Coventry Stuff for Sale or Auction (inc. eBay etc.)

Cine film of the new cathedral here.

The weekend before last, I bought my first item from a timed auction at Easy Live Auction. Unlike a real auction there was no live auction with or without a guy with a gavel and a room full of bidders. It was not unlike Ebay but I discovered that a last minute bid, automatically pushes the auction lot end time back 10 mins. This means that other bidders have time to debate whether to up their bid. I hope that Ebay doesn't copy this trick! On the plus side, the auctioneers was better set up to post winning bids and was cheaper than other auction houses. I got the two gatehouse pictures for the all in price of £24.06. Note to self, check the measurements of things I bid on. I tend to assume that cheap stuff must be small.

An old view of Spon Gate viewed from within the walls here. Artist Henry Gilder who lived 1743-1808. Not the best rendition of the view but agrees with several others. As with many images from that era there is the obligatory random empty cart and a woman carrying stuff on her head. I suspect that this won't sell unless there are Gilder fans. It's expensive, not particularly charming and out of its country of origin. Updated - didn't sell.

There is a new listing for "A Thousand Years of Coventry Pubs" today

A well priced, great etching looking across Priory Street towards the churches here. The date of the view is 1890 but the copy will be somewhat later. It's a later view than the better known 1861 painting by David Gee here. The etching shows the building by the bridge that was under construction in the painting.

Lovely - where do you reckon that was 'pictured' from Helen?

Fab.... 'tis on its way to chez nous! It will, of course, be shared with all members once it's arrived and been scanned.

Wow, that was speedy Rob It is a particularly nice etching that I was on the look out for some time, before I got a copy Neil, my best guess is Pool Meadow or even Ford Street. There was a series of orchards to the west of Spinney Lane - what was to become Cox Street beyond the wall - so it could be as far over as that. The foreground might be artistic licence however, so finding a suitable fence and set of trees might be impossible.

A technical archaeology report - The Walls of Coventry here. Not very cheap for a well used second hand book but these sorts of books don't come up very often. I will add that if you're ever in the vicinity of the Herbert, it's always worth popping into the archive as they have second hand books for sale at very good prices and you may get lucky and find something rare.

That's a very good point, actually - I pop in from time to time, and have picked up a small handful of bargains in the last year or so. I was there only a week ago, and there were two copies of Mary Dormer Harris's super book of Troughton drawings, which we've discussed on here in the past. There's an excellent selection, including Warwickshire too, and plenty also for motorcycle and car fans.