Mental Arithmetic, Mad Prices

If the nuclear physicist, Ernest Rutherford, was correct when he said that all science is either physics or stamp collecting, does it follow that stamp collecting could be a branch of science ?

We do wish sometimes that we could turn the pitching of estimates into a sufficiently exact science to avoid the minor embarrassments caused by realisations that visibly confound our predictions.  Fortunately this is all part of the fun at an auction and the surprises contribute greatly to the good-humoured atmosphere of a productive auction room.

Further information about some of the more exceptional prices will be found elsewhere on this site as will a brief report on the 'last day' of auction agent Mary Weeks.  After so many years of regular attendance it will be odd indeed not to see Mary at the front of the room and there was something of an end of term feeling during the sale days last week.  Happily we will still have Tony Lancaster, son of the legendary Bobbie Lancaster, at the adjoining desk so we will try to struggle on.

Joining me on the rostrum over three days of selling were new auctioneers Andrew Williams, already showing the confidence of a seasoned performer, Nick Kerridge and Glyn Page, the last firmly disproving a certain saying about old dogs - unless I have got it wrong and the saying is that old dogs are fond of a vodka and a cigarette.  Auctioneering is stressful, the mental calculations testing, and all three deserve much congratulation for the aplomb that they showed.

In the meantime, whilst some of the Grosvenor team are busily despatching purchases and collecting payment, others are stepping up the describing of lots for the next British Empire & Foreign Countries sale in March, to be followed by specialised Great Britain in April.  Further information about the content of these auctions will be posted in the next few weeks.

I would love to help but down here in France a three-legged duck has been born locally and we are all too excited to concentrate. Some even suspect that it may have something to do with dark predictions for 2012 suggested by the ending of the ancient Mayan calendar.

The cataclysmic breakdown of human society is not due until December 21st next year so we will do our best to offer plenty of good material before then.  We can not guarantee, however, that anything less than a full apocalypse will prevent Chris Lawrence pursuing payment of invoices from our auctions next November !

JG