Tag: Railwayana

Auctions, Auctions, Auctions

Mainly concerned with today at work, this post also mentiuons the test match just concluded in South Africa’s favour and a piece by Why Evolution is True about a white giraffe.

INTRODUCTION

I will be mentioning stuff opther than auctions, but it is the auctions that form the basis of this post.

A TRIFECTA

Today’s work at James and Sons featured three different auctions, hence the title both of the post and of this section thereof.

TOMORROW’S AUCTION
(MAIDS HEAD HOTEL, NORWICH)

This played a comparatively minor role, everything having been done save for actually holding the auction. However, it was necessary to get the stuff loaded on to the van ready for being transported to Norwich tomorrow morning and I had to remember to disconnect the mouse from my work computer.

FEBRUARY 24TH (FAKENHAM RACECOURSE)

There were still a few items to be imaged for this auction, and one lot that needed special treatment so that it could feature on the front cover. Thus two photo galleries for this section…

These are some of the highlights from the unimaged lots.

The second photo gallery in this subsection deals exclusively with lot 450, which I was reimaging specifically for use on the front cover…

The photograph was fairly straightforward – although you will note that I edited it a number of different ways. The set of medals was more difficult because I had to prevent external light from intervening and they are attached to a display case that is about an inch thick.

MARCH 30TH (FAKENHAM – POSSIBLY TWO DAY SALE CONTINUING ON MARCH 31ST)

Towards the end of the day I made a start on imaging items that will go under the hammer on March 30th. Thus, here is another picture gallery…

This watch is lot 1
1 of the four images I did of lot 463
Lot 480
The cover of lot 480
Lot 460
Lot 460 closed
Lot 461
Lot 461 closed
The King’s Lynn page of lot 463
This map fis one of the images for lot 470
The front cover of lot 463
These pages happened to be where the describer had inserted the lot tab, and since they were also of significance to the imager here they are.
The title page of 470 – btw Wath-on-Dearne is a nice little town, although it gave the world William Hague.
Inserts in lot 470.

While this gallery brings today at work to a close I have one last James and Sons item to share…

JAMES AND SONS ON ANTIQUES ROAD TRIP

Regular followers of this blog may recall that James and Sons feature in an episode of Antiques Road Trip. I can now inform you that this particular episode will be shown on February 1st at 4:30PM (meaning that it will be available for watching on i-player by 6PM that day for those like me who refuse to pay for the ‘privelege’ of watching live TV)

ODDS AND ENDS

In a post I put up yesterday I expressed the opinion that England were headed for defeat in the final test match of their series against South Africa. This became reality reamrakably quickly – by the time I left for work at 8:30 this morning our time England had plunged from three down to six down, with Kagiso Rabada picking up his 10th wicket of the match just before I left (Bairstow, morally out twice – saved first time round one the TV replay umpire picked up a no-ball and then done in precisely the same way by the very next delivery). A discreet check while eating my sandwiches confirmed that end had come swiflty thereafter, with Rabada taking a further three wickets to give him 13 in thge match and, of course, the player of the match award. For full details on events please visit the official cricinfo report.

Also from the continent of Africa but otherwise utterly unrelated to the above, the good folks at Why Evolution is True have come up with this offering about a rare white giraffe which is now fifteen months old.

 

An Antique Railway Map

A post about my most recent acquisition.

INTRODUCTION

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

IMAGING

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

51

PUTTING A BID IN

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

DISPLAYING AT THE VENUE

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

51 at auction

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

GETTING IT HOME

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

51 spread out on floor at 117E

THE FINAL LOCATION

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

51 in its new econiche

MORE ABOUT THE MAP

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

James and Sons Auction

A personal account of yesterday’s auction.

INTRODUCTION

This is my personal account of our auction which took place yesterday at The Prince of Wales Stand, Fakenham Racecourse. This story features two days worth of action, the setup on Monday and the auction itself yesterday.

