Track down railway past
THIS summer’s Fine Art and Collector’s sale at Anthemion Auctions in Cardiff offers an unusually large collection of Welsh railway history. Spanning the South Wales Valleys, through Monmouthshire and south east Wales to the Forest of Dean, the brass relics of another era are likely to realise several thousands at auction.
Principally comprising a comprehensive selection of brass signal box shelf plates from main and branch lines stretching across the region, it includes plates for stations no longer used, such as Aberbeeg, which lies close to Llanhilleth and Six Bells on the Ebbw Valley branch line. The collection includes line tokens, brass signal lever plates and name plaques, including for areas of Cardiff and Newport, and for the Severn Bridge and tunnel.
As well as acting as a solid documentation of parts of South Wales’ railway history, plates from this area offer visual reminders of some of the region’s founding and now mainly lost industries. The development and expansion of the railway network during the nineteenth century was instrumental to the success of industry across the South Wales coalfield, and the demise of many of the smaller lines and stations during the later half of the twentieth century seemed to echo the dramatically changing social and economic landscape.
Signal box plates for Six Bells Colliery and Caerleon Tin Works, among many others, are reminders of the pivotal roles of these industries, as well as the railway, in our national heritage.
Anthemion’s sale on August 19 offers many other items of historical interest, including a collection of over 50 lots of bank notes from the early twentieth century and medals and militaria from World War’s I and II. The sale also includes a superb collection of jewellery, Welsh, English, continental and oriental ceramics, furniture, oil and watercolour paintings, and works of art.
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