General Auction Thursday 12th November 2009

We have some superb lots for tomorrow's General Auction including antiques and collectables. In particular, we have a Georgian gold watch key recently valued by the Antiques Roadshow at £2,500 (pictured).

Public viewing is at St Andrew's Hall in Norwich between midday and 2pm with the sale starting at 2pm.

Telephone 01603 304337 or 07980 148978 for more information.

Another few lots

LOT 300 - miniature cricket bat with original West Indies and Australian signatures including Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd

LOT 70 - pair of figurines representing Science and Art

LOT 287 - 14ct gold and 0.85 carat diamond ring

LOT 12 - two games boxes (only one shown)

LOT 141 - signed photograph of Bing Crosby

A few more lots

LOT 264 - 1936 Hallmarked silver and enamel Art Deco coffee spoons in original case

LOT 199 - two WW2 medals incl Australian Service Medal

LOT 183 - Royal Doulton Chessington Zoo cip and saucer

LOT 113 - Edwardian walnut inlaid table

LOT 174 - 1920's taxidermy of a finch (Goldcrest)

Even more lots

LOT 194 - two clockwork toys (only one shown)

LOT 1 - original leather flying helmet

LOT 250 - cast iron model of a Mississippi steam boat

LOT 198 - George Washington musical box 'Sulgrave Manor'

LOT 100 - 1995 original painting of a Memphis bar by David Chedgey

More lots

LOT 92 - diamond and sapphire ring

LOT 112 - mahogany wotnot

LOT 84 - Johnson Bros Macdonald Farm platter

LOT 156 - red jade necklace

LOT 169 - bronze of an English Bull Terrier

General Auction tomorrow

Tomorrow (Thursday, 14th) is General Auction day and we have some super lots for you to consider, so do make sure you come along to St Andrew's Hall in Norwich to join us. Public viewing is from midday with the sale itself starting at 2pm. Please email us at barnesauctioneers@btinternet.com for a copy of our catalogue. We'll be posting a selection of lots on here this evening to give you a flavour of what you can expect. Here we have:

LOT 11 - 1950's army items incl uniform, torch, etc

LOT 115 - swing mirror

LOT 228 - Australian Centenary Medal

LOT 268 - Raymond Weil watch

LOT 252 - old teddy bear

2009 Christmas at The Cloisters

Following the success of our 2008 Christmas at The Cloisters Fair, Barnes Auctioneers will be running the event again this year.

We have made some subtle changes but, as last time round, this event will be managed completely separately to The Cloisters Fair (which will finish on Wednesday, 16th December).

Christmas at The Cloisters Fair will run from Sunday, 20th December 2009 up to and including Wednesday, 23rd December.

Christmas at The Cloisters Fair will offer a wide range of antiques and collectables - ideal gifts for the festive season. The stalls will be decorated accordingly and there will be a gift wrapping service available to benefit a local charity (tba).

Sunday, 2oth December will be our party day and will coincide with the Norwich Ice Sculpture Trail. Last year, this was by far and away our busiest day of the year and we will be promoting the fair throughout the Trail to attract even more visitors this time round.

We will be charging £1 on the door on the Sunday (Under-16's free) but the event will be free entry for all on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Opening hours will be 10am to 6pm.

Stallholders must book the fair in advance and we will be allocating space on a first-come first-served basis. Stallholders will also need to pay a £10 non-refundable deposit. Stall fees for the four days are:

Sunday, 20th - £27

Monday, 21st - £18

Tuesday, 22nd - £18

Wednesday, 23rd - £18

Stallholders wishing to stand all four days will receive a discount and pay just £69 as opposed to £81. Stalls may be left overnight at stallholders' own risk - although the building will be locked and alarmed. This system worked well last year.

Last year's event was a great deal of fun for all of us who participated. Don't waste any time in booking your stall as places are strictly limited.

The Cloisters Antique and Collectables Fair Update

Please could we remind people that The Cloisters Antique and Collectables Fair will NOT be stalling on Wednesday, 28th October 2009 because it is the Norwich Beer Festival.

We will be stalling on Saturday, 24th October and then not until Wednesday, 4th November.

Stall fees have been frozen again for 2010. This is in line with our objective to ensure that stallholders have a regular weekly fair in central Norwich that is reasonably priced.

Our last Cloisters Fair of 2009 will take place on Wednesday, 16th December. Sherry, mince pies, and merriment being the Order of the Day. Please see our separate update about this year's Christmas at The Cloisters event.

General Auction Update

Last week's cancelled General Auction of antiques and collectables has been re-arranged for this coming Thursday, 15th October 2009, at St Andrew's Hall in Norwich. Public viewing will be at midday with the sale itself starting at 2pm.

Apologies once again to those of you inconvenienced by the late cancellation of the sale. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do about it. For those of you who are not aware, our Auctioneer, Gary Barnes, developed laryngitis and could not speak a word on the eve of sale day. He's on the mend so we look forward to a good sale this week.

By the way, do take advantage of the extra week by putting lots into this Thursday's sale. We will be at St Andrew's Hall until 5pm on Wednesday with The Cloisters Fair so you have plenty of opportunity to make some extra cash.

Highlighted lots will be placed on here tomorrow (Tuesday), with a full catalogue being published on Wednesday evening.

October Auction to be re-scheduled

We are very sorry to have to announce that the General Auction due to take place tomorrow (Thursday, 8th October) has been cancelled. Unfortunately, our Auctioneer, Gary Barnes, has been struck down with laryngitis and cannot utter a word.
Please note that the sale will be re-scheduled for next week - the exact date to be announced shortly.
Once again, please accept our apologies - normal service will be resumed soon.

