A look back at James and Sons’ January auction and a photo gallery.
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week James and Sons had its January auction, a two day sale devoted entirely to stamps and postal history. This post looks back at the auction.
AN OUTLINE OF THE AUCTION
The first day featured mainly British stamps, with descriptions handwritten by someone else and typed in by me. The second day featured items from all over the world, and these lots were describe entirely by me. I also did all the imaging for this auction and uploaded it to the two online platforms that we use. On the days of the auction I handled the IT side of things.
A SUCCESSFUL SALE OVERALL
Both our online platforms were quite lively, and a number of items fared very well. On day one the most consistent success was enjoyed by stamps from the ‘seahorse’ range. Day two saw all sorts of things sell well, including a number of bidding battles. By the time the last lot went under the hammer I was very tired (in addition to a stressful though satisfactory two days at James and Sons I had had a WNAG commitment on the Tuesday evening).
THREE SUCCESSFUL BIDS
I had put bids in on a number of lots on day one, and on three items I was successful. Lot 105 was my first moment of good fortune:
The first seven pictures are those that were available to auction viewers.The remaining nine were taken at home today.
Lot 166 was the first of three items of its type, and I was outbid on the other two, which was professionally satisfying.
The first two pictures are the ones available to auction viewers, the other four were taken today.
Finally lot 262, which from my personal perspective was the star item of the entire auction.
The first nine images (number nine being a composite of numbers six and eight) were available to auction viewers, the other eight were taken at home today.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
A crescent moon in the predawn sky of Wednesday morning.
A mention of the biggest upset in the history of the FA Cup and a photo gallery.
The weekend just gone saw the third round of the FA Cup, football’s oldest domestic cup competition. This is the stage of the tournament at which the big beasts enter the fray, and there is always the possibility of an upset…
A TINY DAVID AND A HUGE GOLIATH
One of the early kickoffs on Saturday saw lowly Macclesfield Town, a club that only re-formed in 2020 after having gone bust, and who are still in the sixth tier of the English football pyramid entertaining Crystal Palace, the FA Cup holders, and 117 places above Macclesfield in the pyramid.
Macclesfield were inspired by that occasion, and not only took the lead, they actually went two goals clear. Crystal Palace scored one late on in the game, but their revival was too little too late, and when the final whistle went it confirmed officially the greatest shock upset in the over 150 year history of this tournament. Macclesfield Town, the lowest ranked side to have made it this far in the tournament (having come in in the second qualifying round) had successfully taken down the holders.
PHOTOGRAPHS
My usual sign off…
Yesterday the ponds near my home were frozen so solid that bricks were able to rest on the surface of one of them.An unusual visitor to the Kettlewell Lane woods, of which I was able to get several photographs.These last two pictures were taken today at the Nar outffall.
A look at events at the Manuka Oval, Canberra, where The Prime Minister’s XI have been taking on ‘An England XI’ on day one of a two-day pink ball day-night match.
A two-day match of sorts, between ‘The Prime Minister’s XI’ and ‘An England XI’ got underway at Manuka Oval, Canberra early in the afternoon local time. It is a pink ball day-night match. The ‘of sorts’ in the first sentence relates to the fact that in spite of their official teams both teams will use more than 11 players in the course of the match.
A LIMITED LOOK AHEAD
None of the players involved in the test match are involved in this game – England have a shadow squad, dubbed ‘The Lions’ in Australia and it was from them that their team was picked, while the Prime Minister’s side is a combination of promising youngsters and old stagers (the oldest being 41 year old Peter Siddle). However, there was news about Mark Wood that suggested an extra fast bowler would be summoned to Brisbane.
HOW THE PLAY WENT
The Prime Minister’s XI won the toss and batted first (incidentally Mr Albanese was not present in person to watch his side – he had a very important commitment elsewhere). Matt Potts bowled a good early spell, but gained no reward. Josh Hull, a 6’7″ left arm pacer picked on account of his physical attributes rather than his playing record, which is rather modest, bowled a spell in which he pounded the ball in short to a field set for that type of bowling, which failed to impress anyone. Sam Konstas gave his wicket away for 36, giving Potts a catch of part time medium pacer Tom Haines, when no one else had made any impression on him. Thereafter Campbell Kellaway and Nathan McSweeney batted well together. Kellaway missed out on a century, going to a catch by Tom Haines off left arm spinner Tom Hartley for 82 to make it 130-2. That brought 19 year old Oliver Peake to the crease, and he also batted well, helping McSweeney to add a further 91 for the third wicket. McSweeney was the one to go, being well caught by Ben Kellaway (an allrounder, who in the manner of Jemma Barsby can bowl both off spin and left arm orthodox spin) off Potts. It was also Potts who got Peake, shortly after the youngster had reached a fine 50. Thereafter wickets fell more rapidly as the Prime Minister’s XI hustled towards a declaration. This eventually came at 308-8, and left An England XI five overs to see out against the new ball under the lights. Tom Haines and Emilio Gay did this well enough, reaching 30-0 in the process. It was an intriguing day, and we will see what tomorrow brings. Tongue’s pace will almost certainly tell in his favour when it comes to summoning a replacement for Wood to Brisbane, but I finish this section by emphasising that Potts was definitely the better bowler today.
A look back at the ending to the test match between Australia and India at the MCG and a large photo gallery.
This post is a few days late – between the Christmas Panto and work I have been busy in the early part of this week. In it I look back at the final day of the Australia v India test match at the MCG.
A RASH SHOT AND A DRS CONTROVERSY
When India reached tea on day five only three wickets down in their second innings, and with Yashavsi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant having batted through the afternoon session without too many signs of difficulty a draw looked likely. Immediately on the resumption Pant was tempted into a rash shot against a short ball and was caught in the deep, the second time he had tossed his wicket away in the course of this match. This dismissal was not quite as appalling as his first innings one, but he should have taken care to play the ball down in to the ground – India were looking to bat through for a draw, so safety first should have been the guiding thoughts. That opened the door for Australia, and when Ravindra Jadeja and first innings centurion Nitish Kumar Reddy both fell cheaply the door was practically off its hinges. The moment that effectively sealed India’s doom came via the Decision Review System (DRS). Yashavsi Jaiswal, on 84 and playing beautifully was given not out in response to an appeal for a catch. The Australians sent it upstairs. The replay appeared to show a deflection from either bat or glove, but the snickometer did not pick up any sound. Nevertheless, knowing that it was effectively handing the match to Australia, the third umpire, faced with conflicting evidence decided to go with the visual clue rather than the lack of a noise and told the on-field umpire to reverse his decision and give it out. That left Washington Sundar and three tail enders with a long time still to bat, and they did not come close.
Over the five days some 373,000 spectators watched at the ground, a record for a test in Australia, beating one that had stood since the 1936-7 Ashes when the star attraction was a certain DG Bradman.
Pat Cummins, with 90 runs across the two Australian innings and six wickets across the two Indian ones, was awarded the Mullagh Medal for Player of the Match (Johnny Mullagh was part of the all-aboriginal party that toured England in 1868, and showed himself to be a fine all rounder on that tour).
Australia won by 184 runs in the end, and as well as Pant’s two batting errors, the second of which opened the way for India’s final collapse, India were poor in the field, at least four clear cut chances being dropped. Australia now lead the series 2-1, meaning that so long as they do not lose in Sydney they regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy, which has been in Indian hands for a decade. Full scorecard here.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Most of these are from the back end of 2024, but I have included some from today…
The venue for the Pantomime.The first 2025 picture I have posted.
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