Tag: Railwayana

A Very Successful Three Day Auction

An account of James and Sons auction, which took place on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

INTRODUCTION

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week James and Sons had its second ever three day auction. This one had the additional twist that two different venues were being used, our own premises in Fakenham on days 1 and 2 and the Maids Head Hotel, Norwich on day 3. 

DAY 1: FAKENHAM

I caught the 7:30 bus from Lynn to Fakenham, thus arriving at James and Sons at just before 8:30AM (this bus doubles as a school bus, so follows a more circuitous route from Lynn to Fakenham than the usual X29 route and therefore takes 15 minutes longer to make the journey than a regular bus). Thus I was able to get the setup done in plenty of time, and the auction got underway at the appointed hour of 10AM. On this day stamps, postal history and first day covers were being sold. There were a couple of room bidders, and thankfully large numbers of online bidders (over 250 by the end of day 3). Although there were not many things going for big amounts of money a lot of stuff did sell, and the auction had started well. I have no pictures from day 1 of this auction, but here are some images of items that will be going under the hammer in our March auction, which will be on the 27th, 28th and 29th of that month. 

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These first two pictures of lot 1031 in the March auction, which has an interesting story. This item is a grass sledge, designed and built by a craftsman in Sussex for use on the Downs.

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The remaining images here are cigarette cards photographed after day 1 of the auction finished and before I went home.

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DAY 2: FAKENHAM

The routine was the same as on day 1, but the items under the hammer were different. This day featured photographs, postcards, a few books, records, ephemera, Liebig cards, cigarette cards, cheques and coin first day covers. For most of the day there was no one present at the venue who was not a James and Sons employee, but the internet was very lively for much of the time. I had two moments of good fortune. The first featured…

LOT 864

Here are the official images of this lot:

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My opening bid of £10 was unopposed, and here are the photographs I took this morning showing the entire booklet in all its glory:

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About 10 minutes later we got to…

LOT 891

Here is the image gallery for this lot:

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My opening bid of £8 again went uncontested, and here is a much more comprehensive set of pictures of this lot…

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We start with front and back images of the cards in sets of six (the complete set contains 30)

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Then we have close ups of some of the more interesting cards – this one is Richard Trevithick’s Pen-y-Darren (that y is pronounced roughly as a “uh” sound), the first commercially operated steam locomotive ever. Steam engine technology predates this by approximately 1800 years – Heron of Alexandria designed a steam operated device for opening temple doors.

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The most famous of all the very early locos – Stephenson’s rocket.

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This Metropolitan Railway locomotive was designed specifically for operating in tunnels.

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Luxury travel on the Brighton Belle

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I travelled on this stock when I visited Scotland in 1993.
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The only other stock in this set of 30 that I have travelled on, the legendary Intercity 125.

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Overall this was a better day than we had expected – there were only a few quiet spots.

DAY 3: NORWICH

The fact that we were in Norwich for the final day of this auction meant that the stuff had to be loaded up to be transported over there, which was done at the end of day 2. It also meant that since I was going to have be in Norwich earlier than I could get there using the X29 that I claimed £5.50 in excess travel expenses as the cost of travelling there on the First Eastern Counties X1 is £11 as opposed to £5.50 if I can use the Stagecoach X29 route.

As intended I left my flat at 5:15AM and was on the 5:30 bus from King’s Lynn to Norwich, arriving at the venue at 7:30. I had my laptop with me because James and Sons were one laptop short (two working machines when we needed three). The setup was just about completed before the first viewers started turning up, and there were no issues of any sort. 

Here are some photos from that early period:

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This item sold for a fair amount of money.
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The rostrum – the black machine belongs to my employer, and we ran the operator screen (my responsibility) from it, while the white machine is mine, and we ran the auctioneer screen from that.

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Only a few of these big stamp lots sold, although both helmets found buyers.

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A distant view of the main display area, and visible through the window, the wall of the Cathedral Close.

THE FIRST PART OF THE SALE – COINS & BANKNOTES

There were no headline making prices, but most of these lots sold, some doing very well. We had decided to have a 15 minute break after lot 1,300 (we started the day at lot 1,000). Just before the end of the session we came to some commemorative medallions from the Gigantic Wheel, which was a feature of Earls Court between 1897 and 1906. The first was lot 1,286, which I ignored as being beyond my means. Lot 1287 however, which was only a little inferior in quality was cheaper, and my bid of £10 duly secured it. Here for comparative purposes are first the official images, scanned at 600 dpi and brightened up a bit, and then the two photographs I took today:

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For auction purposes I scan each face and then produce a combined image as well as c,lose ups of each face

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The photographs from earlier today.

