SWINDON, 4th November 2010 ---Let Us Auction It is celebrating 6 years in business this year. During that time, we have sold more than 20,000 items on eBay on behalf of more than 2,000 local customers. The fact that so many of our customers keep coming back with more things for us to sell is very rewarding for our staff. We are also grateful to our customers for spreading the word to their friends, colleagues and family. Most of our new customers are referrals which means we must be doing something right.
The most expensive single item sold (excluding cars and businesses) is still the antique double bass which sold for £8,800 in the first month of trading. This was a beautiful instrument, with an impressive provenance and manufactured by an important maker. The customer's father had bought it for her when she was young from a member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Potential bidders turned up from all round the world to view the instrument prior to bidding, but it was a restorer from Banbury who beat everyone and won it for £8,752. He collected it in person and paid cash. A few months later we sold a cello for the same customer for over £5,000.
We have also sold many cars over the years and once were even asked to sell a genuine Westland Scout military helicopter (converted for civil use), it didn't quite reach the Reserve Price but we got very close to it. This prompted enquiries from many African countries where helicopters are generally used for one of two things, either to transport goods over long distances, or to fire rockets at people. Several of these characters even had the cheek to ask if the helicopter still had the rockets launchers on it!
Many other interesting items have been sold, there are too many to list here. One of the most interesting parts of the job is to play detective and research the history and origin of some of the more obscure items customers bring to us. Often, hours of research is needed to track down the manufacturer or exact age of an item and tracing this information can mean the difference between the item selling for £1000 instead of £50. If an item cannot be described correctly, few potential bidders will find it on eBay. This is the difference between professional and amateur eBay sales.
Swindon auction house offers rare German cello and an eclectic mix of rare artefacts on eBay on behalf of local residents
SWINDON, 12th April 2005 --- Following the successful sale of an antique double-bass on eBay for £8,752 last month, Swindon auction house Let Us Auction It looks set to have another exciting auction next week when it offers another rare musical instrument and a collection of very rare artefacts on eBay on behalf of two local Swindon residents, one being a professional music teacher, the other an internationally published writer and former Press Secretary.
The German cello, which is in superb condition, is believed to have been made by Martin Leissmuller in the famous Mittenwald factory in Germany between 1750 and 1784 and is being offered with a guide price of £5,000. Cello’s of this quality and in this condition are extremely rare and highly sought after by professional musicians.
The remaining list of items to be auctioned constitutes a mix of inherited and purchased artefacts, the former representing a long vanished cultural aspect of the English social scene, the latter being evocative of a time when to travel to "far away places with strange sounding names" was to experience lands and peoples yet to be assailed by the crass uniformity of 'globalisation', when places and their inhabitants were permitted by the Western world to be themselves.
The sale of this remarkable personal collection represents an unusual opportunity to acquire items each with their very own story to tell. Some of them are so rare that they can confidently be described as museum pieces.
Marc Tielemans, Director of Let Us Auction It, said: “It is hard to get across the uniqueness of this collection. Some of the pieces are so rare that it is impossible to predict how high the bidding will go. Unique collections like this are normally sold in traditional auction rooms and this just proves that the winning combination of Let Us Auction It and eBay now represents serious competition to the established auction houses”.
“People are beginning to realise that eBay provides them with a world-wide audience of more than 125 million users which is likely to produce better results compared with 150 people in attendance at a traditional auction room”.
Leading the pack is a “Rice Measure” from the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean. Made of what is believed to be Bread Fruit wood, the antique item bears the, now, exceptionally rare, Red Wax Seal of the Sultan of the Maldives and is beautifully varnished with an ochre collar.
When high seas prevailed for long periods between the Maldives and Ceylon (today's Sri Lanka), it was not possible for the Islanders' traditional craft, the Lateen sail Dhoni, to go north for rice supplies. At such times, the measure was used by the Sultan's officials to measure out supplies to the people in modest and equal
measure. It is reliably believed to be the only one in private hands, the other being in the Maldives Museum at Male, the Maldives capital. In the mid 1990's the rice measure was exhibited for one year at the Museum of Mankind in London and it would be a particularly fine addition to the collection of a Museum of Asian or South Asian Art.
Another item bound to create serious interest is another museum quality item - an authentic Melanesian grass-skirt from the Southern Island of Tanna in Vanuatu, home
to the John Frum Cargo Cult, which regards His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh as a Deity. The Cult is a curious mixture of traditional beliefs and Christianity. The grass-skirt has the distinctive John Frum cross depicted, in vegetable dyes, within its fronds.
Other items being auctioned include a :
Very rare antique incense burner in crafted brass, depicting the face of the devil, from Baluchistan in South-Western Pakistan
Complete set of Tarot Cards by B.P. Grimaud of Paris, dated 1930
19th century Portuguese Majolica Salt with lobster claws rising from beds of light green seaferns and bowls in the form of glazed Mussel Shells
Silver Seal, bearing the Russian two-headed eagle
Beautifully glazed Persian pot from Isfahan decorated with royal blue and burgundy flowers. The pot has two planted imperfections - a thumb mark and a small piece of grit - in keeping with the ancient Islamic tenet that only Allah is capable of perfection.
Striking 1949 porcelain Bust of Chairman Mao Tse Tung which is pure white save for the Red Communist Star on the cap and two red flashes on the collar. This bust comes from the former Government Guest House at Shanghai.
Museum-quality traditional Chief’s Mat from the Southern Island of Tanna in Vanuatu, often worn as a ‘Kilt’ at times of ceremony and coloured in purple vegetable dye.
Large piece of Masi Tapestry from Fiji, traditionally coloured in black & brown and made from the bark of the Paper Mulberry tree. Masi is used at times of high ceremony and by Fijian Chiefs on solemn occasions. It is also used as a funeral burial cloth. This piece is also of museum quality.
Tooth of a Sperm Whale, on a coconut fibre rope from the Fijian Islands, where it is highly regarded as a traditional artefact, used in solemn acts of respect and homage. Known as Tabua in the Bauan tongue (Fijian) one is traditionally presented, for example, to Queen Elizabeth II on her visits to the Islands. Within Fijian society it can also be public recognition of chiefly rank. Age unknown.
Rare and unusual antique incense burner in studded brass in the form of a bullfrog, with a Burmese Lion on his back. Purchased 35 years ago in Burma.
15 carat rose-gold Cravat Pin by Edmond Johnson of Dublin in its original Edwardian velvet and silk lined box which bears the Royal Cipher of the Crown of Great Britain, with the legend 'Jewellers to His Majesty”. The pin is reliably believed by the owner to have been worn at the funeral of His Late Majesty, the King Emperor, Edward the VII in 1910.
