[Hartley118]

I left a few low bids for items of interest, but the prices sailed way past my level, with the exception of an interesting-looking elderly Leitz microscope in a decent wooden cabinet which I won for £60. However, with buyer's premium and packing and carriage, by the time I receive it, it will have cost double that.

As a viewer of 'Flog It', I was interested to experience as a bidder an auction combining internet and 'floor' bidding, and I must say that I was impressed at the speed and slickness of the whole operation. The post-auction process of paying and arranging delivery has been equally slick. Interesting to experience an auction house which has efficiently embraced the internet: so different from the days when an auction was mainly just a gathering of a few local penny-pinching dealers.

I too was staggered at the prices fetched by the boxes of valves. I can only conclude that bidders had examined the lots beforehand and discovered a few PX25s in there!

Most importantly, the overall high level of prices fetched has persuaded me that this kind of auction may be a jolly good way of selling my own collection when the time comes. And I also recognise that it solves the eternal packing & carriage problem of an eBay sale.

Martin