Family ties and a long-standing friendship have brought a respected appraiser to the Island for a weekend charity auction.

Former Sotheby's director and professional appraiser, James Rylands is in Bermuda for the fund raising auction benefiting two local charities that help youngsters.

The auction will take place this Saturday at the former Miles Market property in Hamilton.

"I've known the event organiser, Suzie (Pewter), for ten years and she knows my history,'' explained Mr. Rylands. "When she told be about this I thought it would be an ideal chance for me to give something back to a place that has given me so much -- my wife.

"I was very keen to get involved with this because it is helping specific Bermudian charities.'' Saturday's auction will benefit the Neverland Foundation and the Family Learning Centre.

The Neverland Foundation is a charity that raises community awareness and helps to meet the special needs of Bermuda children who are affected, infected or whom have been orphaned by the HIV virus.

Founded in 1998 by Suzie Pewter and Linda Cox, the Neverland Foundation presently supports nine children whose expenses in respect to medical treatment, nutritional supplements, counselling and transportation to and from the clinic are significant and recurring.

The Family Resource Centre was founded in 1990 in a bid to provide tutorial services to children who were struggling with their schoolwork.

After realising that the root cause of school failure or most children were family based, the programme over the years has evolved to respond to the needs of children and families in Bermuda.

Both charities will benefit from the public's generosity at Saturday's auction which will be led by Mr. Rylands.

Mr. Rylands is a professional appraiser with more than 20 years of experience in the antique business, many of those years were spent at the world-famous auction house Sotheby's.

"I left Sotheby's last year, I'd been with them as a director for years,'' he explained. "In England I do a lot of television work, I'm one of the experts for the Antiques Roadshow which is a travelling programme where the public bring in their antiques to be appraised.

"As a professional appraiser I attend quite a few big antique shows in the UK and make sure that everything is authentic. I also write books and articles on antiques.'' And Mr. Rylands' good deeds are not confined to the sunny shores of Bermuda.

He does a lot of charity work back in the UK.

"I do a lot of high profile charity auctions in the UK at hotels like The Dorchester.'' While Saturday's auction kicks off at 2 p.m., the public can view the items up for sale on Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings.

"The auction is open to everyone,'' Mr. Rylands pointed out. "If you see something you like and you can't make it to the auction on Saturday, you can leave a bid.

"It should be a nice social thing, we want people to have fun and raising money at the same time.'' Mr. Rylands said the items up for auction fall into three main categories -- Indonesian/plantation furniture, fossils and nice affordable furnishings.

"Indonesian teak and plantation furniture was selected because Bermudians spend so much time outside,'' he explained. "This furniture can go either inside or outside or be placed in covered verandas and is nice and rustic.

"The fossils are between 15 and 300 million years old. They are quite rare and are from all parts of the world. Each one is unique.

`We felt that these would make wonderful decorative things in people's homes because they go so well with Bermuda stone and they are something different -- a real conversation piece.

"And finally we have some nice affordable furnishings which include items like rugs, pictures and clocks.'' He added: "There will be a variety of things and they have all been chosen with Bermuda in mind.'' Mr. Rylands estimated that the items up for auction were between the $50 to $3,000/$4,0000 range.

"We wanted to make things affordable so there was something for everyone, it's very universal,'' he said.

Mr. Rylands also offered potential buyers a few tips to keep in mind when attending Saturday's auction.

"No one should worry that they will accidentally buy something by waving their hand or scratching their nose,'' he pointed out. "You won't end up buying something you don't want.

"You also need to think about what's the maximum amount you are willing to spend on something, and more importantly, stick to it!''