David Sumner, Author at Auction Sales Rooms in Ottery St Mary in East Devon

AuthorDavid Sumner

Auction Musings

As a child I would get Smash Hits magazine, cut out the pictures of Debbie Harry from Blondie, Clare Grogan from Altered Images and other artists of the day and stick them to my bedroom walls, eventually graduating to NME as an angst ridden teenager. I picked up a guitar and learnt and few chords and have been a dedicated three chord strummer ever since. I continued to buy vinyl records in the 1980s when my friends had moved to CDs mainly because I could not afford a CD player. I used to buy their redundant collections for the price of their favourite chart topping CD. I even sold my record collection years later to partially fund the setting up of the auction. A move which when I tell record collectors they raise their eyebrows as they would rather sell their souls to the devil, Robert Johnson style than sell their prized collections. So we have always prided ourselves on our records and musical instruments. We have had some interesting collections come in over the years. One small collection of four boxes saved from certain death at the tip made well over £4000. Then a dealer friend contacted me and said he had been asked to sell some guitars. He sent some blurry images and I had a look but from a photograph it was difficult to tell if they were authentic or not or what they would play like. He then sent me some provenance which is where the story gets more interesting, They had belonged to a session musician who had played with Pink Floyd, The Kinks, The Who and other legendary artists of the 1970’s. I realized these were not going to be low grade entry levels copies and I waited in anticipation for them to arrive. When they did I plugged in his Marshall stack and blew the cobwebs away. The two that did not look much were modified to his specifications and these were like Ferraris dressed as Morris Minors. There was also a Les Paul Standard, an Eddie Van Halen Wolfgang and an Eric Clapton signature series Fender Stratocaster as well as a brand new Telecaster. I was in heaven for the days prior to the sale strumming my three chords in my little office, crooning out John Prine and Oasis covers sipping a single malt.

Then came the sale day, a virtual sale with no viewing, same as ever in our Covid time. But that did not stop the buyers, the six guitars hammered out at £7770 with one buyer buying four out of the six available instruments, all going to collectors to be played. It was a shame it could not have been a sale with viewing as it would have nice to hear some musicians doing their stuff with them but this obviously did not effect the final outcome.
On the back of this I have decided to do an annual higher end collectable record and musical instrument sale, so dig out the old records you never play or that old Ibanez guitar gathering dust in the corner and give me a call.

Auction Move Update

This is a quick update about our forthcoming move. Things are progressing well and I am lotting in for the next sale on Saturday January 9^th which will be held at Escot village Hall, however due to being in Tier 3 with government restrictions it will be an online viewing sale only. The current website is now mobile friendly and I am assured the telephone number will be the same. Pick ups will be on a strict appointment basis as before and will be at:

Riverside Cottage

Gosford Lane

Ottery St Mary

Ex11 1nf

Some of the larger furniture items will be available to pick up at the auction house old address until the lease runs out in mid-January. So, think of me over your christmas dinner I will be wielding a paint brush getting the rooms ship shape and Bristol fashion.

So have a very merry christmas and thank you for your continued support in the future.

Regards

David Sumner

David’s new Ottery Auction Rooms post

In a facetime conversation with a fellow auctioneer the other day we talked about the trials and tribulations of our strange auction world in the current climate. His work revolves around bankrupt stock and matters of insolvency whereas my world is that of solicitors and deceased estates. He moaned that with the internet over the last few years as a buying platform he did not recognize most of his clients and now as all his sales are timed auctions he has very little to do with the buyers at all. He remarked that he did not miss the cut and thrust of a busy saleroom, sitting on the rostrum for hours selling to people he did not know. For me it was slightly different prior to COVID-19, the room would be packed with fifty to a hundred customers, most of them regulars, waving homemade paddles and filling up on bacon sandwiches. We have always had the internet as a strong buying presence, but the room commanded the sale. I miss the people and the buzz of the auction, being in my lofty pulpit, looking down on the congregation. I miss the nerves prior to the sale, wearing the suit and wielding the gavel, the master of ceremonies, taking abuse from porters and customers alike. I was surprised when he said that he did not miss any of that, he enjoyed the time sales with no audience participation, he had not picked up a gavel since March. However, he had never been busier because of the nature of the financial impact of Covid 19 bankruptcies had gone through the roof and were set to get busier when we hit the end of the furlough system. In our auction not a lot has changed except the lack of audience and having no viewing days. The clearances keep coming in as the estates get cleared and items are catalogued and sold albeit only via the internet. What the future holds for all of our differing auction houses who knows, except businesses will keep going to the wall and people will keep on dying. Luckily, we have not seen a sharp rise in deceased estates due to Covid, however our workload has gone up because furloughed people are busy at home clearing out lofts and garages. Also, people have been using auctions to buy from to create secondary businesses on Ebay and Facebook selling pages to bolster their incomes while stuck at home. I am looking forward to getting back in my pulpit along with the majority of auctioneers who miss the theatre or pantomime of the sales.

