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Our current opening hours are 10am – 4pm on weekdays and customers are welcome to come and collect items that they have bought at auction any time within those hours.   But, we wanted to take this to our customers and ask whether these opening times and our collection policy are flexible enough for you.   Our thought process with these hours was that post-pandemic so many people work from home at least a few days each week that popping into collect items during the working week is now more accessible.   And we try to remain as flexible as possible for customers by allowing collections to take place at any time during our opening hours, even without an appointment.   With that being said, when customers turn up to collect their items unannounced, it can sometimes take a little while to find it in our storage facility.   So, we recommend giving us a quick call before you head down and then we can get the item prepared and make the process as efficient as possible when you turn up.   The same goes if you have arranged a courier to come and collect, which is usually the case with larger items, if you can give us a rough time-frame when they might arrive, then it makes everyone’s lives easier.   Occasionally, we can accept people coming to collect what they have bought at auction outside of our advertised opening times if it has been pre-arranged and we have someone available to meet the customer. Sometimes this is possible on auction days when we are around anyway.   Of course, if you attend the auction in person and buy something then there is no need to arrange a time for collection, as you can take your item home same-day, so that’s always what we encourage first and foremost.   For those of you who are unable to attend, however, are our opening times and collection policy reasonable or do we need to give it a rethink?   Let us know by dropping us an email at sales@windsorauctions.co.uk or message us on Instagram....

Charging for storage at an auction house can be a contentious topic and so we wanted to take this to our customers and fellow auctioneers to work out what’s fair. In case you’re not aware how an auction works after an item is sold, the auction house will give the buyer a specified amount of time to collect those items. When customers attend the auction in person, they’ll often take the items home on the same day and so there are no issues. But, this is more in reference to people who have bought their items through an online auction platform. And if the items have not been picked up within the allotted time that the auction house will specify, then the buyer will incur a storage charge. This isn’t a way for auction houses to squeeze every last penny out of their customers, but rather it’s a necessity on our end. From our perspective here at Windsor Auctions, say we have 1000 items that sell at an auction, we don’t have unlimited space in our warehouses and so we need to move those items on before we can start bringing in lots for the next auction. And if we have loads of items uncollected for weeks, then we will end up having to pay for extra storage for our incoming lots and it costs us money. With that being said, we don’t want to be unreasonable and overcharge our customers if they simply can’t come and pick up their items in time. Our current policy is that we allow buyers ten days and then we charge £3 per item per day that they are storing with us, and the same goes for sellers whose items have not sold, unless they want their lot re-entered in a future auction. This is relatively cheap for the industry, as Lots Road Auction in Chelsea require items to be collected within two days of the auction and if they are not then the buyer will be subject to a storage charge of £20 plus VAT per item per day. Meanwhile Christie’s charge £78 per day for large objects and £39 per day for smaller objects, beginning as soon as the items are...

The world of auctioneering is fascinating, or at least we think so, and we hope our 10,000 monthly listeners agree. There are not just gems to be unearthed in terms of items to be bought or sold at auction, but there are also gems of people in the auction industry who deserve to have their stories told and that’s why we started the Gavel and the Gabble podcast. It’s not just about promoting our own auction houses here at Windsor Auctions and our sister auction house Lyme Bay Auctions but we want to shed a light on the industry as a whole and all the subsidiary industries.   We hope to give the public a look behind the curtain at what goes on in the world of auctioneers, as well as highlighting the best of the industry and anyone who has got something interesting to say is welcome to come on. Although, that’s not the only reason we started the podcast, my co-host Simon and I also wanted to have a laugh. We run our auction house slightly unusually with both of us up on the rostrum and in between or during lots we crack some jokes and have a little chit chat, both under the delusional assumption that we’re the funniest people in the room. So, we wanted to share our subpar comedy and passion for the industry with whoever might listen and in doing so the podcast has evolved into much more than we could have expected. For starters, we’ve learned a lot speaking to some hugely interesting and truly knowledgeable industry experts from Paul Laidlaw to Richard Worrall, Isabel Murtough, Michael Baggott and countless others. Prior to starting the Gavel and the Gabble, neither Simon nor I knew many people in the industry, but we’ve come to find that it’s a place where everybody readily supports everybody and people are constantly keen to help. The podcast has also unintentionally but happily made us into industry activists, advocating for more women in the industry, as well as tackling important issues such as changing government laws around fire regulations and the Ivory act. One of the main catalysts we’re hoping that comes from the podcast is attracting more...

