Original Airfix art found in skip sells for over £50,000
♦ Original artwork for the classic Airfix plastic model kits has sold for more than £50,000 after it was salvaged from a skip.
About 20 of Roy Cross’s drawings were recovered by a fan at Airfix’s factory in 1981 while it was being closed down as part of a takeover.
Cross worked for the company in the Sixties and produced artwork of planes and ships that adorned the packaging of the Airfix models.
The seller visited the London factory and saw the art in the skip. A manager said he could take as many as he liked as they were destined for the landfill.
The top selling item, a watercolour of the German battleship Graf Spee, sold for £10,200. A drawing of the De Havilland Heron II achieved £4,800, while a sketch of a ME 110 and Spitfire in a dog fight went for £4,400.