I would love to go to auctions to buy stuff that I wanted to try to sell. This would necessitate money, of course, and I do like to eat occasionally and that takes money, as well, but, if I were independently wealthy, I would go to every auction I could get to, just to see if they had anything I wanted.

Sothebys, Christie’s and Bonhams tend to have wonderful and expensive items for sale but local auctions, often have really nice items for sale that aren’t expensive and can make good profits, if you bid enough to be the successful bidder.

Back when I had my shop, I would go to a general auction in Maidstone every Thursday morning. Sometimes I couldn’t find anything worth waiting around for and others times I would find things I really wanted. There is a lot of standing around and waiting at auctions – one reason many of them also have some sort of cooked food outlet on the premises. I had many an egg on toast at Maidstone auctions! But, you don’t have to stick around if you have somewhere you must be.

Many general auctioneers produce catalogues – usually in typed list form – and you can look through the lists, ring the auctioneer if you have questions, and leave a ‘commission bid’ with them if you want. Then, after the auction, you can ring up to find out if your bid was successful and either go back or pay via bank transfer and arrange collection or delivery, if necessary.The cost of the item(s) you buy includes the auctioneers buyer’s commission, any VAT necessary and delivery charges, where applicable.

At the start of my buying and selling career I always went to auctions and mostly stood around, waiting for the lots to come up. My weeks often included 2 or 3 auctions. On Thursdays I’d be in Maidstone, on Saturdays I’d be in Chatham where there was a weekly auction and on Mondays I could often be found in Lewes where there was a weekly general auction held by a well-known auctioneer to get rid of the less-valuable items that must accumulate rapidly if you also do house clearances.

I must admit, I would love to have done house clearances in my early buying and selling days. Those of you who have read some of my earlier posts will know of my interest in linens, buttons and sewing-associated tools. Buttons often were chucked out by house clearers as having too little value but I loved buying buttons, sorting them, pricing them and reading about them. Many children are given a box of buttons to sort and play with by their mums and grans but mine didn’t have button boxes😩 so I went through the button-box stage in my 50’s!

When we closed the shop, retired and moved to the seaside, there wasn’t much point in going to auctions and there weren’t many around here, anyway. But, I had my old game and jigsaw website and had to replenish my supplies, somehow!

There are several sites on the internet which advertise auctions around the country – and even around Europe. I knew of three such sites and spent loads of time daily, looking for the items I wanted. I was able to buy some superb old games, many of which I couldn’t bear to part with! I also was able, occasionally, to find wonderful old jigsaws. I spent hours putting the puzzles together and photographing them. Sometimes there were several pieces missing and I taught myself how to remake and paint missing bits. If a puzzle was missing too many pieces, I kept it – though I love a complete puzzle, those with missing pieces are lovely, too, and just as satisfactory to put together.

One further thing about old wooden jigsaws:- most come in anonymous boxes with no photo. The late 19th and early 20th century jigsaw makers didn’t keep a catalogue of their puzzles and most didn’t put their names on boxes. I have a feeling that many of the jigsaws that passed through my hands were one-offs, made using old advertising posters. Among the loveliest anonymous puzzles are a collection of Pear’s Soap adverts.

There came a time when old wooden jigsaws became too expensive for me to buy and make a profit. That’s when I closed my previously very successful website and retired.

So, to answer the question posed by the prompt, I would buy old wooden jigsaws and spend hours putting them together if the question had added that I would have an unending supply of money with which to purchase said puzzles.

Below are a few of my favourites. Some I have sold, some I still have.