IT always pays to read the auctioneer's adverts and catalogues carefully.

I remember some years ago holding a sale in London of some 800 lots of office furniture which started at 11 o'clock.

A very harassed dealer arrived just minutes before the auction was to start and said to me: "I saw your address in Worcester on the catalogue and thought that was where the sale was.

"I got there early at 8am to give myself plenty of time to view as well."

The net result being that he had no time to view at all and while he bid on most of the lots in the sale he ended up buying only those lots that nobody else had wanted, they having had the opportunity to view beforehand.

Most of his purchases had seen better days and while I had been very pleased to see him at the sale, I believe the expression is: "More haste less speed."