Daily Casefile · Detective
The Reserve Price Wore Fresh Ink
≈ 4 min
Tomorrow's headline lot at Vandermeer & Hale is the Ashworth longcase clock, a 1780 mahogany tall clock catalogued with a confidential reserve of £40,000 handwritten in the master consignment ledger. During tonight's preview, the house director discovered the figure in the ledger had been altered to £4,000 — one zero neatly erased and the comma shifted. A reserve that low lets the clock sell for a song to whoever bids. The ledger sits on a standing lectern in the salon, and four people had reason to turn its pages tonight.
Subject
The Ashworth Longcase Clock
A 1780 mahogany tall clock, lot 12 in tomorrow's sale, its confidential reserve price quietly doctored in the house ledger.
The suspects
- Errol Vane — Floor Porter
- Harriet Dunmore — Consignment Clerk
- Priya Lascelles — Registered Bidder
- Giles Ashby — House Director
Play today’s Detective.
This case first aired on October 4, 2026. A fresh detective runs every morning — same rules, five minutes, one solution.