SETUP

Three of us were involved in loading the van up with everything we needed to take down to the racecourse for the auction, and once we had unloaded at the racecourse the other two then headed to the silo in the village of Syderstone that James and Sons use for storage to retrieve the rostrum and the stools that the two of us who are on the rostrum occupy while I endeavoured to lay the stuff out to best advantage. My efforts were largely successful – when I arrived the following morning very little of what  had done was changed. I noticed a new decoration behind the bar while setting up…

I am certain given the high moral and ethical standards of the people who run the Racecourse that the turtle to whom this shell previously belonged would have died before 1947.
I am certain given the high moral and ethical standards of the people who run the Racecourse that the turtle to whom this shell previously belonged would have died before 1947.

THE DAY OF THE AUCTION

A seriously early start was necessary, since I had to catch the 6:50AM bus. Fortunately the bus ran smoothly (there is no excuse for not doing so at that time of the morning!), and I was at the racecourse significantly before 8AM – and as it happened the first James and Sons employee to get there on the day. In between doing the IT setup and assisting customers I was able to take some photographs before the day started…

This lot is going to be the subject of a blog post all to itself - for the moment suffice to say that it sold to the photographer for £25.
This lot is going to be the subject of a blog post all to itself – for the moment suffice to say that it sold to the photographer for £25.

57 72

Lot 435 was the subject of a last minute query. The pictures of the front side of the item were online right from the moment the catalogue was put up, but someone wanted images of the back...
Lot 435 was the subject of a last minute query. The pictures of the front side of the item were online right from the moment the catalogue was put up, but someone wanted images of the back…
...and my briefcase was the only available dark background I had against which to image it!
…and my briefcase was the only available dark background I had against which to image it!

435 rev 435

Lot 612 - an antique folding camera - there are many more cameras due to feature in our next auction, including at least ten of the folding type.
Lot 612 – an antique folding camera – there are many more cameras due to feature in our next auction, including at least ten of the folding type.

612 lens Banner Dragon Lot 1 QM 1 and 2

This barometer with thermometer sold first time, unlike the other barometer in this auction, lot 24, which is a seasoned veteran of the auction room.
This barometer with thermometer sold first time, unlike the other barometer in this auction, lot 24, which is a seasoned veteran of the auction room.

THE AUCTION

The auction started quietly, until lot 7, an Indian bronze figurine which stood 13cm high and was slightly damaged. The estimate was a moderate £15-20, but the final hammer price was an eye-popping £120.

Note that no attempt had been made to hide the damage to the base of this figurine.
Note that no attempt had been made to hide the damage to the base of this figurine.
The back of the figurine.
The back of the figurine.
The front side only
The front side only.

Apart from lot 51 finding a good home, the next significant highlight was lot 222, a set of three challenge coins which were estimated at £5-10 but ended up making £22.

222

The stamps (generally a strong area at a James and Sons auction) started at lot 251, and lot 274, an album page of Chinese stamps with an estimate of £10-15 sold for £75. Lots 298 and 301, achieving £180 and £55 against top estimates of £100 and £15 respectively also generated considerable excitement, while in percentage terms lot 295, in selling for £170 against a top estimate of £20 was the star lot of the whole auction. Lot 364, an album of GB stamps, was estimated at £40-50 and actually went for £95. The coins and banknotes later in the auction also sold well, with lots 507-9, lot 519 and lots 569 and 570 among the coins doing especially well, and the banknote albums that were lots 590-8 inclusive all selling for good prices. An additional plus about the coin lots specifically was that a lot of the bulk coin lots were sold in the room to one of our regular large buyers, which meant that apart from assisting him to carry them to his car we were done with them. I have no pictures available here at home of the  coin or banknote lots, but here are those of the stamps I do have…

274

Lot 295, in percentage terms the star lot of the auction.
Lot 295, in percentage terms the star lot of the auction.

298 301 - a 301

THE CLEAR UP OPERATION

Once all the customers had departed with their purchases we had to load up the van, get everything back to the shop, return to the racecourse to pick up the rostrum and stools and drop those off at the silo and finally return to the shop to load up the van ready for travel to the collectors fair that will just about be under way as I write this. I was able to get the 17:38 bus home, meaning that I got back to my flat a mere 12 hours after departure, thoroughly exhausted. It is not just the heavy lifting, of which there was a large amount. Also, I find being on the rostrum, as I was for the first 470 of the 650 lots draining, and though I handle it fairly well these days I still find the direct customer service work involved on auction days hard.

