Militaria sale was all guns blazing
ONLINE auctions have been achieving extraordinary results during the Covid lockdowns, but what happened when the contents of a private East Yorkshire museum went under the hammer amazed even the auctioneers.
The museum, which specialised in country life and pursuits, has closed down and its exhibits formed a third of the entire catalogue of David Duggleby’s specialist Country Pursuits, Sporting Guns, Taxidermy and Militaria Auction.
“There was some great stuff in the sale,” said auctioneer Graham Paddison.
“Ahead of the sale, we had hundreds of requests for condition reports from all over the UK, all over Europe – and in one case from Sri Lanka.
“Then, in addition to the hundreds of people who registered to bid online, 150 booked telephone lines to link up with the saleroom directly. That’s almost ten times the number we’d normally expect.
“The auction itself was absolutely magnificent, the best militaria sale we’ve ever done. It had a 96 per cent success rate in terms of lots sold, with huge prices, many of which sailed way over top estimate.
“The 318 lots were expected to achieve £35,000 to £40,000, but the final total was actually close to £60,000.”
The highlights of the auction included £1,600 paid by a local collector for a finely engraved double-barrelled Remington Derringer pistol, more than double top pre-sale estimate. Meanwhile a 12-bore shotgun made by the 19th-century London gunsmith James Woodward, that was expected to go for £150 to £200, provoked a fierce bidding battle before the hammer finally went down at £1,600.
The medal section of the auction saw a Boer War and First World War medal set awarded to a medical corps major sell for £1,200 to a Warwick collector.
However, the most jaw-dropping moment of the auction was provided by the East Yorkshire museum’s display of the vintage animal traps.
One lot – seven gin traps by major names including Burgess, Sidebotham and Gilbertson & Page – went for £1,700, 17 times top pre-sale expectations, snapped up by a bidder in Shropshire.