Cheffins

Cheffins has been trading for over two hundred years and runs one of the fixtures of the English farm machinery calendar: the Cambridge Machinery Sales, held at its own saleground near Ely. Alongside that it runs fine art, property and land auctions, but the machinery department is the reason it belongs in this directory — and the interesting half of it is not the saleground at all.

What you can buy

• Agricultural tractors and machinery: the core, split by the site's own filter into modern and vintage.
• Complete farm dispersals: self-propelled sprayers, telescopic loaders, combine harvesters and implements, sold where they stand.
• Vintage machinery as a department of its own.
• Fine art and antiques through a separate saleroom.
• Property and land via the firm's property auction arm.

How the bidding works

Two formats run side by side. The Cambridge Machinery Sale is a live event at the Machinery Saleground, running across two days. The timed online auctions are dispersals held at the seller's own site — a retiring farm at St Albans, an estate at Thetford — each with its own start and end date, typically running for about a week. The location on the listing is the farm, not the saleground, and that distinction decides your entire collection plan.

What to check before you bid

Read the location on every lot: a timed online dispersal is at the vendor's farm and clears to the vendor's timetable, not to the auctioneer's. Farm machinery sells as it stands, and on a retirement or estate sale the seller is not in a position to answer questions about how a machine was maintained. The multi-day Cambridge sale moves fast once it starts; the viewing beforehand is where the buying decision actually gets made.