Today featured database work, heavy lifting and imaging. I spent the bulk of the day bringing a degree of order to the January auction lots. A full catalogue for this auction can now be viewed on the following link: http://bit.ly/1yGOwUD. In between times I imaged a very few lots for the February auction, shown below, and stashed some boxes of albums away.
Not much to add except that my twitter account (@aspitweets) continues to prosper.
I have finished my final working day before Christmas. The highlights of the day were in the items I imaged for the January auction, some of which as the accompanying pictures demonstrate were very interesting.
I will produce the pictures without further ado…
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 December auction of James and Sons took place at the Maids Head Hotel, Norwich yesterday. As the person running the company database it was a particularly full-on day for me, and I have decided to take you through it in chronological order:
5:45AM: Left the flat to be sure of being at bus station in time for 6:00 bus to Norwich (although the sale does not being until 10, with my responsibilities it is mandatory that I be at the auction venue by 8 at the latest and this is the last bus that will enable me to do that)
7:35AM: Bus arrives at Norwich bus station bang on schedule (not even a British bus company can contrive to be running late at this stage of the morning) and I head straight but unhurriedly for the Maids Head Hotel.
7:45AM: Arrive at the hotel and find my way to the Erpingham Room where I will be based for the next few hours.
8:30AM: By this stage the setup and layout are complete and viewers are starting to arrive. My computer is set up in a location that ensures that no punters will have access to confidential information and the internet connection is working, although it will still be necessary to phone the shop in Fakenham every time someone wants to pay by card as the connection does not extend to our portable card reader. Before attending to my own specific tasks I print out a listing of commssion bids that have been registered online via http://www.the-saleroom.com. Between the information on the registrants page of http://www.the-saleroom.com and the written and printed records of bids received in advance I am able to ensure that my database is as up to date as it can be before the auction starts.
10:00AM: Kick off, and the auction starts with a bang as lot 1 sells for £130 against an estimate of £50. This is the occasion for the first of various live tweets I manage to post in between doing the work I am paid for.
The lots come and go very fast, and it is significantly before 11 that the first lot I am interested in, number 171, two postcards of East Rudham and West Raynham churches goes under the hammer. I stick in a bid but then realise I am up against the proprietor of Lynn Gold and recognising that he has much greater financial firepower decide not to bother contesting further.
After 250 lots the auctioneer takes a brief break and I have my first problem of the day, when instead of printing out an invoice as I require my computer wants to print out the entire Auction Form record (fortunately I am able to cancel the job before a single page has been wasted). I resolve the problem by the tried and tested if unscientific method of closing the database down and reopening, and as it happens there will be no further technical malfunctions that day.
Approx 12:30PM: We have now been through 500 lots, and are about to move on to coins and banknotes, with militaria, ephemera and some misecllaneous items still to come. This is a sensible point at which to take a 15 minute break, as planned by the auctioneer. Lot 441 in the meantime had been knocked down to me for £12.
A combination of the speed at which auctioneer David is getting through the lots and the frequency with which I have to produce invoices causes me to fall behind, but with only two room bidders other than myself still left this is not actually as serious an issue as it feels at the time.
14:18PM: Lot 786, the last item in the sale goes under the hammer.
14:40PM: The clear-up is complete and I take my leave. A call at the Glasshouse just down the road for some liquid refreshment and a visit to the library (which I regard as a must when I am in Norwich) mean that I end up on the 16:40 bus back to King’s Lynn. The front of the bus provides a sight I have not previously been treated to: although we are in Norwich and the bus is terminating at King’s Lynn the intermediate destinations listed are those between Peterborough and King’s Lynn! This causes a degree of confusion among my fellow passengers, especially those travelling to intermediate destinations, as you might imagine.
