The owners of Lincolnshire’s most established auction venue have recently revamped it... and Eleys’ gavel is coming down on some astonishing lots. We sent Lincolnshire Pride’s Editor Rob Davis along to find out what happens behind the scenes and on the rostrum at one of the county’s oldest auction houses...

If television, the internet and trends have affected one industry so detrimentally and so profoundly, it’s the world of art and antiques trading. The proliferation of sites like eBay and the dearth of home makeover shows on television has led to a rapid decline of the arts and antique trade as eBay takes over from the world of auction houses staffed by knowledgeable professionals, and TV shows advocate minimal homes filled with disposable furnishings.

But this rather bleak view of the industry is not universally true. As a county, Lincolnshire is the exception to the general rule, being a haven for antiques, with Horncastle one of the country’s most important antiques towns, with a wealth of experts marbled throughout Lincolnshire and with a newly refurbished auction house in particular that aims to buck the trend and provide Lincolnshire with a unique saleroom for those seeking high-end quality fine art and antiques right here in the county.

Under new ownership since August 2007, Eleys’ Auction Room has successfully transformed itself into a much-of-a-muchness house clearance auction room into a trading ground for quality antiques, fine art... and one or two unusual pieces in each auction if our recent visit was anything go by.

Lincolnshire Pride joined the team to find out what goes on behind the scenes of the company’s bi-monthly fine art and antiques event which supplement fortnightly sales of antique and general lots. Even in the latter, Victorian and Edwardian lots are plentiful, and collectors can usually find something of interest, but during the specialist sales, the bar is raised somewhat and during our auction, the star lot was a painting by Greenwich artist Alfred DeBreanski which has been sent to the sale from its home near Grimsby and fetched £38,000.

“The painting would be lost in the sale rooms of Sothebys or Christies or Bonhams,” said my expert for the day, the auction room’s valuer and auctioneer Phillip Knapper. “Here, items aren’t lost among hundreds of other equally distinctive lots and therefore we’re rapidly gaining unusual, high-value items to feature in the sale, which is a real coup for us, and a real coup for Lincolnshire.