Skip Find to Fantastic Treasure

The thing I love the most about my job is that when you wake up in the morning you never know what the day may bring. For example just a couple of weeks ago I never expected to find myself photographed by my local newspaper in a skip and then make front page but this is exactly what happened. A local lady had discovered a vintage 1920's Louis Vuitton travelling trunk in a skip and brought in for us to sell. The case was in a sorry state with years of grime and dirt so the LV pattern was only just visible. This lucky find however, transcribed into £1,800 when the hammer finally came down. So it goes to show you never know what you might find - although always ask the skip owners permission if you can take the items from it as this can be classed as stealing.

Another exciting moment this month was when I walked into a couple house and saw the most amazing 5ft murano glass sculpture. Created by Pino Signoretto one of the Worlds most talented designers, it was cleared marked on the base with his signature and dated to 1974. This work of art was also a feat of technical excellence as the top figure actually balanced in the arms of the standing figure. Two pieces of skillfully blown glass I have never ever seen anything like it before. However, the vendor expected to receive around £12,000 at auction which seemed a lot to me. I did insist that this was a little over the top but they failed to take my advice so of course the piece went unsold. However I was honoured to see and handle something that many never will.

Oh and the other thing is I am booked to lecture on anther of P&O's cruise ships, the Arcadia next month. Cruising round the Med I will be giving a series of 7 talks and of course adding to the waistline once again. So I will keep you all informed of how this goes.

But priority at the moment is finishing my book as I am now nearly on deadline. Remember I told you in the first blog that "The Greatest Collecting Tips in the World" will be released in March next year. I have crammed the book full of interesting stories, hot tips, how to bag a bargain and where to look. So make sure before you start your bootsale season again next year you go armed with a copy of my book. Oh and the wonderful Eric Knowles of Antiques Roadshow fame has kindly written my foreward so hopefully you will all enjoy the hard work that I have put in.

Anyway that's it for now but I promise I won't leave it as long next time. Oh and to that man that stopped me in the street this week and asked if I was Tracy Martin who wrote the blog - thank you so much for reading - at least now I know I have one dedicated follower.

xTrace