Sale Bidders Drawn from Around the World
June 2022
Long gone are the days when provincial salerooms would serve a purely local clientele. At specialist auctions, like Greenslade Taylor Hunt’s recent collectors sale, the buyer base is now global thanks to the availability of on-line catalogues.
“The internet has brought the world to our door-step,” comments Peter Rixon, Head of the firm’s Collectors Department,”but we still pride ourselves on having the expertise and passion to make a difference.”
Nowhere was this approach better demonstrated than in two photograph albums from Nyasaland (modern day Malawi), dating to circa 1905, discovered on a routine house call. These included a comprehensive series of images showing the building of the Lower Shire and Shire Highland Railway which drew interest from as far afield as the U.S.A. and south-east Asia before being bought, after an international bidding battle, for £6,750.
Internet bidding also helped push a set of six Mexican gold coins to £2,400, and saw a George I silver crown from 1720 fetch £900. Another £1,110 was paid for a 1565 ryal from the reign of Mary I, Queen of Scots.
Among a strong entry of postcards a family album with an early view of Norton Fitzwarren station was contested to £420, while an autograph book which William Hartnell had signed as television’s original Dr Who, made £500.
Greenslade’s specialise in diecast models and other toys and the latest instalment from a collection or ‘hug’ (to use the appropriate collective noun) of limited edition teddy bears sold for over £2,100. A well-made 3/12 inch gauge live steam model of a railway tank locomotive was purchased for just over £900.
A rare first pressing of the Beatles first LP, ‘Please Please Me’, with a black and gold label, was secured by a room bidder for £480 against stiff on-line competition. There were similarly healthy results for a 1960s plastic Esso tiger petrol pump globe (£350), and a slightly world-weary Louis Vuitton leather suitcase (£650).
Entries are already arriving for the next Collector’s Sale on 16th September so, if you have items that you would like to include, contact the auctioneers on 01823 332525, at [email protected] or in person at The Octagon Salerooms, East Read, Taunton, for a free, no-obligation valuation.