI wickets with the second of his three scalps, and Adil Rashid claimed his 200th ODI wicket. Willey was given the Player of the Match award, making the decision not to award him a new central contract look even sillier than it already did (while the timing of the central contract details being made public, right in the middle of a tournament, verged on the criminally insane). England are in seventh place, and unless the miracle of the tournament happens tomorrow and the Netherlands somehow beat India by a really big margin in the last group match seventh is where they will finish. However, two of their three wins came after their eliminations was already confirmed, and those two late consolation victories should not be allowed to overshadow just how dire a tournament this was for the team who “didn’t come here to defend anything”.
TWO UPCOMING AUCTIONS
James and Sons’ November auctions (on Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd) are now ready to view online.
Tuesday’s auction features stamps and postal history, and contains 500 lots. Lot 105 (below) is one of them:
There are two ways to view a catalogue listing and/or sign up to bid online:
The second day’s sale features advertising and ephemera. The main feature image is the centrepiece of lot 702, a poster sized picture of the 1891 Boat Race crews in action:
Full catalogue listing online, starting from lot 501
As a lead in to the final section I have a few more ephemera images, including the rest of the gallery for lot 702…
These last two lots are included because to my mind they illustrate the value of not ignoring anything – in each case the stuff on the reverse side is at least as interesting the supposed main feature of the item.I abhor the publication that Mr Brown was spruiking here, but it is of interest that they saw him as valuable.
PHOTOGRAPHS
It is getting to the time of year when really good things to photograph become harder to come by, but I do have my usual sign off…
This Wednesday saw James and Sons’ April auction, the first of three auctions that are devoted entirely to an old client’s collection of stamps, postal history and first day covers (these auctions are interleaved with regular general sales, of which our next will be on May 18th). This post looks back at the day.
A GOOD AUCTION
With a large number of bidders registered, many of them newcomers, we were hoping for a good sale, and we got it in spades. Lot 66 attracted some lively bidding and ended up fetching £80. Lot 85 went for £100
A complete set of FDCs depicting the 1999 Treble Winning Manchester United.
Lot 120 netted £150 after some brisk bidding.
Lot 132 was the most remarkable story of the auction. It included some rare Wonderland stamps, and with the bidding starting at £30 an amazing stampede by online bidders pushed the final price up to an eye-popping £540!
Lots 161-9 were sheets of railway stamps. Two of those lots had attracted my own attention, but I was outbid on them – professionally satisfying, while personally disappointing.
Lot 198 saw another bidding war, a starting price of £60 mushrooming to £200.
Lot 204 raised £65.
Lot 278 was a consolation prize after the railway stamps got away – my opening bid of £8 closed proceedings.
Lot 295 was another I might have been interested in, but the price went too high for me, not very surprisingly in view of Terence Cuneo’s status:
Lot 302 soared to £170.
Lot 396 went to m5 for £55. If you are wondering about this price, which is more than I normally bid for a single lot, it was for a large box of FDCs which I knew to contain some quality railwayana and I was expecting it to comfortably pay for itself – I would select the stuff I wished to keep and would sell the rest. I have already split this lot into the stuff I intend to keep for myself and the stuff I wish to sell. The stuff I will be looking to sell includes some football FDCs and some military FDCs as well as some other stuff.
Here are some pictures showing the division of this lot as it stands currently…
The lid (at rear) contains the stuff I don’t want to keep, while the body of the box contains the stuff I am keeping.
Lots 444 and 445 attracted plenty of bidders, going for £130 and £140 respectively, while lot 489 fetched £100. I have no images for these lots, but lot 462, which I snagged for £8 is below:
These images were taken at home yesterday evening.
The auction took almost five and a half hours (about half as long again as would be expected for a 500 lot auction), and I followed it from home via www.easyliveauction.com.
Just a brief post to remind people of my existence. I shall follow my title precisely…
ONE: HEARING AID
Ten days ago I was fitted with a hearing aid. I have had to change the batteries once (this is in keeping with the advice I was given that these batteries, which are specially made for use with hearing aids, and can be obtained free of charge either at the hospital or at the West Norfolk Deaf Association have a lifespan of approximately one week.
TWO: A MASSIVE AUCTION
A longstanding client of James and Sons is selling his collection. He was a bulk collector of stamps, postal history and first day covers. Yesterday I began the process of imaging these items, which will be going under the hammer in April. Even selling the stuff by the box/ crate, with no small lots, it will be a two day sale. Here are some samples from yesterday…
Lot 396 (I extracted the close ups above at home from this image).