 

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For the record, these medallions are approximately the same size as a Queen Victoria penny.

THE SECOND PART: MILITARIA AND STAMPS

The Militaria sold well. A chess set with German markings achieved barely credible £170. Here is the official image gallery:

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Plenty of other things did well as well. The stamps predictably enough did not fare very well, but everything else had done enough that the auction was an unequivocal success.

AFTER THE SALE

I had considered staying on in Norwich to attend a Green Party public meeting at which Richard Murphy would be speaking, but in the end after three demanding days I was too tired to even contemplate not being home until 11PM which is what that would have meant, and so after a visit to Norwich Millennium Library I took the bus home, arriving back in my flat just after 6PM.

A Large Collection of Locomotive Cards

Some detail about my latest acquisition.

INTRODUCTION

Those of you who have read my post about James and Sons’ First Ever Three Day Auction will recall that after missing out on lot 141 I was successful on lot 789 on day 2. I have now been through the boxful of cards and the remainder of this post will outline what I found.

WHAT EVERYONE SAW

The description read “Locomotives – quantity in OXO tin, mostly VG to EX. The official images were:

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The whole item.
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Close focus on some of the cards.

THE FULL ANALYSIS

The total range of locomotives covered by this series of cards is only 24, there are 147 individual cards in the tin, plus a stray cigarette card that slipped in there. I am not complaining about duplicates because the circumstances in which these cards were issued makes each one unique, even though many display the same .locomotives. 

THE LONDON PASSENGER TRANSPORT BOARD (LPTB)

There was only one of their locomotives in the collection, and it appears six times. The remaining images are shown in ’tiled mosaic’ form – click on individual pic to view at full size.

THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY (GWR)

Five different samples of rolling stock, and a total of 27 cards, constituted as follows: Lulworth Castle x 6, Diesel Car x 7, County of Middlesex x 6, King George V x 3, Garth Hall x 5.

SOUTHERN RAILWAY (SR)

Not to be confused with todays #SouthernFail, this set featured six locomotives and a total of 30 cards, constituted as follows:
London-Paris Boat Train x 1, Q Class Goods Locomotive x 8, Lord Nelson x 3, West Country Class “Bude” x 3, Merchant Navy Class “Channel Packet” x 7, Schools Class “Radley” x 8.

LONDON, MIDLAND & SCOTTISH (LMS)

Six locomotives featured, 39 cards in total, constituted as follows: The Glasgow Highlander x 8, The Duchess of Sutherland x 6, The City of Birmingham x 7, Royal Scots Fusilier x 8, City of Edinburgh x 6, JP Class Turbine Locomotive x 4.

THE LONDON AND NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY (LNER)

Six locomotives featured for this railway, accounting for 45 cards, constituted as follows: B Class “Roederer” x 9, LI Class no 9000 x 6, Mixed Traffic Electric Locomotive x 7, Edward Thompson x 10, A4 Class Mallard x 7, Beyer-Garratt Locomotive no 9999 x 6.

THE STRAY

The black sheep of my newly acquired collection is no 42 in a 48 card series of Army Badge cigarette cards:

CONCLUSION

This is a very intriguing collection of cards, and a most worthy addition to my collection of railwayana. Here is one final image showing the collection in its box post sorting:

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A Couple of Winter Pics

Some winter pictures – enjoy!

INTRODUCTION

On Sunday Anna put up a post showing some winter pictures from Sweden. Now I am putting up a couple of winter pictures from here in Norfolk.

PICTURES

Here are the pictures…

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A spider web highlighted by droplets of water.
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Moss growing on the wall the bounds my outside area.
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Detail from King’s Lynn library.
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Not bad for £4 plus commission! These last two pictures are of my most recent railway themed acquisition.

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The September Auction and a Sneak Preview of Some October Items

An account of james and Sons’ September auction, with a spotlight on the October auction.

INTRODUCTION

James and Sons’ September auction took place this Wednesday at Fakenham Racecourse, while apart from on that day my recent work has mainly been focussed on the October auction (Wednesday 26th, Maids Head Hotel, Norwich.