Better Late Than Never

An account of working on various things in connection with James and Sons’ next auction (Tuesday October 6th, action starts at 10AM).

INTRODUCTION

This brief post is about James and Sons next live auction. Regular readers of this blog will recall that it was scheduled for September 30. Events intervened, and the date was changed to Tuesday October 6th, but all is now back in order.

THE PREPARATIONS

We thought that all the gremlins had been dealth with when the first batch of catalogues arrived back from the printers until someone glancing at the inside of the catalogue just after they had arrived in the shop noted that something was amiss in about a nanosecond and had put a finger on the problem in not much longer. Unbelievably, although the cover was right the listing was the August listing reproduced in its entirety. Fortunately, the printers did not argue over whose mistake it was (the evidence against them being absolute) and set about rectifying the mistake. Even more fortunately the speed with which a certain individual (one of those advantages of autism mentioned in this post) had spotted the problem meant that none of the faulty catalogues had even been put in envelopes, much less posted. The catalogue is also available for viewing online.

A MAMMOTH EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE

Most of Thursday at work was taken up with dealing queries about the upcoming auction. There was one individual who had sent requests for images of every banknote in lots 590-8 inclusive, each of which was a whole album full of said items. Here is a sample image which just happened to be the last note of the last lot in this list…

DSCN6181

FILLING IN THE GAPS

Also in the last fewf days I have been filling in the remaining gaps in the imaging (in most cases gaps that were there because the lots had not actually been assembled – they were bulk coin lots in the main). Here a few highlights…

567 - a

With this lot, the box merited attention at leats as much as the coins within.
With this lot, the box merited attention at leats as much as the coins within.

567

Not a bulk coin lot - a late description change.
Not a bulk coin lot – a late description change.

569

This also necessitated a late change of description on the online catalogue.
This also necessitated a late change of description on the online catalogue.

GETTING THE WORD OUT

Principal among yesterday’s tasks was getting an email out to our online customers about the auction. I prepared the text part of the email using word, assembled a montage of a few of the better images and once I got the go ahead sent it out. I conclude this post by sharing the images and the text with you.

52bc 395bc 421 501 502 533

This is how I assembled the six foregoing images into a montage.
This is how I assembled the six foregoing images into a montage.
A JPG of the original word document, created by screendumping and cropping.
A JPG of the original word document, created by screendumping and cropping.

JAMES AUCTION ALERT

Railwayana and Evolution

An account of imaging at James and Sons with a focus on Railwayana, some links to pieces posted on whyevolutionistrue and a few general links.

INTRODUCTION

The mesalliance of subjects indicated by my title is brought about by the fact that I only have time for a very quick blog post, and the two things I most want to share are pictures of some interestinfg railwayana that will be in our next auction and a number of superb pieces that whyevolutionistrue have produced recently.

RAILWAYANA

I have had a particularly busy time imaging autcuion lots over the last few days, because the other person who regualrly does imaging was involved in a car accident (the car accident stats for Norfolk make grim reading because the lack of a proper public transport infrastructure and the prevalence of poverty mean that people start driving at the first available opportunity and are often using cars that are not really road worthy) is consequently off sick. Thankfully, albeit with a rejigging of work days for next week, we are on track for completing the catalogue by the end of Tuesday, which means that by the back end of next week printed copies should be available, and an online listing should be ready to view.

The two lots that especially caught my eye in and amongst the vast quanrtity of stuff I have been imaging were numbers 51 and 52, and I conclude this section with full photo galleries for both lots…

Lot 51 is this antique railway map
Lot 51 is this antique railway map
The remaining seven images including this one are of lot 52
The remaining seven images including this one are of lot 52

52a 52b 52c 52d 52e 52f

A FANTASTIC FIVE FROM WHYEVOLUTIONISTRUE

This blog, the title of which comes from a marvellous book by Jerry A Coyne has been in tremendous form just lately, with the pieces I am sahring merely the cream of a spectacular crop…

A FEW FINAL LINKS

Just a few final links:

Imaging and Press Releases

An account of the last couple of days work at James and Sons, with the latest on Fiona Paddon’s petition about Group B Strep, a link to a Mike Sivier piece and a final coin pic.