It is just a shade under thirteen hours after setting off in the morning that I finally arrive back at the flat. Come Dine With Me via 4OD followed by Strictly on iplayer complete the day. It was semi-finals week on the latter, meaning that each couple had two dances to perform. The best was saved till last as Caroline Flack and Pasha Kovalev produced the routine that finally persuaded Craig to flourish the 10 paddle.
I have a few pictures for you…
Today has been devoted to making final preparations for tomorrow’s auction at The Maids Head Hotel, Norwich. To view a full catalogue and/ or sign up to bid online click the following link: http://goo.gl/TgVNCi
I also have dates and locations for all next year’s auctions, which I have already circulated on twitter via @great_auction and a retweet courtesy of @aspitweets. A bit of colour in the form of some catalogue cover scans and a jpg version of the auction calendar…
The catalogue for James and Sons sale this coming Saturday at the Maids Head Hotel, Norwich is available for viewing at http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/james-and-son-auctioneers/catalogue-id-2901714
Today I have both managed to complete the information gathering for our last sale on 29/11/2014 and get the database ready for our next sale this coming Saturday. As part of this I am able to share with you descriptions and images of the lots that did best in relative terms at our last auction. Some of the images included as part of this are not my work. I will mention in the captions I provide when images are not mine.
The second part of this post is a response to the following tweet (I did not think I could do it in 140 characters):
Clivve @ClivveW 4 hours ago
@aspitweets @patcondell @RichardDawkins The killing fields in Cambodia is why I have no time for atheism.
As briefly as possible: this was an atrocity committed by an atheist not an atrocity committed in the name of atheism. This is in direct contrast to the almost innumerable list of atrocities carried out not merely by religious people but in the name of religion.
Now for those images (and a PDF file – I have taken care that no personal details of anyone are included)
Owing to the decision to have James and Sons December auction a mere two weeks after the November auction I am currently in the position of simultaneously attempting to deal with the post-auction side of November and produce pre-auction paperwork for December.
A full catalogue for the December sale can now be viewed at http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/james-and-son-auctioneers/catalogue-id-2901714
I have two other topics to mention, firstly the appalling behaviour of the Right Dishonourable Stephen Dorrell who in spite of admitting to a conflict of interest between his role as an MP and his employment by one of the companies who are looking to profit from a carve-up of the NHS has refused to stand down. A petition regarding this is being run by 38 Degrees. To view and/or sign click here: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/david-cameron-force-stephen-dorrell-mp-to-pick-a-job-now#petition
Finally a brief comment about Englands performance vs Sri Lanka yesterday, only their second win in nine ODIs. It was not nearly as conclusive as the final margin of five wickets with an over to spare suggested, the match being decided by a flurry of boundaries immediately after Joe Root had been reprieved by the TV Cameras spotting an overstep by the bowler. Since Root, along with Buttler, was one of the two batsmen who carried England victory more than a little was owed to fortune. England looked second favourites for substantial periods, notably between the end of Moeen Ali’s innings (brought about by his partner Alex Hales) and the flurry of boundaries already alluded to.
I have some pictures for you…
A somewhat frustrating day today, as just when I was about to start making really serious progress with the invoices I was required to switch to imaging (this is just one of the problems that arises when there is only a two week gap between auctions).
However, I did get to image some interesting stuff as you will see.
Also some good news from my online contacts – a petition which I had signed and shared via both facebook was handed over to its intended recipient Mr Cameron with no fewer than 300,000 names on it.
Here some of the lots that will be going under the hammer on the 13th…
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…
First of all, some good news from the wider world: Sheffield United finally made the right decision regarding Ched Evans – they ditched him.
Although I did some stuff on behalf of the Great Centenary Charity Auction including posting images on their facebook and twitter accounts, most of today was spent working on James and Sons upcoming auction (A week tomorrow at Fakenham Racecourse). The catalogue can be viewed at: : http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/james-and-son-auctioneers/catalogue-id-2901720 while anyone who would like to bid online can do so at:
My own personal twitter account continues to thrive, with 443 followers at present.
Now for some images…
aspiblog 