Thimbleby & Shorland

Thimbleby & Shorland runs a traditional English country auction business out of Reading, with departments that have almost nothing in common: contractors' plant on one side, carriage and harness on the other, and hay and straw as a category of its own. The plant sales are the substantial ones — multi-ring auctions of contractors' machinery that draw buyers from well beyond Berkshire — and the firm holds NAVA Propertymark accreditation on the valuation side.

What you can buy

• Plant and equipment: contractors' machinery, sold in multi-ring sales.
• Farm and vintage: agricultural machinery and older equipment.
• Motor vehicles from estates and disposals.
• Carriage and harness: a genuinely unusual department.
• Antiques and collectables.
• Hay and straw, sold as its own sale.
• Insolvency stock handled as a separate department.

How the bidding works

Sales run to a published calendar with bidding opening at a stated time, and larger plant auctions are split across rings running in parallel — so two lots you want can close at the same moment, and you need to decide in advance which one you are in. An account is required to bid.

What to check before you bid

Read the ring structure on a multi-ring plant sale before it starts; it is the difference between watching one lot and missing another. Everything sells as it stands from the Reading ground. For farm and vintage machinery the paperwork is usually thin, so the viewing is where you establish condition. If you are bidding from abroad, arrange collection in advance — a contractors' sale clears quickly after the hammer.