2018 started with a bang! Our Antique & Modern Fishing Tackle sale was a success with over 1000 lots and some world record prices being achieved. Following on from this was our Collectables, Historical Documents & Indian Ephemera Two Day sale which combined three fantastic collections of Royal Navy, Railwayana and Comic Books and totalling over 1000 lots.
Day One, and with a jam packed room and online competition totaled more than 500 Saleroom bidders (Our highest ever!) and 600 Invaluable bidders we began with over 100 lots of Royal Navy Memorabilia. The entire collection totalling just over £10,000 on the Hammer with most lots being sold. We continued on, with a collection of fine 1940s Britains Lead Racing Colours of Famous Owners which all sold totalling £2,960 on the Hammer. Fast forward to lot 300 onwards and we moved onto the collection of Railwayana which seemed to be on the right track. The highlights being a GWR Wolverhampton Low Level enamel sign reaching £1,500 on the Hammer, a GWR Dunstall Park Station Sign selling for £800 Hammer, a GWR Castle 5072 Number Plate achieving £1,100 on the Hammer and finally the Ashford Hall Name and Number Plate 5966 selling for a combined figure of £4,800 on the Hammer.
Day Two commenced with the sale of the Comic Books and with almost all the action taking place online in a ‘battle between the boxes’. Prices achieved were far greater than the catalogue estimates, which is great news for the vendors! Only one lot remained at the end of the Comic Books section with highlights such as Superman DC – Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 reaching £300 on the Hammer, The Flash No 123 selling for £260 on the Hammer and Superman DC Justice League of America No. 28-30 reaching £750 on the Hammer. Following on from this we had highlights including The Beatles Autograph reaching £2,800 on the hammer and The Beatles - Cavern Club Brick totalling £1,900 on the Hammer. The sale had some press coverage on particular items within the German Memorabilia section and resulted in a ‘To My Dear Gloria’ album reaching £140 on the Hammer, WWII Absentee/Victory Cards totalling £45 on the Hammer and WWII Operation Sea Lion Maps selling for £550 on the Hammer.
However, for the star of the show we had to wait towards the end of the sale, with possibly one of the best overall results for the Indian Ephemera section for some years. We witnessed almost all of the Indian Ephemera lots being sold to online bidders. First up to ‘Wow’ the sale room was the Great Collection of Gandhi Letters in which there was much interest from all of our telephone bidders and resulted in a £29,000 Hammer Price, following this immediately was a Signed Gandhi Photograph achieving £5,500 Hammer Price and lastly a single Gandhi Letter selling for £4,600 on the Hammer. From here on until the end, almost all Indian Ephemera lots were sold to our global audience online. An enjoyable sale had by all and moving onto the next we are very much looking forward to the upcoming sales with our Rugby & Football Sale taking place on 27th March.