When I first started in the business all those years ago I loved to try and buy a bargain from each auction the firm conducted.

I never really knew exactly what I was going to bid on and my purchases were always spontaneous and usually involved something that I hadn't really looked at closely.

Now, by and large there is always a reason why something is cheap at auction. Occasionally, very occasionally, a gem that has been missed by the auctioneers will slip through, but that is about as regular as spotting hen's teeth.

The real reason is usually far more obvious and certainly true with the bits I always seemed to buy - handle-less cups, chairs with no seats, paintings having lost most of their paint, and the other choice lots that formed the basis of my early collection. After a period staring at my accumulated tat, it was time to clear the decks and start again.

The money I lost was a timely reminder to look more closely before you buy.

Client confidentiality precludes me from giving too many details about a painting I sold recently for several thousands of pounds.

I had been asked to clear the contents of a house where the owner, whose husband had died some years earlier, was downsizing.

I was met at the house by a family relative, when I happened upon the portrait of a flame-haired lady of quite striking appearance, hidden behind a cupboard in the garage, which seemed a very strange place to keep what was clearly a valuable work of art.

I mentioned this to the lady's relative, who simply smiled and said: "Don't worry - it was her husband's first wife and the second Mrs X couldn't stand her so she hid her out of sight in the garage."There have been a number of questions and interesting items of local memorabilia that readers have either written to me about or emailed via the Worcester News website.

I would ask you all to bear with me and remember my dinosaur-like qualities when it comes to computers. I am trying to work out how to deal directly with your enquiries - but please keep them coming!