UNUSUAL BIRD SIGHTING
This is today’s sign off – I was out walking earlier (it is sunny today in King’s Lynn, though still cold enough to warrant a coat), and I saw a Little Egret in Bawsey Drain, not very far from my house…
Brief mentions of last week’s auctions and a longer look ahead to the March auction.
INTRODUCTION
Last week James and Sons had two auctions, a small postcard auction on Tuesday and a much larger Postal History and Ephemera Auction on Wednesday. We are now moving towards completing the catalogue for an auction on March 28th which will feature a wide variety of stuff. We have snow around at present, which is provoking the usual British display of wimpiness about rough weather – I was supposed to be attending a meeting in Swaffham this morning but it has been cancelled due to concerns about the weather. This was the view out of my door at 8:30 yesterday morning as I set off to catch the bus to work.
The view is similar today.
THE POSTCARD AUCTION
With only 134 lots going under the hammer this sale was over and done with quickly. Most of the lots found buyers.
EPHEMERA AND POSTAL HISTORY
The centrepiece of this auction was a collection of the Ecclesiastical and Political Correspondence of the Rev J Marriott. The people currently in charge of the property he bought had got wind of this collection, which meant some big money sales, because they were determined to secure as much of it as they could to reunite it with his old home. Lot 18 on its own went for over £2,000:
The stock for this auction as displayed in the shop.
The original image of lot 18. It must have taken a lot of brass neck to produce this petition.
Lot 18 in its folder
The big screen.
THE UPCOMING AUCTION
Our auction on March 28th will start with some sporting memorabilia, including a framed ticket for the 1923 FA Cup Final (the first to be played at Wembley, just three weeks after that stadium was completed). For the record Bolton Wanderers beat West Ham United to win that year’s FA Cup. I do not yet have a lot number for this item, but it will be early in the auction.
A standard price for a ticket from this fixture in this condition is in the region of £800.
We have some old fishing reels and som billiards stuff as well…
Lot 23 (two images, a sample of the fishing reels)
The billiards memorabilia begin at lot 44 with the first of two scoreboards
From lot 46-58 inclusive are cues, first four lots of large numbers of loose cues, and then individual cues in cases or bags, starting with lot 50 pictured here.
Then from lot 59 to 71 we have sets of balls – note that in billiards there are two cue balls, one of which is distinguished from the other by the presence of a black spot, and the only other ball used is one red one.
We also have some bygones, of which I will feature a few that particularly caught my eye while I was imaging them:
Lot 124 – the fiugurines are made of some sort of balck ceramic, and as the second image, a close-up of two them shows, they are of very good quality.
Lot 147 – a brass fly…
…that can be used to store trinkets.
Lot 146, a brass grasshopper…
…which is also a mini stapler.
Other categories featured include toys, crockery, and though I have not yet had any to image, stamps. Here are some toys and crockery…
Toys in a box that has been disguised to look like a book (lot 262)
Lots 264 and 265 occupy the next four images.
The next 12 images encompass lots 301-4.
Lot 346 (two images)
Lot 350 (again two images).
SOME EXPERIMENTS IN WATERMARKING
We have a vast collection of railway photographs, taken with a Soviet-era camera which is also in our possession and will be going under the hammer. Obviously we need to identify our images of these pictures as just that – our images – in order to stop unscrupulous types from printing the pictures out for no more than the cost of ink and the appropriate paper. Hence, I have been looking into watermarking the online pictures. I am aiming at marking the pictures in a way that will not interfere with anyone viewing them, but will prevent anyone from cheating. Here is a sample of what I have arrived at us possibly the best solution:
The positioning of the watermark does not spoil the picture, but does prevent it from being removed, since cropping the image sufficiently to eliminate it most certainly does damage the picture.
This week was auction week at James and Sons. This post covers the events of the three days.
MONDAY – JAMES AND SONS PREMISES
I arrived at our premises in Fakenham at about 7:15AM, and made a cup of coffee, checked my emails and attended to IT setup. I had time to take a few photographs before anyone else arrived.
Lots 1-500 laid out for auction
The layout of the ersatz auction room.
The big screen running the slideshow.
The last lots we would be seeing today.
The ephemera (lots 251-400)
A theatre poster.
Lots 1-250 (military RP postcards)
LOTS 1-250 (POSTCARDS)
These fared reasonably thanks to the internet. Three lots in particular went way above estimate. Lots 175 was estimated at £8-12, but courtesy of an internet battle soared to £28. Lot 213 with a modest estimate of £5-8 went for £25. Lot 227 had an estimate of £8-12 and sold for £30. Here are the items in question.