THE SEPTEMBER AUCTION

I was not involved with setting this auction up on the Tuesday due to having other work to do back at base, but I did make a flying visit to the racecourse that day to resolve some queries that people had raised at the last minute about auction items (one potential customer wanted an image that had been missed and another wanted a detailed condition report on pair of vintage spectacles – the fact that both items sold to the customers who had made the inquiries was final proof that their queries had been resolved). That just left…

THE DAY OF THE AUCTION

My work day did not get off to the best of starts, because I fell victim to a recent timetable change and arrived at the racecourse a little later than I would have liked (I now have a copy of the timetable that will come into force from this Sunday). Fortunately there were no serious issues with the IT, and the auction started on time.

INADEQUATE COVER

With the auctioneer needing regular breaks from the rostrum, and the only person capable of substituting for him being also the only person who could substitute for my role on the rostrum I was at my post while the first 650 lots went under the hammer, finally getting to consume my sandwiches at 2:20PM, before resuming my post for the last 50 or so lots (the auction ended at lot 781). This, combined with the heavy lifting work at the end, made for an exhausting and stressful day.

THE TALE OF THE HAMMER

The auction began with banknotes and coins, which fared pretty well overall. Then there were a large number of stamp lots, which predictably enough did not attract huge attention (www.the-saleroom.com while good for many things are poor on stamps, and there were not many people there in the room). After that there were a variety of different items, some of which sold well. In among the medley of items in this middle and latter part of the auction was lot 461, four decorative plates produced by Coalport, all in their original boxes with paperwork. This might not sound like the kind of lot to catch the photographer’s eye, but the the images below may provide some explanation…

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My opening bid of £12 proved sufficient to secure the items (I had prepared for the possibility of success by bringing a stout, empty, fabric bag with me to transport them).

The auction ended with some ‘Bradbury’ stamp pages, which may as well not have gone under the hammer at all since by then there was no one left in the room save staff.

Overall it was a successful sale.

THE CLEAR UP

While two of my colleagues took a few items to our storage unit near the village of Syderstone (principally the rostrum and the stools that we sit on behind it) I moved as much stuff as I could (almost all of it) over to the door so that it could be loaded straight on to the van once they were back. The van duly loaded it was time to head back into town, and thanks to my colleague dropping me on Oak Street I was just able to catch the 16:38 bus home. The bus to work yesterday morning was 20 minutes late leaving King’s Lynn, so by the time I arrived there were a mere five boxes of stuff left to carry in to the building, a task I accomplished in not much more time than it took the kettle to boil for my coffee.

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SPOTLIGHT ON OCTOBER

Wednesday apart, since September 15 I have been engaged on a major project at work – describing and imaging a vast number of posters – a task that is not quite finished, but which is responsible for almost 250 lots so far. The first 230 or so of these lots were film posters, ranging in size from a colossal 40 inches by 30 to 16.5 inches by 16.5. Here are a few examples…

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This poster is definitely worth money.

497

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This is an example of a double sided poster – one side facing inside, the other with mirror writing on it designed to show in a passing driver’s mirror.

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Yesterday, after a few more film posters I finally got some variety…

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I particularly appreciated this poster and the next.

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James and Sons July Auction

An account of yesterday’s auction, complete with photos, a link to a book review and a (well-merited) swipe at Stagecoach.

INTRODUCTION

This is my account of the latest auction held by my employers, James and Sons, which took place yesterday at the Maid’s Head Hotel in Norwich.

THE JOURNEY IN

Stagecoach, who have subsumed Norfolk Green, have very recently and without anything approaching proper communication cut a large number of services. One casualty of this piece of axe wielding is the 6:10 AM from King’s Lynn to Fakenham, which used to become the 6:55 from Fakenham to Norwich, and would see me arrive at the venue around about 8am, as needed. Fortunately, having been alerted to the mayhem while at work on Tuesday I had the foresight to check the timetables posted at King’s Lynn Bus Station and was able to come up with a back-up plan – I bought a single ticket on the X1 to Dereham and Norwich which is run by First Eastern Counties, departing at 5:55am and was in Norwich at the appointed time. This single fare and the single fare back from Fakenham (having travelled from Norwich to Fakenham as a passenger in the company van) amounted to £10 between them (£6 and £4 respectively) instead of £5.50 for a Dayrider Plus, to say nothing of the uncertainty created by the ham-fisted way in which these cuts were made. Surely if significant cuts to services are to be made (and I consider cutting what was the first bus of the morning on a particular route to be significant on its own – and I also know that half of the services that used to run between Fakenham and Norwich have been axed) the announcement should be made long in advance of the cuts happening, and every bus travelling on an affected route should be well stocked with new timetables that accurately reflect the planned reduction in services. Also, especially given the parlous state of public transport services in Norfolk, I consider any cuts to be unacceptable in any case.