INTRODUCTION

I have had a couple of richly varied days at work, and the body of this post will be covering some of that variation. I also have some links to share.

TWO RICHLY VARIED DAYS

THE JULY AUCTION

James and Sons’ auction for July is now ready to go, and a full catalogue can be viewed online. Here are some of the more recent images…

These four pics are of lot 66
These four pics are of lot 66

66a 66b 66c

Two images for lot 434
Two images for lot 434

434a

Two images for lot 436
Two images for lot 436

436a 436b

PRESS RELEASES AND BULK EMAILS

I have put out an email to everyone who bought online at The Great Centenary Charity Auction and have created draft press releases for collector’s fairs at Stowmarket, Diss and Newmarket. As these have not been approved yet I will share only a couple of composite images I created in connection with this…

This one, which went out with the bulk email is a combined pic of lots 2 and 76
This one, which went out with the bulk email is a combined pic of lots 2 and 76
This one combines 5 different items, all new in stock - note that the arrow/ axeheads are obsidian which is a much less common material for such than flint.
This one combines 5 different items, all new in stock – note that the arrow/ axeheads are obsidian which is a much less common material for such than flint.

AUGUST IMAGING

I have already imaged some lots for our August auction (takes place on the 26th of that month). Although there is little so far that is truly eye-catching, I have som pictures that are worth sharing…

This is lot 319 in the August sale.
This is lot 319 in the August sale.
These four ornamental plates constitute lot 328
These four ornamental plates constitute lot 328
Lot 310
Lot 310

LINKS

My first two links are related, both being connected with Fiona Paddon’s change.org petition “Provide tests for Group B Strep to prevent any more avoidable deaths of newborn babies”:

1) The current state of the petition

2) An article about the petition, courtesy of Huffington Post

My other link is to a piece by Mike Sivier on Vox Political about Labour’s stance on welfare.

AFTERWORD AND FINAL IMAGE

I hope that you have all enjoyed this post and that some at least of you will be encouraged to share it. Also do check out my twitter feed and of course enjoy my closing image…

I spotted that this £2 coin was a special one and took a picture of it before using it for it's appointed purpose. The only problem given that it commemorates 150 years of London Underground (2013 was the anniversary year) is that the train is obviously of deep-level tube stock - a train of "surface" stock would have been more appropriate.
I spotted that this £2 coin was a special one and took a picture of it before using it for it’s appointed purpose. The only problem given that it commemorates 150 years of London Underground (2013 was the anniversary year) is that the train is obviously of deep-level tube stock – a train of “surface” stock would have been more appropriate.

Operation Catch Up

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece I have some photos which connect to that and some cracking links to share with you. Read, enjoy and please share…

OPERATION CATCH UP

The combination of two auctions happening in the space of four days and a degree of failure on the organsiation front has made things somewhat hectic of late. However, after a full day imaging for our June auction today, I believe that we will be able to give our online viewers a week to look at the items that will be going under the hammer, which did not look likely at one point. Today’s imaging has been very varied, including some lovely Hornby toys (Hornby for the uninitiated are THE name when it comes to railway themed toys and models). There were also some decent stamp lots and some interesting militaria. To end this section here are some pictorial highlights…

277 277a 283 283a 294 503 503a 506 506a 512 512a 519 594 594a 596 596a 600 618 622 623 623a 623b 641 658 658a 664 665 685 764 764a 767 767a 794

LINKS

Here as promised are those links, starting with a fistful on the subject of…

RELIGION

My first three links are all related to the same organisation:

1)Atheist Republic home

2)Atheist Republic blogs

3)Atheist Republic’s brief explanation of atheism.

