Tag: Postcards

Special Post: Southfields

INTRODUCTION

This is the latest post in a series I have been running on this blog called “London Station by Station“. This particular post as you will see has extra special relevance, and could only go up this morning. I hope you will enjoy it and be encouraged to share it.

THE HOME OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST TENNIS TOURNAMENT

Yes folks, Wimbledon is upon us once more. As usual, full coverage will be being provided by the BBC. Southfields, the third to last stop going south on the Wimbledon branch of the District line, opened in 1889 (so after William Renshaw’s seven titles) is the local station for these championships, as this reproduction of an old poster shows…

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As someone who grew up in South West London this tournament has particular meaning for me. I only got to see it at the venue once, but have always followed the tournament as closely as circumstances allow.

When I first started following the tournament in the mid 1980s a Brit in the second round was cause for banner headlines. These days things are rather different, although in the Men’s game there remains a veritable “Ginnunga Gap” between Murray and the next best Brit. Things are definitely looking up for British Women though, with Johanna Konta reaching the quarter-finals at Eastbourne last week and only going out to the eventual champion Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, and Heather Watson also playing well.

During the Eastbourne coverage, various displays showing people’s possible progress if all went to plan were shown, but I paid little attention because if I learned anything from 30 years of following tennis it is that one thing that does not happen is things going according to plan. If I was a betting person I would put money on at least one of the seeds being a goner by the end of day 1.

This stretch of line includes one of only two places where London Underground trains cross the Thames by way of  a bridge (the other is on the Richmond branch of the District line).

As usual with these posts I finish with a couple of map pics…

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The full map, spread out.
The full map, spread out.

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Yesterdays Auction: A Personal Account

Before getting to the main meat of post I have a few links to share with you.

LINKS

My first link is to a devastating expose of the bogus organisation Autism Speaks, courtesy of The Art of Autism.

My next link, for those of a scientific bent is to an interesting post on Faraday’s Candle.

My last two links are related, in that they refer to the necessity of making sure that on this day next week Downing Street is the scene of an eviction. First of all, a piece focussing on the NHS. Secondly, and accompanied by the picture that is at it’s heart comes this expose of just how vile the Tories are courtesy of Vox Political.

Despicable Tory Poster

YESTERDAY’S AUCTION

I have already written about the presence of a display for the Great Centenary Charity Auction on their website. Here is a single picture to whet your appetite for that…

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A combination of the necessity of being on a bus that was due to leave at 7:00AM and wanting have lots of time to make my preparations before setting off meant that I rose at a ludicrously early hour (suffice to say that even with summer approaching and the cricket season well under way I was up before the sun).

The presence of TV cameras filming Antiques Road Trip meant that I felt obliged to dress for the occasion, wearing a previously unworn shirt, a tie and a smart jacket that I knew would go with the shirt. I knew I would be on camera, because I was going to be on the rostrum next to the auctioneer when the road trip lots were going under the hammer. We were also providing training to a colleague, who did a couple of stints on the rostrum, immediately before the break to set up for the road trip stuff, and taking over after the road trip section had finished to do the final furlong (well we were at a racecourse!).

The two experts, Charlie Ross and James Braxton, both made a point of shaking hands with David and myself before leaving. It will be interesting when it finally goes out on air to see how it all looks.

After a quiet start, with the postcards doing nothing and the banknotes not all that much, things did pick up. I got one set of bookmarks, although not the ones I had really wanted.

The auction finished as expected just before 3:30PM, and then it was just a matter of clearing up. Finally, at 4:50PM the last van load was dealt with, giving me time for a pint at the Bull Inn, Bridge Street before catching the bus home.

I finally got back to my flat almost exactly 12 hours after setting out. A change of clothes, a quick call at my Aunts house to pick up the post and see if the plants needed any watering (they did not – it had evidently rained in King;s Lynn earlier in the day) and I was finally able to switch off.