THE LAYOUT

With people arriving to view stuff not long after we had got there, there was not a lot of scope laying stuff out artistically, especially given how much of it there was, but a couple of areas were reasonably well done nevertheless…

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Part of the toy display – inside that suitcase marked is lot 363 was a large collection of items of rolling stock.
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A little cluttered, but at least the three smartest hats got due prominence.

THE SALE ITSELF

I am glad to be able to report that there were no IT issues at any stage of the sale. While the coins & tokens, some of the militaria and some of the ephemera sold well, the stamps did not go well, and the vinyls did less well than we would have liked.

Once the auction finished we picked out all the stuff that had sold to bidders not in the room, loaded the van up for the return journey and were able to head back. I was able to catch the 17:38 rather than have the dicey prospect of relying on the 18:35 not having been cut (if they can cut the first bus of the day, why not the last?). However, I was not yet at liberty to relax – there was still the matter of watering a few plants at Hampton Court, Nelson Street. Thus, it was almost exactly 14 hours after I had left my flat that my time was my own again.

MY ROLE AND LOT 450

There are two members of James and Sons staff who can manage the IT during the auction, so we swap duties during the day (auction days are the only time I regularly do front-line customer service). My colleague did an IT session between lots 200 and 300, at which point we had a scheduled break. I then did the first 75 lots after the break, before swapping for 100 lots or so, for a period when a few things I was interested in were coming up, before I then went back to IT duties until the end of the sale.

The first items that I was interested in were five sets of railway postcards, lots 391-5:

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These as expected went beyond my possible price range. Next to command attention was lot 403, a book of views of Cambridge:

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Again, to no great surprise this rapidly went beyond my price range.

The next items of interest were some antique maps, which I was fully aware I would not be able to afford but enjoyed seeing go under the hammer. This set the stage for the last lot to command my interest, and unlike any of the foregoing it was one that I was determined to get if at all possible. Lot 450, “The Bus We Loved: London’s Affair With the Routemaster”, was not an item that I as someone who runs a London transport themed website could happily countenance going elsewhere. There was a mini bidding war as someone else was also interested, but when I went to £10 that secured the item. For more about the book please visit my review of it that is on my website.

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SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

Yesterday was a very demanding day, both physically and mentally. However, everything went fairly smoothly. Given the Stagecoach schemozzle referred to earlier, the travel element of the day was as good as I could have hoped for.

 

 

Off to Marxism 2016

An announcement relating to the next five days, accompanied by some photographs.

This is by way of an alert for my followers. Between now and Monday I will be in London attending Marxism 2016, and my computer access will be sporadic at best. Here are some pictures to accompany this brief announcement…

Brexitia
I found this map in a post by Mike Sivier at Vox Political, and he found it on twitter.
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Lot 497 at yesterday’s auction – a bargain at £10 – splendid pics of trains.
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The next five images are close-ups of pictures from lot 497

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Flowerhead
A flowerhead with an insect in attendance
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Close up extracted from the foregoing image showing the insect and the centre of the flower.

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A Selection of Images

After my last post was pure text I suppose you c ould describes this one as compensating for the photographic deficit!

INTRODUCTION

As well as items that feature in James and Sons July Auction I have some pictures taken in my own time to share.

AUCTION LOTS

The images here are some of those I have produced since Thursday…

Now for some…

NON-AUCTION PICS

SNAILS

These snails were brought out by early monring rain yesterday.

Moving on to a rather more garecful creature beginning with s…

SWALLOW

These three pictures all come from the same original shot, edited differently. Swallows like flying low over the Nar outfall, although they still fly very fast, hence this being my first successful shot of one.

A MIXED BAG TO FINISH

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The first of five pictures from the Five Greatest Warriors (Matthew Reilly) to appear here – this is Genghis Khan’s shield, depiciting the six temple shrines wherein a pillar has to be placed – by the time West gains possession of this item two of the pillars have been successfully placed.
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Descriptions of all six vertices in the Word of Thoth, a language comprehensible only to the Siwan oracles

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The first of two decorative plates in the window of the Salvation Army shop.