Patheos, so often a source of good material have done it again, this time with a piece about Christian extremist opposition to higher education.

A CHANCE TO BRING A VILE CRIMINAL TO JUSTICE

A single link, being given a subsection to itself. This is a petition being run by Avaaz to ensure that the South African government does the right thing and takes the opportunity to arrest and incarcerate former Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir

SCIENCE AND MUSIC

An unusual juxtaposition, but both my science related pieces are concerned with planets, and there is a very well known piece of music called The Planets, so I considered it acceptable on this occasion. The music related link is to a piece by Charlotte Hoather about Madama Butterfly, in a production of which she will soon be appearing. My two planets themed pieces both come from Cosmos Up:

1)Juxtaposition of Jupiter and Venus

2)A possible preponderance of Neptune sized planets in our galaxy.

A FINAL SELECTION

Three more links, starting with this from Jayne Linney.

Stop Homophobia have collected some superb responses to hate mail.

Last but most definitely not least is this piece from network autism about gender dysphoria and autism.

The North Norfolk Railway.

Yesterday, because I was staying over with my parents rather than trying to travel back to Lynn on Easter Sunday, we were able to have our main meal in the evening, which in turn meant that we could do a proper walk in the day. The Times had a feature advertising a number of good walks, one of which happens to be in Norfolk…

Walk 001I will be doing a post about the whole walk with a link back to this post later, but for the moment I will focus on the star attraction of the walk, a chance to look at the North Norfolk Railway in full flow. Our first glimpses of what was in store were these…

?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ??????????We arrived in the vicinity of Weybourne Station at about 1PM and discovered that two trains (one in each direction) were expected within the next ten minutes. Naturally therefore we waited, and in preparation for the main event I gathered some photographs at the station…

?????????? ?????????? DSCN3180 ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ??????????The trains themselves did not disappoint. As a fan of Edward Marston I could picture Colbeck and Leeming emerging from one of the carriages to investigate one of their cases! Having got some excellent shots from platform level, we watched the second train leave from the bridge across the line…

?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? DSCN3203 ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? At this point we left the station to continue our walk, but there were a couple more blasts from the past to come. First, one hour after leaving the station we witnessed this…

??????????Finally, because my mother had bought a heavy book, we called back at Weybourne on our way home to pick it up, and I got some pictures from the car park…

?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? I will conclude by thanking the volunteers who run this wonderful glimpse back into our past and reminding you that in due course I shall be blogging about the walk as a whole.

A Difficult Day at Work

I spent today imaging items for a Timed Bid auction which will go live on Monday (check out http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/search-filter/auction-catalogues?AuctionType=3 at that time). I managed to get everything I needed to do done in spite of the fact that my work computer was functioning at about the same level as the West Indies batting had been when I listened to commentary from the cricket world cup before setting off for work!

The items covered a variety of categories. This set of Royal Doulton plates was the very first lot I imaged today…

??????????While these could appeal either to pottery enthusiasts or lovers of railwayana, they were beaten for breadth of appeal by lot 2085, which has stamps, postal history, medals and art (at least) covered…

?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ??????????This French medallion (lot 1502) came out well…

??????????I finish this eclectic selection of images with some stamp album lots where I decided rather than photographing whole pages to focus on smaller quantities of stamps…

?????????? ?????????? ????????????????????

Upcoming Events (and Some Cool Pics!)

A brief post. Although there have been a couple of late withdrawals there are still 14 confirmed participants in todays #SaveOurNHS action in King’s Lynn. Also it has had good publicity on twitter via @aspitweets, with the invaluable assistance of @kingslynnlive, @ask-pergers and @jorust45 – the latter of whom is one of the confirmed participants.

The other upcoming event is the March group meeting of the King’s Lynn Asperger Support Society (KLASS), which takes place this Monday at 6PM at the Lattice House on Chapel Street.

Now for those pics…

Here is our info sheet!
Here is our info sheet!
My ersatz mounting of the railway buttons.
My ersatz mounting of the railway buttons.

?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ??????????

Please take not if you catch buses from King's Lynn.
Please take not if you catch buses from King’s Lynn.

??????????