I was delighted to read that auctions have been providing a little light in the darkness recently.

Among all the gloomy articles about impending disaster arriving from one corner or another was the latest news from the Office for National Statistics, which reveal that auction houses and clothes shoppers have made a significant contribution to the recovery of retail sales in October. Economists had expected an uptick of 0.5%, but these two sectors helped that rise to 0.8%

That may seem small beer, but when you’re looking at an economy worth trillions, this is actually a very important piece of news in boosting confidence.

So why have auctions become so important? As discussed in this column more than once, they were already set up to handle the pandemic well, with sophisticated, user-friendly systems for bidding online. With many people sitting at home finally having the time to test this out, auctions attracted a whole new audience of bidders, while existing clients also found more time to take part in this convenient method of acquiring goods.

Not only that, the experience of bidding online is entertaining and exciting too, so who wouldn’t want to give it a go. I envy anybody who enjoys the thrill of that first successful bid at auction.

I would argue that it’s also the key to attracting the next generation of buyers, who are already sold into the idea of trading in second-hand goods as they recycle clothes, shoes and tech.

Auctions have already succeeded for millennia; now they are proving just how adaptable they remain.

In my view, one of the most under-priced areas of the fine art and collectables market is Victorian watercolours. Some artists’ work can fetch a pretty penny, but for the most part landscapes, genre scenes, figural studies and the rest can be had for little more than a hundred pounds or two; sometimes considerably less.

Why is this?

One explanation is that tastes have simply moved on and buyers today can’t relate to the subjects depicted. Another is that people expect their art to ‘perform’ more. A nicely mounted and framed riverside view or idyllic cottage scene may be well executed but perhaps does not leap from the wall in the way a bit of brashly coloured Street art does.

Whatever the reason, it’s hard to believe that the spirit of nature and humanity captured in these views has no place among the collections of the future. I see many of them as a tonic, a perfect means to gently attract the attention of the viewer and make them ponder awhile, stepping off the conveyor belt of modern life to contemplate and drink in the serenity of a time gone by, when life was a simpler – if sometimes tougher – affair.

A plentiful supply of notable compositions comes to auction on a regular basis. Why not see if you can find one you like for the wall. We can all do with an occasional bit of slowing down, and gazing on an accomplished work by one of these masters of times gone by is an effective way of doing that.

The COP26 summit is yet another reminder of the grim fate that awaits humanity if it does not get its act together on the climate. Gas-guzzling boilers? No more to be sold by 2035. Coal? Out by 2040. Log burners? Forget it.

As with everything that is unhealthy when it comes to food and drink, it seems that there is a conspiracy afoot to take all enjoyment out of life.

So thank goodness for the virtues of antiques. As I have often rehearsed in this column, furniture, silver, works of art and ceramics, among many other well-crafted and delightful treasures, tick every green box that can be thought of when it comes to saving the planet.

As the Antiques Are Green movement advises us: “Invest in the Future, Recycle the Past.”

And what an example this campaign gives us to prove its point, the humble Windsor chair, a thing of beauty and practicality: “The chair parts were made by craftsmen who lived in the woods where the materials came from,” AAG tells us. “The turnings were produced on treadle-operated lathes, then parts were taken on foot to a local workshop to be assembled. From there the completed chairs would be distributed around the country by horse and cart or waterways.”

Some of these chairs are now well into their second century of use and treasured as much now as when they were first made – arguably more so.

“By buying this chair to use again we have conserved our natural resources and prevented the carbon footprint of another chair being produced, that possibly would come all the way from the Far East,” says AAG. On the other hand, a new mass-produced chair will hit the waste tip long before the antique Windsor chair is sold again at auction, goes to the restorers and is revived and retailed again for another 40 years’ use.

If auctions are about anything, they are about history: making it, celebrating it, retelling stories.

As I have written many times before, objects that raise huge sums at auction often have little intrinsic value in themselves; a masterpiece by Francis Bacon is still no more than a collection of materials – oil paints, canvas and wooden frame – but the creative process, the resulting ‘art’, the proximity to genius and the historic associations that it has make it worth more than its weight in gold.

Ounce for ounce, nothing outside of digital art carries more value than rare stamps. Now one of the rarest – and arguably the most important ever printed – is up for sale.

The first Penny Black went on sale in 1840, revolutionising people’s ability to communicate with each other. Suddenly, anyone could send a letter from one end of the country to the other without the recipient having to pay for a bespoke mail service that excluded all but the wealthy.

The stamp on offer here is attached to what is known as the Wallace document, named after Robert Wallace, who headed up the commission on postal reform. The document is dated April 10, 1840 and the Penny Black became valid postal tender almost four weeks later on May 6.

A simple and inexpensive process coupled with the iconic design of the Queen’s head, Rowland Hill’s ground-breaking concept became a worldwide phenomenon adopted by every country.

Developing the system and service to support that idea was rather more complex, but it is still in place today.