Another winner! Wallace & Son secured custom from a far-off lover of pottery on Sunday. Bob and Audrey of Australia are now the proud owner of a 'rare and valuable piece of China'. This was what he or she called our little Daisy Bell tankard when they wrote to request that we pack the hell out of the thing, because Australian posties like to play cricket with packages apparently.

Got a funny question about this item from a potential bidder, actually. I would like to know, he said, what is the tankard made of? Is it all wood? I responded politely that it was in fact a piece of ceramic pottery, and took another hard look at my pictures. Could they be that ambiguous? Perhaps he was merely playing it safe. He must have been disappointed by the answer because he didn't bid.




After an encouraging first month, W & S Antiques decided to ramp up the selling, so we've loaded five new items for your consideration. That they all happen to be psychedelic or proto-punk LPs from the 60s is a coincidence. Although Chris Gallagher dubbed us Magical Mystery Records, it's merely a prelude to the selling flurry that's on the horizon. They won't all be records, but if you're interested in tuning in and dropping out or whatever it was that they did back then, I invite first to log on and bid.

p.s. no Blackbirds update this week. I missed my final 'suspended' game due to a scheduling error and it appears as if there was a scorer's error too. 11-0 against? That can't be right. Next Sunday I return to action and I 'll get the whole story then.

11-0? ...that's just silly.