8hp portable by this firm survives in the Cambridge Museum of Technology.

The next recorded sale of steam engines was on 10th November 1892 at a bankruptcy sale at Horseheath Park, near Haverhill. This included a pair of 6hp Fowler ploughing engines with ploughs, harrows, etc, which sold for £195. Also in the sale was a Garrett 8hp portable (nearly new) which made £83. The next lot was a Garrett finishing drum and elevator which went to the same purchaser for £50. A very powerful and recently repaired 10hp Tuxford portable made £22. On 9th October 1925, a sale at Wimbish included an Excellent Set of Threshing Tackle which included Marshall 7hp traction engine No. 73901, a Foster drum, Clayton elevator, etc. The sale was for the Administrators of the late J Franklin Kettley who had drowned in his car in a moat! The engine is now with Hamish Orr-Ewing.

On 11th July 1942, a sale at Elm Farm, Wimbish, included a 7nhp Ransomes traction engine, No. 21746. It had a £79 reserve which proved too much as it did not sell. Tractors did better: a 1938 Fordson made £130, a 1936 Fordson, £120, and a International 10/20 Industrial made £175. Interestingly, a 24hp Parrett tractor only made 10 Guineas (£10.50).

The above is only a selection of sales involving what today would be thought of as very collectable machinery but it also gives an idea that life was often tough for farmers.

As the cattle trade at Saffron Walden declined, the firm started its Vintage Sales there in 1975 and these have continued on a regular basis ever since. For some years they were held at Chilford Hall to the south–east of Cambridge before moving to the present site at Sutton, near Ely, as well as the more recent auctions at Bristol.

Looking at specific auctions in more recent times, Paul gave me copies of catalogues from some notable sales over the last 30 years. By this time, the firm had become known as 'Cheffins Grain & Chalk' and the first (featured) sale is of 'Steam Engines, Implements and Accessories' on 12th July 1980, which consisted of items in the ownership of the late Ben Taylor of Wimbish. They included A&P tractor 11705, Nippy, Fowler K5 ploughing engine 12366, Old Guard, BB1s No. 15332, Marilyn, and Nos. 15226/7, Tiny Tim & Old Jumbo, and Wallis & Steevens roller No. 7284. In June 1986, the firm sold the G W Proctor Collection in Yorkshire which included various tractors and a trio of steam engines – 1935 Ruston&Hornsby portable No. 173761, Fowler B6 RL No. 12226, Titan, and Burrell RL No. 3395, The Dalesman, the latter two well known engines. A sale near Preston in May 1987, saw the Armitstead collection of tractors, lorries and military vehicles go under the hammer.

By 1987, the firm had become Cheffins Grain & Comins and on 26th June, it sold tractors, steam ploughing engines and associated tackle on behalf of Richard Vernon at Cotesbach in Leics. This included a pair of Fowler K7s, a pair of BB1s and a B4.

In June 1995, Cheffins sold the collection of Jim Philp at Castle Hedingham, another of the iconic sales of the 1990s, this one including the two Garrett rollers which were in very poor condition. October 1995 saw the auction of Don Eastwood's collection at Bodiam in East Sussex which again included several engines, notably Burrell No. 3941, Badger. A new century brought a reduction in the firm's name to just Cheffins and the Fred Coupland sale in October 2002, an extensive collection of lorries, fairground rides, organs and steam engines, including Harry Lee's Steam Yachts (now with the Saunders collection), Burrell showman's No. 1, Fowler showman's Evening Star, and Aveling TE Wizard, which returned to its working area in the north–east of Scotland with Alfie Cheyne Jnr and was a popular exhibit at last year's Old Warden rally. Four years later, Cheffins officiated at the disposal sale of the extensive tractor and bygones museum at Stapehill Abbey, near Ferndown in Dorset, a sad day for all who loved the museum. Much of this collection had come from John Moffit's Hunday collection some years before.

Today the vintage sales are in the very capable hands of Bill King and Jeremy Curzon and their team, and they are a pleasure to watch. Over the years, Cheffins has become the leading auctioneers for steam engines and classic tractors and each auction is awaited with great interest. Of course, not everyone goes to buy. Some do, but others go to catch up with friends, others to see what's for sale and to dream of what might be, and yet more to watch the buyers part with their hard–earned cash. It's all part of the networking of the preservation movement and creates gossip and talking points for months to follow; usually until the next sale when that, in turn, becomes the latest news.