Is Royal memorabilia worth investing in?
THE Queen’s Platinum Jubilee is producing an extraordinary mountain of memorabilia. Offerings range from badges, banners and stickers costing less than a pound through to luxury goods costing hundreds.
Great fun but will any of this stuff be worth investing in and preserving? Do we have here any of the treasures that collectors will be fighting to acquire in the auction rooms of the future?
In some cases we can be pretty sure the answer is no. The contents of the £230 ‘Celebration Hamper’ produced by Royal grocer Fortnum & Mason ... tea, biscuits, champagne, coffee, chutney, jam, honey and ‘all manner of sweet, savoury and sippable treats’ ... seem unlikely to survive next weekend’s festivities.
And in the current economic climate you might not give much for the survival chances of the English Whiskey Company’s Platinum Jubilee single malt (£75).
On the other hand many of the commemorative coin sets, special stamp issues, books, teapots, mugs, cups, glasses, plates, watches, trinket boxes, ornaments, cushions, shopping bags, tote bags handbags and the rest will survive
and will be enjoyed and treasured for years. Will they prove to be good investments?
Antique Royalty commemorative wares can be valuable but they have to be special in some way or another. Most are not. Even pieces produced to mark the jubilees of Queen Victoria in 1887 and 1897 are surprisingly common and can be picked up for just a few pounds
Mugs, cups, plates, plaques and the rest have been manufactured in industrial quantities for all major Royal events since then. That applies even to the coronation that never was, that of Edward VIII. He abdicated five months before the ceremony was scheduled to take place in May 1937 but by the time he had decided he would rather marry Mrs Simpson than rule the country the memorabilia industry had already flooded the shops with their wares.
To get attention in the auction room memorabilia must be early (pre-Victorian) or rare, which is to say things that were not produced in great quantities or have not survived in quantity. That was the case with a mug I valued commemorating the 1937 coronation that did go ahead, that of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. What made it interesting was that it was designed for Staffordshire potters Burgess & Leigh by Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970), the most popular female British artist of the 20th century.
Most of the commemorative mugs from the 1937 coronation will make no more than a couple of pounds. The Laura Knight mug was altogether finer, more expensive, not produced in such large quantities - and is today worth ten or twenty times as much. (Still not a fortune.)
That the memorabilia of the Platinum Jubilee will produce desirable collectables is sure. Predicting what those will be is the hard bit. Think rare, think unusual, think special, and likely think expensive. Of course we could forget investment and just enjoy the festivities ... another sippable treat anyone?
Robert Horner is an independent local auctioneer and valuer. He can be reached on 07970-126311 or at rjhbrodian@ btinternet.com.