Gifts this Chrstmas at The Cloisters Fair

It will be particularly special at The Cloisters Fair this Christmas as we trade from Wednesday 17th, right up to and including Sunday, 21st December. The medieval corridor that runs alongside St Andrew's Hall in Norwich be will be beautifully decorated in the festive spirit, with stalls offering a wide variety of antiques and collectables to make perfect Christmas gifts.

Last year we raised money for the East Anglian Children's Hospice and it is for this well deserving charity that we will again be fundraising. The Cloisters Fair is free to enter throughout the year and will be over Christmas too, but visitors will be encouraged to give a donation as they come in over the festive period. The Fair will run from 9am to 6pm each day.

So, if you want something a little special to give to someone this Christmas, make sure that you come along and visit us. The Cloisters Fair will be open from 9am to 6pm throughout the Christmas period.

If you would like more information about The Cloisters Fair, please email us at barnesauctioneers@btinternet.com or telephone 01603 304337

Next General Sale 11th December 2008

Our next General Sale of antiques, books, collectables, and pictures will be held at St Andrew's Hall in Norwich on Thursday, 11th December 2008. Public viewing will commence at 11am with the sale starting at 1pm.

We are currently inviting entries which may be brought to St Andrew's Hall on the following dates:

1. Wednesday, 26th November

2. Wednesday, 3rd December

3. Saturday, 6th December

4. Wednesday, 10th December

5. Thursday, 11th December (the day of the Sale) until 11am

Please note that the earlier you bring your entries to us the better chance they will feature on our website. We can only take large pieces of furniture on the 10th/11th December because of limited storage. We may be able to collect your entries, but please note there is a minimum charge of £5 for this service.

A catalogue will be available on the day of the sale but will not include entries brought in on Thursday morning. Please email barnesauctioneers@btinternet.com to request a free catalogue for the December Sale.

A second bite of the cherry

Barnes Auctioneers sold more than thirty lots left over from last Thursday's auction at The Cloisters Fair in Norwich yesterday: an hallmarked silver sugar shaker, British Army medals from WW2, and a Rolling Stones book signed by Bill Wyman amongst them. It's a unique aspect of our service: if we don't sell it first time round at the auction we'll sell it afterwards for no extra cost at our antique fair. We're able to do this because we manage both the General Auctions and the Antique Fairs at St Andrew's Hall in Norwich. I guess you would call that a second bite of the cherry.

General Sale Report - 13th November 2008

Pictures by Archibald Thorburn, Jason Partner, and James Allen were just some of the lots sold at our General Auction yesterday. It wasn't only original works of art making the money though - silver, ceramics, and furniture sold well too. A guillotine and headless skeleton (surely not...) both found new homes, as did a bunch of peacock feathers (£40) - just some of the more unusual items. It was the West German pottery that surprised us though with the hammer falling at prices well beyond reserve figures.

The Cloisters Fair stalls tomorrow at St Andrew's Hall (Saturday, 15th November) and we'll be offering unsold lots to the general public as is our practice. It affords sellers "two bites of the cherry" and is a unique aspect of our service. So, if you want to pick up some bargains, make sure you come and visit us between 9am and 4pm tomorrow.

Catalogue now available

Please email us - barnesauctioneers@btinternet.com for a catalogue for this Thursday's General Auction. The catalogue will be sent to you as an Excel document.

In the meantime, take a look at some more entries that are for sale on the day:

Lot 3 - West German pottery jug marked 413-20, estimate £12-£15

Lot 92 - Boxed set of hallmarked silver coffee spoons, estimate £20-£30

Lot 12 - Small Oriental vase, estimate £12-£18

Lot 37 - Mixed lot including SYLVAC Crocus Vase, estimate £20-£25

Lot 1 - Troika vase, estimate £80-£100

We are still taking in entries for this week's sale, tomorrow between 9am and 5pm at St Andrew's Hall, and on Thursday morning up to 11am. Please do call us on 01603 304337.

The Arts Rule at this Thursday's Barnes Auction

The Arts Rule at this Thursday's Barnes Auction with some wholly saleable entries including:

Lot 185 - a stunning Irsari Turkmen (Balisht) Pillow Bag from Northern Afghanistan c.1920's, estimate £300-£350

Lot 204 - Watercolour of Pull's Ferry, Norwich, with Cathedral in background by Kathleen Blake, 12" x 8", estimate £40-£60

Lot 122 - Oil on board, Autumn on Kelling Lake by Shirley Carnt, estimate £200-£250

Lot 191 - Signed Geoffrey Burrows, Norwich Art Circle, Winter Landscape, estimate £60-£80

Lot 121 - Oil on board, The Evening Beach Ride, Mark Randall, estimate £180-£200

These are just a selection of some of the super lots we have in for this Thursday. We are still inviting entries and will post a running catalogue on this site by Tuesday evening. Please contact us on 01603 304337 if you have any questions.

Auction News

Our next General Auction at St Andrew's Hall in Norwich will take place on Thursday, 13th November 2008. We have had some super lots entered already, some of which we will be featuring here over the course of the next week. Today we have:

Lot 120 - A George III mahogany writing desk with original (working) key. This really is a super piece of furniture, typical of it's time, with an inner 'secret' drawer. The condition is excellent and we estimate it to make £800-£1,000

Lot 18 - Two Royal Staffordshire 1795 Jenny Lind Pattern plates, estimate £10-£15

Lot 200 - Watercolour by Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935) 'Bird of Prey, Hen Harrier in Reeds with captured bird for Eating' Faded signature, 10" x 13" Estimate, £2000-£3000

Lot 175 - Royal Engineers Ceremonial Sword (George V) with original sheath (not shown), estimate £75-£100

Lot 225 - Mixed lot including original Associated Press Racing Service photographs, estimate £25-£30

We'll be adding a full catalogue soon but do keep visiting the website as we add more photographs over the course of the next few days.

If you would like more information about our General Auction, please do email us at barnesauctioneers@btinternet.com or telephone 01603 304337

Barnes Auctioneers to feature on Bargain Hunt

Gary Barnes from Barnes Auctioneers is to feature on a special edition of the BBC's Bargain Hunt to be shown next March. Contestants on the show are usually members of the general public but the BBC decided to add a twist this time round and set antique dealers against each other.

"The pressure really is on" said Gary "I'll never live it down if our team loses."

Filming has already taken place at The Festival of Antiques in Peterborough last month and finishes tomorrow at Golding Young & Co's saleroom in Grantham. We'll be crossing our fingers for the team from Norwich.