175
213
227
All these pictures incidentally are scans, at 200dpi.Â
LOTS 251-400 – EPHEMERA
No high prices from this section, although lot 353 went for significantly over estimate. Lot 321 fell my way unopposed, and lot 399, which I had had an eye on also fell to me (I ventured a hopeful bid, not expecting for an instant to get the item, only because lot 353 which I had assessed as the more likely bet went elsewhere).
Lot 321 (two images)
Lot 353 – the railway outlined in this bill now forms part of a line that runs from London Waterloo to Reading.
Lot 399 (five images).
CIGARETTE/ TRADE CARDS – LOTS 401-500
Nothing noteworthy happened in this section. The auction finished, it was still necessary to move the items from this sale upstairs and to bring the stock (save the very large stuff) for the next day’s sale downstairs.Â
TUESDAY – JAMES AND SONS PREMISES
Again an early arrival gave me time to do a bit before anyone else was there. I also had time for a few pre-auction photographs.
The opening lot of the day as shown on the big screen.
The closing lot of the day as shown on the big screen (I had the slide show on a loop, so that after showing lot 1100 it started again at lot 601)
LOTS 601-900 – POSTAL HISTORY AND STAMPS
Although this was in absolute terms a quiet period, this items fared much better than usual. The headline grabber was lot 850, which had an estimate of £40-50 but sold in the end for £85.
COINS AND BANKNOTES – LOTS 901-1100
Lot 947, which was an 1809 Demi-Franc, had an estimate of £30-50, but some vigorous internet bidding pushed the price up to £130. Lot 980, a brass token from Long Sutton had an esimate of £8-12, but attracted sufficient interest to sell for £20.
Lot 947 (3 images). I do small coin lots on the scanner, at 600dpi and with the scan area set to A5 landscape, which means I can only use half the scanner bed, but this saves time in the end, as they scan more than twice as quickly than if I had used the full plate). This main image is the two scans (of each face of the coin) joined together to make a single image.
Lot 980 – the usual three images for a single coin.
The auction concluded, it remained to render the premises something that looked more like a shop and of course to ensure that the IT stuff got the racecourse, where the stock bar a dolls house that was still in the shop had already been laid out.
WEDNESDAY – FAKENHAM RACECOURSE
My first action an arrival the venue inadvertently caused a problem. I had been equipped with a key to the venue, as it was highly likely that I would be the first James and Sons employee on the scene. Unfortunately I had not been told that an alarm had been set, much less what the alarm code was. I only realised this when I unlocked the door and heard the telltale bleep of an alarm that needed to be deactivated. Fortunately that was the only significant problem I was to have in the course of the day. The fact that I had to use my employer’s laptop as the master machine because my machine has nowhere to attach the cable that connects the big screen to a computer and the third laptop was needed by my colleague for the invoicing (which apparently could only be done on that specific machine). The trouble with using my employer’s laptop as the main machine is that goes to sleep every few minutes, which in turn means that the slide show will go blank. I had time for a bit of photography.
ANTIQUES AND BYGONES – LOTS 1201-1300
Some of these items were very interesting. Two achieved significantly more than expected. Lot 1245 was a set of four world cup 1966 placemats and four world cup 1966 coasters which had been given a modest estimate of £5-10. They actually sold for £25. Lot 1252, which was a set of two railway themed badges which I had been interested in, estimated at £8-10, caught the attention of the internet and ended up going for £20.Â
Lot 1245 (three images).
Lot 1252 (five images, as the second badge is double sided, which had to be shown.
MILITARIA – LOTS 1301-1540
Most of the lots in this section found buyers, but not for very large amounts. There was one headline maker however. Lot 1520 was a Luftwaffe Paratrooper’s Private Purchase Dagger, estimated at £40-50, which ended up going for £85.
Lot 1520 (three images)
TOYS – LOTS 1541-1600
Again it was a case of steady rather than spectacular sales, but three items did particularly well. Lot 1547, a model train that had been valued at £5-10 ended up selling for £20 (it had been described as a Hornby, but was actually a Triang, a better name as far as collectors are concerned,). Lot 1590, which was a complete Hornby train set, and had been estimated at £20-30 went for £50. Finally, the last lot of the sale, a Star Wars Millennium Falcon estimated at £15-20 went for £30 (this was a case of patience being rewarded – the successful bidder was a chap who had travelled over from Norwich specifically to bid on that one item and waited out the entire day’s selling until it came up).Â
1547 (two images)
1590.
1600 (two images)
THE FINAL FURLONG
After the last lot had sold, and the last payment from a room bidder had been taken it was time for the clear up, which was accomplished swiftly. Back at the shop, once everything had been unloaded from the van I produced a printed list of online bidders to bring my working week to a close.Â
Welcome to this little post about my work at James and Sons. There are two main parts to this post – one features an event from the last of the September auctions, while the second deals with the upcoming October auctions.