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A bee – we need more of these!

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Trials and Tribulations

An account of recent events at James and Sons.

INTRODUCTION

Yesterday was James and Sons’ May auction, at Fakenham Racecourse, and today we had a badge sale at our shop in Fakenham.

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WEDNESDAY

Our main auction was blighted by problems with the internet connection at the venue. Eventually we relocated the auction itself to Cool Roxy, the owners and trainers bar, while leaving the stock in the Prince of Wales Suite. This left us way behind schedule. Nevertheless, the sale was very successful, with five pieces of postcard artwork accompanied by sample postcards by a man called Twelvetrees selling phenomenally well, some old vinyl records selling well (a Black Sabbath recording went for £340), and many other items faring well. Among the lesser lights a book of photographs from King’s Lynn’s past went for just £4 (it goes well with my substantial digital archive of pictures from King’s Lynn’s present thank you), while a Cornwall Polytechnic Society medallion featuring a bust of James Watt (he after whom the unit of power is named, and who along with his distant predecessor Heron of Alexandria, his closer predecessor Thomas Newcomen and his near contemporary Richard Trevithick played a key role in the development of the steam engine, the first power source for locomotives) went for £11. In amongst all this I had to get images of the reverse sides of the some of the badges being sold today to resolve queries.

Overall, the early problems not withstanding it was a successful day, and here are some photos…

These helmet plates all did well
The model aerolplane was another success
The model soldiers (of which we had vast numbers in various lots) also went down well.
These mounted soldiers were one lot
The Twelvetrees artwork and sample postcards referred to in the text.
This map piqued my interest but was beyond my means.
This barometer has seen almost as many auctions as I have, but this time it found a buyer.
Had this been being sold individually instead of as part of a much larger lot I would have been interested.
A plastic case full of fishing flies, of which this is just a sample, sold.
The medallion referred to in the text.

TODAY

Today’s sale proceeded smoothly. Although no huge prices were recorded a number of items did better than expected. Overall therefore I think we can say it was a successful week, although very draining (especially yesterday).

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
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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:

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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:

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The front of the pass.
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The back of the pass.
Erie Railroad
Both sides of the pass.

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:

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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:

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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…

PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE THE PETITION!

SOME FINAL PHOTOGRAPHS

To finish, here are some more photographs…

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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

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

 

A TWO DAY AUCTION

An account of James and Sons auction on March 3oth and 31st, with some other stuff at the end.

INTRODUCTION

As the main part of this post, about James and Sons’ March auction (I am also sharing a few other bits at the end) develops it will become obvious why I am doing it now as one big post, and why I have posted very little these last few days.

PART 1: THE PRELIMINARIES (TUESDAY)

With the auction scheduled for Wednesday 30th (lots 1-699) and Thursday 31st (Lots 700-1051) the setup at the venue (The Prince of Wales Suite, Fakenham Racecourse) had to be accomplished on the Tuesday. This day did not require any earlier start than a regular work day would, and although a lot of heavy lifting was involved (a thousand plus lot auction, four people fit to do serious carrying) it was less draining than the other two days.

PART TWO: DAY 1 (WEDNESDAY)

I had to be at the venue by 8AM, which meant leaving my flat at 6:30AM to be sure of catching the 6:50 bus, to make sure that the IT setup was working and to assist with the viewing the precedes the sale. A couple of technical  hitches at the start aside the day went smoothly. There were some great successes, although the flag that we had hoped would raise serious money did not attract a bid high enough to warrant selling it. The books tanked, as anyone with any experience of books at auction would have expected. Lot 466 fell to me, and lot 494, five volumes on Buildings of Scotland, found its way to East Rudham. Here are some pictures from day 1 at the venue…

This was still in the sky when I left my flat on the Wednesday morning!
Not one of ours – one the racecourse’s own pictures)
The view from the rostrum
The rostrum before the auction started.
This shell has been interestingly decorated, although it would still have looked better when it was on a turtle’s back.
The flag
A building frontage in Bridge Street, Fakenham that I had not previously noticed.

After the sale had concluded it was time to get the unsold lots from day 1 back to the shop (and they had to go on the top floor of the shop, including four plastic tubs full of back issues of Private Eye magazine). Then finally, work was done for the day.

