THINGS have been slow on the buying front of late. After the early/midsummer burst of specialist arms, armour and gun sales, which, as usual, saw me bouncing in excitement as I tried to (and did) buy some of the goodies on offer, there is an annual lacuna until they kick off again in late November and early December. These ‘clusters’ of specialist auctions are a hark back to the pre-internet days when, say, the jewellery trade, both international and domestic, would descend on London en masse in February for about 10 days, during which every auction house with a jewellery department would hold a sale. This suited everyone. A trip to London from the USA, Europe or deepest Ruralshire was never exactly cheap, and buyers could better justify their time and money by attending lots of sales. Downtime carousing with fellow enthusiasts was an extra cherry on the auction gateau. Business and fun combined.