ON THE POWER OF INTERNET BIDDING
On Thursday I put out a press release with the title “The Power of Internet Bidding”, which focussed on lot 1301 from our previous auction. On Friday someone from Archant (the media company who publish The Eastern Daily Press among others) asked a number of follow-up questions, so I expect a short piece to appear in the EDP before too long. Here is a screenshot of my original press release, along with the image used therein and a link to the document:
All three Octobe auctions will take place at our shop, 5 Norwich Street, Fakenham, NR21 9AF – on the 23rd, 24th and 25th.Â
SALE 2138
This sale, on Monday October 25th, kicks of with 250 military postcards before moving on to ephemera, cigarette and trade cards and such like. The imaging for this sale is nearly complete.
Lot 235…
…with a good stamp and postmark on the back.
Lot 249
With a hand stamped mark on the back.
SALE 2139
This one has very vfew images thus far. This will be the stamps and postal history day.
SALE 2140
The imaging for this sale is reasonably well advanced…
An account of the three James and Sons auctions that started this week.
INTRODUCTION
This week started for me with three auctions on successive days, the first two at our premises in Fakenham and the third at The Maids Head Hotel, Norwich. This post covers the three days in order.
DAY 1: MONDAY
Reorganising the shop to look like an auction venue and setting out the stock for this auction had been done on Friday by myself and a colleague. Thus, when I arrived on Monday morning the only set up work that was required was the electronics and IT stuff.Â
I managed to get everything set up before anyone else arrived and to verify that the sound and video were working. Here are some photos from this period:
The auction area before I had brought the electronics and IT stiuff down.
This image and the four that follow are of auction stock.
There will be more to come about these maps.
The two boxes of maps were being sold as one single lot.
The IT setup – In front of the master computer which I operate is my catalogue, a notepad and my ersatz coaster. Between the two computers is the mic, while the camera though connected to my computer is positioned atop David’s screen. Behind David’s machine is the big screen so that room bidders can view images of the items.
THE AUCTION ITSELF
There was a hitch after the first few lots when the master computer decided to install a load of updates, but we got back up and running again without too much fuss. The military RP postcards that started the auction fared OK, the ephemera and cigarette cards fared poorly (although lot 341 found a buyer – me).Â
This full image gallery for lot 341 shows that I cannot be accused of withholding anything about this lot in spite of my personal interest.
The maps which finished the auction off fared well at first, with several going for big money, but the ex-atlas maps that formed lots 538-600 did not do so well. Lot 553 fell to me.
Lot 513 – hammer price £50
Lot 514 (four images) – hammer price £200!!
Lot 515 – hammer price £65
Lot 553 – the one that I got.
TUESDAY
This was always going to be the quietest of the three auctions, since it featured postal history, stamps and first-day covers, none of which fare particularly well. However that did not make my day any less busy since by the end of it the shop needed to look more like a shop and less like an auction room, and the van had to be loaded with all the stuff that was going to Norwich the following day.Â
The last item went under the hammer just after 12:00, and by the end of the day the van was loaded and with the sole exception of the big screen still being downstairs the shop was as it had been on Friday morning before I got to work on it. Here are some pictures from this second day:
WEDNESDAY
The cost of a single fare on the X1 (I had a week’s ticket for Stagecoach buses) having been obtained on Tuesday I duly caught the 5:30AM bus for Norwich, and arrived at the venue at about 7:30. My colleague who had the IT/ electronics stuff (bar my computer, being used today as we needed three and it was the only portable computer bar the two we regularly to use to which we had access) arrived a few minutes later and we did that side of the setup. The auctioneer arrived with the van full of stock some time later, and we did the rest of the setup.Â
The day went very well. The first big sale was lot 1,159, which fetched £80, but many other lots had sold for small amounts by then (this sale started from lot 1,051).
It continued to the case that most lots sold albeit not for huge amounts. Lot 1,301 achieved the biggest sale price of any individual lot over the three days – £450.
Lot 1357 was a collection of masonic regalia, and it so happened that a high ranking mason was present in the auction room and bought it.
Lot 1439 was of personal interest but the asking price was too high for me, so I had to let it go.
However, a few moments later I saw a more satisfactory outcome. Lots 1449 and 1450 were military history reference books put in by me (I had only intended to put one lot in, but I was persuaded to try both). I was prepared for these items not to sell, so when the lots went for £12 each (to a room bidder who had looked at them in the flesh) I regarded this as unequivocally good news.