PART THREE: DAY 2 (THURSDAY)

Fortunately I was able to set off an hour later than on the first day as although I would still have to do some preliminary IT stuff there were unlikely to be many viewers present (and indeed there weren’t). The internet was still very lively however, and a number of the early commemorative and proof coins on this second day sold exceptionally well. The stamps and postal history did not shine especially brightly. Lot 920, an Isambard Kingdom Brunel £2 set, went to me. The last lot went under the hammer just before 12:00, after which it was time for the clear-up. Once we had the first van load back at the shop we stopped for lunch, before doing the unloading, heading back to the racecourse for the last bits and getting them back. At this point there was a break from heavy lifting, during which I obtained a full printed list of those who had signed up to bid via http://www.the-saleroom.com, which ran to a James and Sons record 277 (paddle numbers 400-676 inclusive). There was a little bit more lifting to do before the end of my day, as it was necessary to get some stuff ready for loading for a collectors fair on the morrow. I have some pictures from day 2 as well…

One of theirs again!
This tapestry is also theirs.
Caravans parked where on race days there would be bookies.
Golfers in action, srrounded by the racecourse (hence no golf on racedays – a mishit shot might do more than frighten the horses!)
Che Simnor auditioning for the role of security guard!
An item on display in the shop.
The Fakenham Sign

A FINAL THOUGHT ON THE AUCTION

I have not previously been involved in running a two-day auction, and it was an incredibly tiring three days. However, the auction was very successful.

LOTS 466 AND 920

These were the two lots I bid on, and I got both. Both lots attracted my attention because of my special interest (in the best autism circles we do not use the word obsession) in railways (and indeed public transport generally – check out my website www.londontu.be).

LOT 466

This was a rail atlas of Britain, dating from around 1980 (Blake Hall station was open so it is pre-1982, but that whole section of the Central line – Epping– Ongar – was already being considered for closure), and it is very detailed, showing goods and passenger lines. Here are pictures, starting with the images that were available at auction and finishing with some later shots…

466
This was the image that people saw during the auction – the front cover
466-a
The three images starting with this one were also available to internet viewers.

466-b466-c

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A picture showing the Ongar page – and note where the Chelmsford oage continues to…
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The page from which this picture comes…
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A new post in ‘stations’ on my website will be coming soon.
Witham
A joint pic of the images from pps 32 and 33 showing that the downright dishonourable “costs a Priti penny” Patel has nothing approaching a justification for claiming more in expenses than any other MP in the house – her constituency is hardly far-flung!

LOT 920

This was the Brunel £2 set, and I have the image that was available to auction followers, some images taken of it on display at the venue and some further images taken of it at home…

920 auction img
This image was one of the few at this auction not done me, hence the rookie mistake of showing an ‘obverse’ (just a portrait of a ridiculously over-privileged old woman), when the ‘reverse’ is the key face.
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On display at the auction
DSCN4228
One of the reverses (still at the auction)
DSCN4248
A picture taken at my workstation back at the shop
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The outside of the folder
DSCN4253
The two obverses.
DSCN4254
This one, showing both reverses and the accompanying info is an example of what the auction image should have looked like.
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A close up of the ‘reverse’ showing Brunel in his top hat
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a close-up of the other ‘reverse’, a pattern based on Paddington station

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What the folder looks like closed.

HAIRPIN POINT – UNINTENTIONAL COMEDY FROM THE GOP

I have called this ‘Hairpin Point’ because it represents a switch in direction on this post away from anything connected with my work to other matters. To set the scene, here is a screen-dump from my email inbox:

LOLGOP

The Gun Obsessed Plonkers (GOP for short) have made a spectacular blunder here:

  1. As my email address surely indicates (it ends .co.uk after all) I am not American.
  2. Even I was American the odds against me ever even voting for a Republican, let alone being a registered member would be of the order of zillions to one against.

How someone came to perpetrate a bloomer on this scale I do not know, but it did provide a laugh.

A FEW LINKS TO FINISH

First up from the Daily Mirror comes this story about how putting a kiss at the end of a letter was enough for the DWP to question the professionalism of an MP.

And at the very end, a link to a piece by Mike Sivier of Vox Political about what Labour is doing to attempt to save British Steel, and a follow-up link to a petition on the same subject that has already garnered more than the 100,000 signatures needed for a debate in Parliament:

  1. Mike Sivier’s piece.
  2. The petition (please sign and share to amp up the pressure on Scameron)