Bob Dylan's Harmonica - David and Goliath

In all of the thirty years that I have been in the antique trade, nothing has excited me more than the Bob Dylan harmonica that we sold yesterday for just under £3,000 (£2,700 hammer + £270 premium). I have sold more expensive things - Georgian furniture for example - but nothing like this. Nothing so iconic.

The moment the vendor entrusted us with his prized possession, I knew that we had a responsibilty to exceed his expectations, because sometimes auctioneering is about selling silver-plated flatware and sometimes it is about realising dreams. We realised his dream yesterday when a local collector outbid potential buyers from London, America, and Japan, and bought a piece of Bob Dylan history. This man has followed Bob Dylan all his life "I just had to have it" he said afterwards.

The saleroom erupted in applause at the fall of the hammer. Actually, that brings me onto the real story here. You see, I don't have a hammer or a gavel. I have a pen and a clipboard: we're not Sotheby's. We are a provincial auction house that has made headlines across the world. We have sold something that all of the major auction houses competed to have in their catalogues. We are David and each one of them is a Goliath. They have millions of pounds in hand to dominate the market. We have a stone and a sling. So just how did we do it? How did we beat everyone else to secure the sale of such an important item? We did it by offering a bespoke service. We did it by having an intimate knowledge of our customers. We sold the harmonica for five times the estimate because actually we are pretty good at what we do.

Tomorrow is another day and another deal. Something else will be in the news and this will all die down. But be in absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Barnes Auctioneers is a business thriving at a time when good news is hard to find.

Two exceptional lots for this Thursday's General Auction

A Moorcroft ginger jar (LOT - 1,000) and an original pastel by Ken Paine (LOT - 600)

More photographs for next Thursday's Auction

Here we have:

LOT 502 - Steward Patteson Finch & Co stoneware flagon

LOT 820 - 19th Century wooden box inlaid with Mother of Pearl

LOT 618 - Satsuma vase

LOT 800 - Coalport Willow Pattern bowl

LOT 901 - Pair of miniature Satsuma vases

We will continue to post pictures over the course of the next few days so keep watching!

More lots for next Thursday's General Auction

Here we have five Royal Doulton figurines:

LOT 759 - 'Julia'

LOT 760 - 'Coralie'

LOT 761 - 'Belle'

LOT 765 - 'Daydreams'

LOT 769 - 'Hilary'

We have a vast number of Royal Doulton, Coalport, and other figurines in the sale so do contact us for more details at barnesauctioneers@btinternet.com

Featured Lots - General Auction 10th September

Over the course of the next few days we'll be featuring some of the lots we have in next Thursday's General Auction - so keep coming back to see the photographs as they are posted.

Here we have:

LOT 979 - a cased Super Chromonica Harmonica, M.Hohner, dedicated and signed by Bob Dylan in 1974 to a member of his wardrobe department Est 400-600

LOT 977 - Job lot of watches including Elgin pocket watch (pictured), Timex, Avia, Rotary, etc

LOT 700 - Monkleigh Pottery, North Devon, fruit bowl

FAB Launch Today

FAB, a new service provided by Barnes Auctioneers, launches today.

Congratulations to Mike Bristow for correctly guessing that FAB stands for Fairs and Auctions Bulletin. He has won £50 which may be spent at The Cloisters antique and collectables fair during September.

FAB is an e-bulletin delivered to your inbox on a weekly basis. It will contain details of all the antique fairs, car boot sales, fleamarkets, auctions, etc that are taking place during the week in our area as an aid to planning your diary.

FAB will also offer other services including networking opportunities for those working within the business, special offers and promotions, news and information, etc.

FAB will also contain a classifieds section enabling you to promote your business, sell your stuff, or make announcements.

If you would like to subscribe or to know more about FAB, then simply email f_a_b@btinternet.com

Mixed Lot

One feature of any decent auction is social diversity and inclusion. Lot 190, the hallmarked silver box, is just as likely to be bought by someone living in a terraced house as someone living in a mansion. Ok, so the 8ft tall Edwardian mahogany bookcase might fit a little easier in the mansion, but antiques and collectables appeal to a wide variety of people and it's this aspect of our business that appeals to me - money is money is money and it doesn't matter to me who hands it over.
There is a mix of experience too. Consider the punter who offered me £150 for a table recently. The table hadn't met it's reserve at the previous auction (the reserve was £100). The vendor instructed me to sell it post-sale for whatever I could get. "Just make me a reasonable offer" I said to the potential buyer. "£150?" he said. "That's more than the reserve" I advised, having expected him to say £80. "I know!" he exclaimed, almost offended that I had cautioned his tactic. "Sold" I said and the buyer left with a big grin on his face, convinced that he had acquired a bargain.
There are bargains to be had at an auction too. Out-of-town superstores will sell you a three-piece leather suite for many hundreds if not thousands of pounds. You could buy a second-hand one in almost as good condition for a fraction of the price. And no one would know any different.
Entries for our next auction on 10th September are progressing well. We still need more lots so do contact us on 01603 304337 or barnesauctioneers@btinternet.com if you have stuff you want to sell. We accept entries right up until 6pm on Wednesday, 9th September.
You're running out of time if you are attempting to guess what FAB stands for. No one has guessed correctly so far. Perhaps we should play hangman? Fa--- and A------ B----t--
The Cloisters Fair was a little quiet yesterday - although most stallholders appeared to have a good to reasonable day. August is usually slow - the beach, picnics in the local park, holidays abroad: they are the natural activities of summer. September should see a return to normal, although nothing is normal in our business.

FAB Clue 3

This is Clue 3 - FAB is coming, but what does it stand for? A hint - FAB = F and A B

FAB Clue 2