Here are some pictures from the auction room before things got underway properly…

Antiques Road Trip lots on display
Antiques Road Trip lots on display
All the Antiques Road Trip Lots are visible in this shot.
All the Antiques Road Trip Lots are visible in this shot.
The view from the rostrum.
The view from the rostrum.
The front cover lot.
The front cover lot.
The view from the back of the room
The view from the back of the room
Precious items in this auction.
Precious items in this auction.

Setting Up One Auction and Imaging for Another

This morning I helped with getting tomorrow’s auction set up at Fakenham Racecourse, and took the opportunity of photographing this display of uniforms, which will be part of a stall advertising the Great Centenary Charity Auction, on whose twitter account I have already posted it…

UniformsThen, for the afternoon I was engaged in imaging lots for the May sale. There a some interesting items to image, a selection of which I now share with you…

455 455a 455b 457 457a 457b 457c 459 459a 459b 459c 459d 472 472a 472b 620 620a 622 622a 622b 622c 642 642a 642b 642c 464 464a 464bIn ascending order the lots featured above are 455 (Nature), 457 (Glastonbury), 459 (Robert Hooke – among many other things author of Micrographia, one of the first books ever written about the use of the microscope), 464 (Edmond Halley, a near contemporary of Hooke, now best known for the comet that bears his name), 472 (Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”), 620 (Alderney “Womble” stamps), 622 (Nassau Postcard with stamp and postmark) and 642 (Nepal postcard, with stamp and postmark).

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Two Very Hectic Days

As usual, before getting into the main meat of this post I have some links to share with you.

LINKS

First of all, I urge everyone to sign and/ or share Joanne Fowler’s petition about the treatment of her 93 year old father.

The only other link I am sharing with you today is courtesy of Vox Political and while I would the first to acknowledge that Tory lies are no longer (if they ever were), the stuff of headlines, the scale and extent of the lying that Mike Sivier exposes is even by the standards of the political home of Mr Shapps/Green/Fox scandalous as the full post reveals.

When I wrote my intro to the Mike Sivier piece it was going to be the last link I included, but this story from the Independent about food banks, which I picked up via twitter was too important not to include – it exposes the sheer nastiness of how the DWP conducts itself these days.

TWO HECTIC DAYS

I was aware that Thursday and Friday were going to be hectic, since I had decided to attend an evening meeting in Norwich (of which more in a later post) in between two work days, and on the Friday evening I would be calling in at my parents house to pick up the post since they are currently away in Greece. What I did not factor in was losing half an hour at Castle Meadow, central Norwich not because a bus failed to show, but because the bus did show but failed to stop! This is at a very important stop, and with me approaching the bus with the fare already in my hand ready to hand over. I absolve Norfolk Green as a company of any blame for this incident, especially given the high standards of service I have generally received over a decade of being a regular user of their buses, but they clearly have at least one rogue driver. This meant that instead of arriving at my desk at 9:30 and being able to ease into Friday’s work I arrived on the dot of 10 and had to get stuck in rather quicker. Also, the down-time immediately post work was reduced by the necessity of getting a haircut (being on the rostrum with Antiques Road Trip filming and having a jungle on top of my head would not have been a great idea!).

Thursday was taken up with imaging in the main, although I did get a press release out early in the day, and created a poster near the end of they day. This was to advertise an antique Enfield-Snider percussion cap rifle which will be in the May auction (n.b. it is of a calibre that is no longer manufactured and hence can no longer be used as a firearm)…

poster

Much of the rest of Thursday’s imaging was mundane stuff, but some is worth sharing…

252 252a 253 253a 253b 255 255a 255b 341 341a 535 558a 558b 719 719a 719b 721 721a 721b

Friday morning was taken up with imaging lots for a Timed Bid auction, conducted via www.the-saleroom.com, not many of which were of any great interest. In the afternoon, in between starting to load the van ready for going down to the Racecourse on Tuesday, I imaged a handful of lots which needed special attention…

This gold coin, lot 218 in our May auction, was a particular challenge as it had to be imaged through plastic casing.
This gold coin, lot 218 in our May auction, was a particular challenge as it had to be imaged through plastic casing.

218a 218b

The only other imaging I got done in the afternoon was of the Soviet Union badges which comprise the last three images of this post.
The only other imaging I got done in the afternoon was of the Soviet Union badges which comprise the last three images of this post.