Lot 1449
Lot 1450
There were few more moments of note before the auction ended at lot 1543:
The last of 43 of these map plates that went under the hammer at this auction, the first 70 having gone under the hammer on Monday.
Once the van had been loaded I was able to take my leave, and headed for the Norwich Millennium Library to see what books I could borrow.Â
It was an exhausting three days, but quite satisfying. Monday was a bit quiet and Tuesday exceedingly so, but enough good things happened on Wednesday to make up for this.Â
An account of the first of James and Sons’ two August auctions.
INTRODUCTION
As I have previously mentioned the presence of a Bank Holiday at a crucial time means that James and Sons are having two auctions in August. The first took place yesterday and is the subject of this post. The second will take place on Wednesday, with setup happening on the Tuesday.
THE GOODS
For this first auction, which took place at our own premises on Norwich Street, Fakenham, the following items were going under the hammer:
Coins – lots 1-300
Stamps – lots 301-400
Postal History – lots 401-550
Cigarette Cards – lots 551-650
Postcards – lots 651-807
These lots would take somewhat in excess of five hours to sell at our usual rate of progress.Â
THE DAY FROM MY ANGLE
With viewing advertised as starting from 8AM it was necessary for someone to be present from that hour of the morning. My colleague Andrew would be turning up to assist with the IT setup, which left me with a choice of two options:
Get the 6:23 bus and arrive at the shop very early
Get the 7:30 bus and arrive at the shop a bit later than ideal
Being me I preferred the first option, and duly unlocked the shop at 7:20AM. I made a coffee, checked my personal emails, knocked up a poster to explain what was going on (screenshot and link to original below): 800 LOT AUCTION
The originals were A4 sized – Arial Black 64pt in bold for this interested in such matters, and I produced 3 copies, one for a window towards the town centre end of the shop, one for the window at the opposite end and one to go with the regular closed/open sign on the door which was also set to closed. Next up came transferring everything needed for the setup downstairs, and doing as much as could be done at that stage. Then, just as I decided to turn the downstairs lights on and acknowledge my presence to the world in general my colleague arrived and we were able to complete the set up, and I fetched a couple of extra chairs from behind the shop so that we had seating for five room bidders. When the auctioneer arrived I was then able to connect up both the computers we were using for the auction (one is his laptop), switch them on, log in to the correct screens in each (the operator screen on his laptop which we use as that master computer and the auctioneer screen on the other), get the slideshow going on the big screen and precheck audio and video so that even if no one at atgmedia (they are seriously understaffed) managed to do an official check I would know that they were working. At 9AM the auctioneer asked me to make a preliminary announcement in case anyone was already logged on, so I did so. A second announcement at 9:30 was heard by someone at atgmedia who confirmed that audio and video were working. Just after this our first room bidder arrived and I issued him with a bidding card (and later added his details to our client database as a coin buyer) and gave some advice about car parks (although I am a non-driver I am well acquainted with the ways of car parks in Fakenham, and my advice was sound – if he wants to park free then go to Tesco where he could park free for three hours, which as a coin specialist would be enough to see every lot of interest to him go under the hammer, if happy to pay use the car park behind our shop). At 9:50 I closed down the operator screen on the main computer, and relogged in from scratch, a regular precaution that I take. Finally, the time reached 10:00 and the start of…
THE AUCTION
The coins by and large sold well, with several bidders in the room and some action online. The stamps were quiet although some did sell, including a Chinese stamp which went for £85. The postal history also started quiet, but a large number of the later lots sold to an internet bidder. Some of the cigarette cards sold. There were some good sales among the postcards, and others which attracted no interest elsewhere were knocked down to a postcard dealer with whom the auctioneer has a regular arrangement. Each time an item sold to an online bidder whose name I did not recognize I noted their surname, paddle number and area of interest so that whatever else I have time to do in that respect actual bidders will definitely be added to the client database.Â
The last lot went under the hammer at about 2:30PM, and I then attended to clearing up the IT/ electronic equipment, and as my last work related action of the day sent an email written by the auctioneer to the buyer of postal history regarding some of the earlier lots in that section that he might have missed (he is based in the USA, so the first postal history lots went under the hammer quite early morning his time).Â
In total those items that did sell had a combined hammer price of just over £3,900 which made it a good day. We wait to see what happens on Wednesday.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I will end with some pictures that relate to this post:
The whole stock for this auction in one shot
The coins
The bulky lots down on the ground
postal history and cigarette cards
cigarette cards and postcards
Lot 28 – sold for over double the upper estimate (3 images)
Lot 638 – I thought about bidding on this but decided not to – there is stuff on Wednesday that I want more than I want this.
This is lot 1053, which will be going under the hammer on Wednesday (5 images)
aspiblog 