I'm playing the 'spring chicken' card to cover my ignorance too.
We've had a few auctioneers in Amble I think? Might be a business model to consider again in these recessionary times?
I remember Cac Hume clearly though. According to my mother I was a sickly child and one day Dr. Robertson came on a home visit. I had a plastic model of General Custer by the bedside and the doctor asked "is that General Custer?" "No No!" I indignantly replied, "it's Cac Hume!"