The Midlands based auctioneer Cottons held their first auction of the year on 16th February at the Aston Villa F.C. in Birmingham and the 84 lots on offer attracted a large attendance of potential buyers.

At the time of writing, the subsequent post-auction activity has resulted in 71% of the lots being sold, raising £5,069,550 for vendors - a figure which was welcomed by auctioneer Andrew Barden, who agreed that the auctions attendance level was quite encouraging.

"We have noticed that some previously active traders are now returning to the auction room to buy and who were previously just observing from the sidelines," he says. "Its probably more difficult to flip for profit these days and although there are always exceptions, adding value to achieve a decent return is a good strategy if buyers select and buy appropriately.