Auctioning the Past
The Provenance of a Norwich Plank
Auctions represented the more acceptable side of re-selling in the past. Auctioneers were less concerned with a random accumulation of second-hand knick-knacks than they were with specific markets. Some auction houses held general sales, some specialised. Like the Edwardians after them, Victorians incorporated reused materials when they built or adapted homes: much of this was purchased at auction.
The current owners of a Norwich property that was formerly a Cottage Home Refuge run by the Sisters of Mercy found this remnant on a piece of wood:
The paper has disintegrated, leaving only the ink in places. A few words are visible on the plank, and after some obsessive sleuthing its history came into view. It was most likely purchased from an auction of timber which had been used in a Widows and Orphans Gala in the 1860s:
Norfolk News, 4 July 1868
A master carpenter called Thomas Cutbird lived next to the refuge at this time, and he may have purchased the timber. He eventually bought the property from the Sisters in the 1880s and could have used the wood in a project at that time.