Privacy Policy

This privacy policy sets out how Ottery Auction Rooms uses and protects any information that you give Ottery Auction Rooms when you use this website.

Ottery Auction Rooms is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

Ottery Auction Rooms may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from 26th March 2013

What we collect:

We may collect the following information:

Name
Contact information including email, address, & telephone numbers

What we do with the information we gather:

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

Internal record keeping
We may use the information to improve our services.
We may periodically send promotional emails about Ottery Auction Rooms which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided. We may contact you by email, phone, fax or mail.

Security:

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Cookies

How we use cookies:

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about webpage traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

The information below provides an overview of all the cookies used by our website, the purpose of the cookie, and how you can find out further information about each cookie along with information on how to delete it.

You can find out how to do this for your particular browser by clicking “help” on your browser’s menu, or by using the browser links provided below. You can also find information in our cookies table below regarding disabling specific cookies. However, please be aware that should you choose to disable cookies it may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website and some of the website may fail to work.

Controlling Cookies through your web browser:

Your own web browser also has the power to allow, disallow or completely disable cookies. Please click on the browser you use below to read more on how to control cookies.

Mozilla Firefox
Google Chrome
Internet Explorer 9
Safari

Description of Categories of Cookies:

Strictly Necessary Cookies: Allows you to move around the website and use essential features like secure areas, shopping baskets and online billing. These cookies don’t gather any information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you’ve been on the internet. We don’t require your consent to set these cookies.

Performance Cookies: Collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance most visited pages. They do not collect information which identifies visitors personally. They help improve how our website works.

Functional Cookies: Allow the website to remember user choices – e.g. region or language, and also provide enhanced personal features (e.g. providing a service like commenting on a blog.) They do not collect information which identifies visitors personally. They help improve your user experience and the way our website works.

This is a list of the main cookies set by the Ottery Auction Rooms website, and what each is used for:

Cookie Name	Category	Used By	Description
Joomla unique name (32 chars long)	Strictly Necessary Cookies	http://www.joomla.org/	Session Cookie: Used internally to control the visitors session preferences & expires at the end of your browser session.

Cookie Name	Category:	Used By	Description
__utma, __utmb, __utmc, __utmz	Performance Cookies	Google Analytics: all areas of the site Google Analytics Privacy Policy.	These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come from geographically, and the pages they have visited, the devices and browsers the visitor is using. How to reject or delete these cookies https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Cookie Name

Category:

Used By

Description

__utma,
__utmb,
__utmc,
__utmz

Performance Cookies

Google Analytics: all areas of the site

Google Analytics Privacy Policy.

These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come from geographically, and the pages they have visited, the devices and browsers the visitor is using.
How to reject or delete these cookies https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Cookie Name	Category:	Used By	Description
bb2_screener	Other Cookies	BB2 Screener http://bad-behavior.ioerror.us/	This cookie is solely used for the security of the website and is not used for marketing purposes. The cookie, which expires at the end of your browser session, records your IP address and the time of your most recent visit. It is used to determine whether a request comes from a spammer who is rotating through different IP address. In order to ensure your security, our pages perform so-called “token checks”, making it extremely difficult for automated software (“bots”) to send unsolicited messages (“spam”) to this site. If you opt out of this site’s cookie, then this site is unlikely to work properly. This is a technical limitation which cannot be overcome

Useful Sites:

Information Commissioner’s Office http://www.ico.gov.uk

All About Cookies http://www.allaboutcookies.org

Links to other websites:

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Controlling your personal information:

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

if you do not want us to use your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by emailing us at email

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we are required by law to do so.

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A small fee will be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to: Ottery Auction Rooms, 30/32 Finnimore Industrial Estate, Ottery St Mary, Devon. EX11 1NR.
If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible at the above 30/32 Finnimore Industrial Estate, Ottery St Mary, Devon. EX11 1NR. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.