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4 of 16 The Auction Floor

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Under the hammer

Six lots, one reserve missing, and a visible bid history.

An auction where you cannot see the bidding is just a form with a number on it. Every lot here shows its current bid, its reserve, its closing time and every bid that has been placed on it, because that is the only version of an auction that anybody should trust.

See the lots How bidding works
6 lots this month
£4,100 the top bid
Sunday they all close
1 lot with no reserve
Under the hammer

This month’s lots.

All six close at eight on Sunday evening, with the anti-sniping extension described below. Everything here is either one of a kind or one of twelve.

Cask 001 — first fill, ex-bourbon Lot 1

Cask 001 — first fill, ex-bourbon

The first cask laid down under the estate’s own number. Around two hundred and fifty bottles at cask strength in eleven years, or considerably fewer if the angels take their usual share. Storage and insurance are included to the day it is bottled; the duty is not, and it is not small.

Current bid
£2,850
Reserve
£2,400
Closes
Sunday 6 September, 8pm
  1. bidder 41£2,850four hours ago
  2. bidder 12£2,700yesterday
  3. bidder 41£2,550two days ago
  4. bidder 08£2,400three days ago
Bid on this lot
The fleece off ewe 042 Lot 2

The fleece off ewe 042

One fleece, from one named ewe, rolled and skirted on the day of shearing and sent raw rather than washed. About two and a half kilos. Worth roughly a pound as wool, which is the entire scandal of British wool and the reason this lot exists.

Current bid
£185
Reserve
£120
Closes
Sunday 6 September, 8pm
  1. bidder 27£185this morning
  2. bidder 03£160yesterday
  3. bidder 27£140two days ago
Bid on this lot
A working day with Kaleb Cooper Lot 3

A working day with Kaleb Cooper

One full working day, on the farm, doing whatever is actually happening that day — which in November means hedge-cutting in the rain and in August means sitting in a combine. Not a meet and greet. You will be given a job and expected to do it.

Current bid
£4,100
Reserve
£2,500
Closes
Sunday 6 September, 8pm
  1. bidder 19£4,100an hour ago
  2. bidder 55£3,900this morning
  3. bidder 19£3,400yesterday
  4. bidder 31£2,900two days ago
  5. bidder 55£2,500three days ago
Bid on this lot
The first crate off the new line Lot 4

The first crate off the new line

Twelve bottles, numbered 000001 to 000012, from the first run through the new bottling line. The contents are ordinary. The numbers are not, and they will never exist again.

Current bid
£640
Reserve
£400
Closes
Sunday 6 September, 8pm
  1. bidder 09£640two hours ago
  2. bidder 44£580this morning
  3. bidder 09£450yesterday
Bid on this lot
The last hundredweight of the 2025 durum Lot 5

The last hundredweight of the 2025 durum

Fifty kilos of the durum that came in under two tonnes a hectare against an expected six. It made perfectly good pasta. There was simply almost none of it, and this is the last of it.

Current bid
£310
Reserve
None
Closes
Sunday 6 September, 8pm
  1. bidder 62£310yesterday
  2. bidder 15£240two days ago
  3. bidder 62£180three days ago
Bid on this lot
One metre of wall, built with Gerald Lot 6

One metre of wall, built with Gerald

A metre of dry-stone wall, on this farm, built by you under supervision over a day. The wall stays here. You get the day, the technique and a photograph of a metre of wall you will think about every time you drive past a field.

Current bid
£950
Reserve
£600
Closes
Sunday 6 September, 8pm
  1. bidder 07£950this morning
  2. bidder 33£820yesterday
  3. bidder 07£600two days ago
Bid on this lot

This is a demonstration build. No bid placed here is binding, no money is taken, and the bidder numbers are illustrative.

Six steps

How a lot actually runs.

It is listed with a reserve, or without one

The reserve is published. A hidden reserve is a device for making people bid against nothing.

Bidding runs for a week

From Monday morning to Sunday evening, with every bid visible.

A late bid extends the close

Any bid in the last five minutes pushes the close out by five minutes. Sniping is a design failure, not a strategy.

The highest bid over the reserve wins

If nothing reaches the reserve, the lot does not sell and we say so rather than quietly relisting it.

The winner is contacted within a day

With what happens next, which for the experiences is a conversation about dates.

The result is published

Every lot, every hammer price, in the archive. Including the ones that failed.

The reasoning

Why the reserve is published.

Because a hidden reserve turns the first half of an auction into theatre. People bid, the bids do nothing, and then a message appears saying the reserve was not met — at which point they have spent a week competing against a number they were not allowed to see.

Publishing it costs a little of the early drama and removes all of the resentment. It also lets somebody decide in ten seconds whether a lot is worth their attention, which is a kindness.

Lot 5 has no reserve at all, because fifty kilos of a durum crop that mostly failed is worth whatever somebody will pay for it and we have no view on what that should be.

Last time

What has actually sold, and for what.

LotReserveHammerAgainst reserve
A day with Kaleb, 2025 £2,500 £5,200 +108%
Cask 001, 2025 £2,400 £3,150 +31%
A metre of wall with Gerald, 2025 £600 £1,400 +133%
The first crate off the cider line £400 £710 +78%
A named ewe’s fleece, 2025 £120 £240 +100%
A tonne of feed barley, 2025 £190 Unsold Nobody wants a tonne of feed barley

The last row is in the table for the same reason the red line is on the board. An auction archive containing only successes is a marketing page.

This month

The lots with pages of their own.

Cask 001, first fill
Lot 1

Cask 001, first fill

Eleven years, around two hundred and fifty bottles, and a duty bill at the end.

Look
A day with Kaleb
Lot 3

A day with Kaleb

A working day, doing whatever is actually happening that day.

Look
The fleece off ewe 042
Lot 2

The fleece off ewe 042

Two and a half kilos of wool worth about a pound, and why that is a scandal.

Look
The first crate off the line
Lot 4

The first crate off the line

Bottles numbered 000001 to 000012, which will never exist again.

Look

The rules, in full.

Increments, extensions, withdrawals and what happens if you win and change your mind.

How bidding works Every result, ever
Wondering

What people actually ask.

The two questions this page gets most, answered without a support ticket.

No. This is an unsolicited third-party demonstration build, not affiliated with or endorsed by any of the businesses it describes.

Public filings, published rankings and press reporting, each labelled on the page as a verified record, a founder claim or a third-party estimate.

Next along the route

How bidding works

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