Many auction houses host walk-in valuation days, but few would have experienced a mass evacuation… and that’s exactly what happened at the UK firm Chiswick Auctions on February 24. A member of the public arrived with a Harrods bag that was filled with a selection of militaria on behalf of an elderly neighbour.
Initially everything seemed to be harmless: general valuer James Bruce began assessing empty magazine cases. But these were followed by an ammunition belt of 7.65 calibre machine-gun rounds, a crated anti-tank landmine and a crated mortar shell.
While the vendor had no idea what he’d just taken out of the bag, James Bruce, who has a background in militaria, and the firm’s executive director Matt Caddick, who is a licensed firearms dealer, immediately realised the potential danger and alerted the authorities. Police and special incident response teams swarmed to the auction house, which was evacuated along with surrounding buildings while bomb disposal experts examined the items. The live ordnance was removed and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. “The incident highlights the unpredictable nature of walk-in valuations,” observed a spokesman for Chiswick Auctions.