301 302

Yesterday at James and Sons

This is the first of two blog post I shall be putting up in the course of today. The other relates to an important meeting that I attended in Norwich last night. I have three things to cover from yesterday at work, after I have shared a few links with you…

LINKS

My first link is to a very interesting post in support of the tax dodging bill.

The other links I am sharing here rather than saving for my next post are all concerned with petition seeking to get Katie Hopkins sacked, about which I have already blogged. At present it has just passed 270,000 signatures, as you can see by visiting its home page. As well as the petition, complaints have been flooding in to IPSO, the press watchdog – more details can be found by checking out this piece from Huffington Post. Finally, both Ms Hopkins and the editor of the filthy rag that published her imitation of the Third Reich have been reported for incitement to racial hatred – more details in this piece from The Independent.

YESTERDAY AT WORK

My day at work yesterday featured three different strands, a press release, the official post about which can be viewed on the James and Sons website. I now reproduce the jpg version of the original document and a link to the word document…

Antiques Road Trip

The composite image I created for the press release.
The composite image I created for the press release.
The press release in picture form.
The press release in picture form.

The second strand was resolving queries, which involved taking a picture of some old writing so that it could be sent to someone for translation, and also getting some close ups of stamps to resolve a query about lot 491 in our April sale…

DSCN4132 DSCN4133 DSCN4134 DSCN4135 DSCN4136 DSCN4137 DSCN4138

Finally, the greatest part of my day was spent imaging new stuff for our May auction (27th, Maids Head Hotel, Norwich):

511 518 518a 519 519a 520 520a 520b 525 525b 525c 526 526a 529 529a 537 708 708a 758a 760b 760c 760d 774a 774b 774e

Please share widely and do look out for my next post which will be about the Save Ashcroft Campaign.

A Pot Pourri of Pics (and other stuff)

As I prepare for another day at work, I am listening to commentary from the Cricket World Cup. Bangladesh are giving a good account of themselves against New Zealand in Hamilton, while in between rain breaks in Sydney England look like finishing a truly appalling world cup campaign with victory over Afghanistan (maybe they should accept Cricket Japan’s invite to stop by for a few games on the way home!)

The pictures I will be sharing at various points in this post are from two sources, imaging for the March Auction (now practically complete) and some pics from in and around King’s Lynn. At some point in the future I will be putting up a post about architectural features to be found in the village of East Rudham, having recently taken some good pics there.

A lot of the imaging I did on Tuesday was of banknotes in albums, but a few other bits got in there as well…

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This was one of a quantity of these that made up lot 349
This was one of a quantity of these that made up lot 349

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This lot could appeal to postcard collecotrs, but also to those interested in stamps and postal history, so I have covered all bases!
This lot could appeal to postcard collecotrs, but also to those interested in stamps and postal history, so I have covered all bases!

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My Wednesday morning walk was fitted in between the cricket commentary finishing and meeting my mother to go to East Rudham for lunch, photographing architecture, providing a tutorial in MS Access and finally playing bridge at the Jolly Sailors. This latter was enjoyable in spite of the fact that I had the kind of luck that should be toasted in extra bitter Fernet Branca!. At 5p a hundred I ended up £1.30 down on the evening – and on the three hands on which I was declarer I made two of the contracts and went one down undoubled on the other. Here are some of the highlights from the walk…

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I will  finish by showing you some images from yesterday’s mop-up operation…

I don't normally image single coins, but the person who usually does them was not around at the time I located this one, so I did it.
I don’t normally image single coins, but the person who usually does them was not around at the time I located this one, so I did it.
Imaging it the way I did meant I automatically had close-ups of each face - and if you've got 'em, use 'em
Imaging it the way I did meant I automatically had close-ups of each face – and if you’ve got ’em, use ’em

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The next three items, lots 419,428 and 429 are sold with the usual caveats attendant on German militaria - at the buyer's own risk.
The next three items, lots 419,428 and 429 are sold with the usual caveats attendant on German militaria – at the buyer’s own risk.