The Government has published a consultation on new draft fire regulations for upholstered furniture so we arranged for our in house blogger Cameron Temple to interview and get the viewpoint of Delyth Fetherston-Dilke and Sharon O’Connor.  They were also interviewed on the Gavel and The Gabble podcast it is well worth a listen and available wherever you get your podcasts.   The government want to introduce new regulations that will turn the upholstery industry on its head and we have until October 24 to change this, so we need your help.   Unsurprisingly, big businesses and mass manufacturers will likely breeze past the change in regulations, with the exception of some time-consuming admin, whereas small businesses, who take care over their craft and deliver high quality products, will seriously feel the effects.   To put it as simply as possible, current regulations dictate that a piece of furniture has to pass an open flame test.   This means that the manufacturer has to put a Bunsen burner against it and see how long before it sets fire.   Under the new regulations an upholsterer has to pass the same test, but on each layer of fabric and filling that they use.   For example, let’s say an upholsterer uses one layer of wool, one of cotton, foam, horsehair or any other fabric, then every single layer has to pass the open flame test, which is extremely stringent.   This is where flame retardant chemicals come in.   For an upholsterer to adhere to the governments strict regulations they have to use a lot of flame-retardant chemicals, which are highly toxic.   The chemicals are can cause cancer, infertility and neuro-toxicity in children, which can lead to behavioural problems and reduced IQ.   To make matters worse, a different department of the government has openly acknowledged the toxicity of these chemicals and as such said that all waste furniture, anything at the end of its life when a consumer doesn’t want it anymore, has to be incinerated.   They say that we can’t risk these chemicals going into landfill and then seeping into river systems where they can become harmful to humans and wildlife.   But, from an environmental perspective,...

It has been a very busy few months for the team here at Windsor Auctions when we are not auctioneering, appraising or clearing houses, we are delighted to be supporting various charities and  local organisations. The beginning of June saw us head up in to Windsor Great Park to supply compere’s for the hugely impressive Royal Windsor Flower Show and what an impressive job the team behind the show did. It was a joy to be part of an Auctioneer Harry, backed up by Will had great fun all day and quite a substantial amount of cake as well !! It was lovely to see so many of our customers and thank you so much for coming over to say hi. We would really suggest putting next years event, https://rwrhs.com/flower-show/ in your diary we know that the keen bakers and plant growers on our team will be entering the competitions will be there on the 8th June 2024. We have also been lucky enough to be invited to auctioneer at a number of charity auctions this month and in this difficult times have been overwhelmed by the generosity of those bidding. We sent Harry to Royal Ascot Golf Course at the invitation of Michael Hawkins and Ascot BNI to auction after their busy golf day and a great crowd to raise money for the charity Parenting Special Children Next we sent him to a lovely evening at Windsor Guild Hall to raise money for humanitarian aid charity Embrace Me Foundation who were set up to send aid to Ukraine again a lovely crowd raised thousands in order to send yet more essential ambulances. The highlight of Harry’s evening was auctioning a Brian May of Queen signed guitar and the generosity of the room. We understand from the organisers that they are putting together another even bigger event in September/October this year, watch this space and we will let you know all about it. Next we are sending Harry off to Windsor & Eton Bowling Club which is always a superb evening and a lot of laughs so we will report back. If you are looking for an auctioneer for a charity event we are always happy to help if...

Well its been a busy month here at Windsor Auctions, apart from our usual day jobs of valuing, appraising items and taking in consignments for auction, our House Clearance and Collection team have been very busy indeed. We did take time for a wander around Henley Decor Fair where they had had to battle the elements to put on a great show, we caught up with some of the dealers who buy and sell with us at Windsor Auctions which is always good fun, and saw how much work Garry Wallis and his team had put in. The next one is due in September so pop it in your diary as there are some great dealers and a really wide range of styles and items on offer. Harry was delighted to have been invited to be on a panel discussion organised by Shine House Tours   to chat about ‘The inside track on sourcing the best vintage & antique pieces’ it was a great couple of hours with fascinating people and great questions and all in aid of Stroud Women’s Refuge a charity who offer support to women and children anywhere in the UK. Stonor Park hosted one of its great  Antique and Vintage Car Boot Fairs and again a stroll through the cars and vans looking for interesting bits meant Emma bumped in to lots of customers from the Auction House, it is always great to see people away from the saleroom, have a catch up and hear what is happening in the market.   Simon and Harry continue to trouble the podcast charts across the globe with their podcast about the industry, with some great interviews already out there and more to follow. They chat not only to auctioneers, but dealers both young and older, an upholsterer, and recently a gentleman who runs one of the fasted growing shipping and delivery services in our sector. You can find the podcast on all platforms and if you like it do subscribe, review and tell your friends (If we don’t say that Producer David gives us a really hard time!!) May 2023 is a busy month in Windsor with all things Coronation very much at the forefront of our lovely...