Buy what you like and if it’s worth more when you come to sell then all the better.

“

NICK BURNS

A Lindsay Burns & Company, Auctioneers & Valuers is a second-generation familyrun firm of auctioneers that has been in business since 1982.

It makes us one of Scotland’s oldest and most established firms of auctioneers and valuers in continuous ownership by the same family.

The core business is sourcing and selling antiques, collectables and general chattels, as well as providing clients with valuations for inheritance tax/probate, insurance and sale purposes.

We work closely with private clients, fiduciary clients, executors and other professional advisers.

We are based in Perth, but regularly engage with clients throughout Scotland.

One was an early 19th-century Chinese porcelain blue and white bottle vase, Daoguang seal mark and of the period 1821-1850.

I first saw the lot wrapped in a white bath towel, not knowing what was inside. I was pleasantly surprised! The white towel with the vase inside was carried in to a valuation day at the saleroom in a dog basket. After close inspection I was satisfied that the condition was perfect.

My client had inherited the vase from a distant relation who had been a missionary in China in the 19th Century and had brought this item back to Scotland at this time.

This provenance was exactly what you as an auctioneer want to hear given modern fakes are common.

For that sale we had eight telephone lines booked with clients in addition to our live bidding platform.

The vase went on to sell for £55,000 hammer price plus buyer’s premium of 20% + VAT.

The saleroom erupted into spontaneous applause and it is the most expensive lot I have sold in a 20-year professional career. After the sale I telephoned the vendor to let them know the good news. Before I could say hello, they said: “I know what it made – I just about fell off my stool when I was watching the sale being conducted online.”

I later found out that the vase had stood on a rather precarious occasional table next to a plug socket on the wall and, after hoovering on a Sunday morning, the plug would regularly clunk the side of the vase. We also specialise in collections.

Two notable ones that come to mind were the sale of the residual contents of Kinpurnie Castle, home of the late Sir James Cayzer, Meigle, and The Rattray Collection, Charles Rattray Tobacconists, Perth who supplied the like of former