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Now come two lots of scenic postcards for each of what I produced two images.
Now come two lots of scenic postcards for each of what I produced two images.

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This map is lot 719
This map is lot 719
Lot 726 (This, and the remaining three pics) is very nice.
Lot 726 (This, and the remaining three pics) is very nice.

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Two Days at James and Sons

Yesterday at James and Sons was devoted to finishing the imaging for the January auction (Jan 28th 2014, Fakenham Racecourse). It is in the nature of last items to be imaged that they are not the most interesting, but there were some good ones in there…

This is one of five images of lot 324
This is one of five images of lot 324
This is one of five images from lot 325.
This is one of five images from lot 325.

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The next four images are of lot 601
The next four images are of lot 601

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This is lot 736 - the map is in the frame at right angles to the normal orientation.
This is lot 736 – the map is in the frame at right angles to the normal orientation.
The next five images are from lot 780. a giant scrapbook full of beer mats
The next five images are from lot 780. a giant scrapbook full of beer mats

???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????Today however was a much more varied day. The morning was devoted to the heavy work of clearing the alleyway behind the shop (our neighbours in Fakenham who I won’t name had failed a fire inspection). Thereafter a new advertising board to replace the clapped out and out of date one was constructed (I did some of the selection and layout work, my colleague Andrew then assembled it) – I have a picture of it laid out ready for construction and one of it standing in the shop window, both of which I have tweeted out to my followers on @aspitweets…

The new advertising board, ready for assembly.
The new advertising board, ready for assembly.
The new advertising board in the shop window.
The new advertising board in the shop window.

The imaging for February only involved four lots, but some needed multiple images as you will see below…

The first four images are of Lot 1 in the February auction
The first four images are of Lot 1 in the February auction

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The next two images are from lot 103
The next two images are from lot 103
This postcard album is lot 102 in the February auction.
This postcard album is lot 102 in the February auction.

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Lot 101 for February warranted no fewer than eight images.
Lot 101 for February warranted no fewer than eight images.

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An Important Press Release, Twitter Following hits Four Figures and National Autism Day

An important press release made available for you.
A celebration of having reached 1,000 twitter followers.
An announcement of National Autism Day (incl mention of @AutismDay)

An otherwise mundane working day was livened up by creating a post-auction press release with an embedded image. The entire document and every image I used are in the added media. Although mention was made of other areas of interest and of our next auction (Jan 28th) the raison d’etre for this press release was to emphasise the triumph of the U-Boat Commanders Binoculars.

At lunch time today, courtesy of @charity_today, @aspitweets reached a very significant twitter landmark: 1,000 followers (I checked on my personal twitter with one hand while eating sandwiches with the other). I reckon that 55 days to reach 1,000 followers is good going for a non-celebrity.

Linked to the above is an announcement of something I found via twitter: National Autism Day, which will be held for the first time on June 5th 2015. The official twitter account is: @AutismDay and the more publicity the better.

Now for the press release and attendant images…

The binocs lying flat
The binocs lying flat
The binocs standing up.
The binocs standing up.
The composite image that went in the press release.
The composite image that went in the press release.
The banner type heading used for the press release
The banner type heading used for the press release
A jpg of the final press release.
A jpg of the final press release.

Press Release

Preparing for one auction and imaging for another

A split day today, partly setting up tomorrow’s auction down at Fakenham Racecourse and partly imaging for the December auction back at the shop. A full catalogue for tomorrow’s auction can be viewed at http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/james-and-son-auctioneers/catalogue-id-2901720, and if you cannot get to Fakenham tomorrow you can also register to bid online at www.the-saleroom.com.

My main imaging task today was producing pictures for the back cover of the next catalogue, some of the highlights being included below. I also imaged some postal history lots after this with what was left of the day.

Now for some pictures…

This is lot 1 in the December sale.
This is lot 1 in the December sale.

165 173 310 312 316 586

This is a composite of five coin lots which I scanned at the same time before separating out.
This is a composite of five coin lots which I scanned at the same time before separating out.

6 7 13

Imaging With Three Different Cameras

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…

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