Exmouth auctioneer Piers Motley writes for the Journal.

Exmouth Journal: Piers Motley-NashPiers Motley-Nash (Image: Piers Motley-Nash)

Entropy is the natural state of the universe. Having read Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time' it is one of the few concepts I grasped (to some extent).

Over the last month or so this has also been the natural state of the auction room as we have prepared for our next three day sale on 29th-31st March.

Anyone who is a gardener also understands entropy or disorder. We strive to control nature in the garden, but if we don't keep on top of things, brambles start to appear in hedges, weeds in the border and the grass turns to seed.

In the auction it's been a constant battle to keep on top of all the new entries coming in from house clearances and the occasional dealer dropping items off. As soon as it comes in we have got to try to re-establish the order in the saleroom.

All items are stamped with a vendor reference code, photographed and placed in the correct place. The problem is we have run out of room and are having to be inventive in trying to re-establish order.

It's our usual conglomeration with the first day comprising jewellery and silver.

The second day has multiple disciplines but includes paintings and prints, militaria, wines and spirits, Chinese, modern moorcroft and more.

The third day begins with a MOTO GUZZI V& Cafe Motorbike with under 1,600 miles on the clock, a bargain with an estimate of £3,500-£4,000 and continues with Antique and 20th century furniture and other household items.

The highlights in the sale are a necklace and earring set by Catherine Best, expected to make £4000-6000.

In the art section is a painting by the Irish painter Frank McKelvey, also expected to make £4,000-£6,000.

From an Exmouth lady a superb Meissen porcelain group of the Dance Master and Dancers is going to attract interest of £1,600-£2,200.

Having just completed lotting in the 2,000 lots it is with a sigh of relief I start the process of getting it online.

There's still lots of checking to be done to ensure everything is correct before we publish.

With 3,000 photographs already taken the upload shall take a couple of hours and that's just on one site!

The disorder won't be under control until about four weeks after the sale when everything has been shipped out to all the buyers, after that everyone is going to have a much needed rest.

Now I need to get the mower ready for the first cut of the year next weekend.