The fire at Perth Airport completely destroyed a building filled with hundreds of antiques ready to be sold at auction.
The blaze left auctioneer Iain Smith devastated but also determined to carry on.
Just eight weeks after the March 2018 fire he was in temporary accommodation at the airport and able to continue.
But now the auctioneer’s rise from the ashes is complete – with new permanent premises.
Fire set deliberately
Dunning-born Mr Smith learned his trade selling everything from pigs to property for one-time Fair City companies Hay’s and Macdonald Fraser.
He refused to let a combination of the fire and the pandemic destroy his life’s work.
“I’ll never forget watching firefighters battling in vain to save the original auction hall and everything I had worked for since starting-up with a £3,000 loan from an auntie,” Mr Smith said.
“It was even more distressing when we learned the fire was started deliberately.
“It was a vain attempt to cover the tracks of a robbery targeting valuable pieces of gold and jewellery the night before what would have been our biggest ever sale.”
Perth auctioneer’s larger premises and record sale
Located just 100 yards from the rubble, the new split-level Iain M Smith auction hall is one of the biggest under-one-roof in Scotland.
A record 2,000 lots will go under the hammer in a three-day sale next week (January 26 to 28).
Mr Smith highlighted the support he had received from local businessman and airport owner Morris Leslie.
“Thanks to fantastic support from Morris, we were up and running from alternative premises within a matter of weeks,” he said.
“We leapt at the opportunity to move into a unit which is around five times bigger.
“We have been very fortunate post-lockdown, busy thanks to an online presence.
“Business has trebled over the last two years so we desperately needed the bigger auction room.
“We now have nine staff, with four of our porters enjoying more than 80 years’ experience between them.”
Chinese wedding sleigh among interesting auction finds
Mr Smith, 58, handles everything from country and town house clearances to sales of engineering and garden machinery.
His auctions regularly attract buyers from across Europe, the USA, China and Australia.
“It never fails to amaze me what can turn up during a house clearance. It can be quite exciting,” he said.
“I recall selling a spectacular seven-foot carved oak eagle after clearing the abbey at Fort Augustus. It went under the hammer for £10,500.
“Sometimes you unpack items which have made several house moves, still wrapped in yellowing newspapers dating back to the 1950s or earlier.
“There are always surprises. One recent sale saw a Yorkshire collector travel north to make sure he secured Robert Mouseman Thomson’s oak carvings of a barn owl and hawk. Those fetched £8,500.
“Among the more unusual items going under the hammer next week are a letter sent by courier for a payment of 240 francs signed by Napoleon Bonaparte.
“In addition, we are selling a Chinese wedding sleigh.
“These are firsts for me and we are anticipating four-figure bids from home and abroad.”
