Signs of the times
The John Goodwin November sale carried a range of collectables, from automobilia to street furniture and toys of all sorts. Our very own Oz might have been tempted by the tinplate and enamel signage: a cast iron One Way Street example made £50 whilst a Senior Service Satisfy tinplate example, in that iconic pale blue, sold for £20. More serious money (£320 to be exact) was required for the Price’s Motor Oils enamel sign in red, which measured 61 x 46cm.
The auction house noted that good, unopened and unused Hornby and Bachmann made prices commensurate with discount shops’ new prices, which leads one to wonder whether there is currently a shortage of good, nearly new railway stock. Fortunately, there were plenty of Bachmann, Hornby, Kitmaster, Triang and Dapol to tempt the collector.
That said, an apparently unused Rivarossi boxed HO gauge 1240 Mallet Y6B 2197 AT & SF loco and tender in black didn’t sell yet Graham Farish N gauge items swept the board, with a trio comprising a 1104 0-6-0 pannier tank, a BR Class 08 shunter and a 0-6-0 Jinty making £80; and a 371-393 Class 66 locomotive in Fast Line livery selling for £80. Finally, £60 secured seven N gauge Stainer coaches, six in maroon the seventh in the famous blood and custard paint scheme.
As for railwayana, a bargain at £10 was the BR chair (for those who don’t know, these are the cast iron rail supports that sit on the chippings: they weigh a ton, as I found out to my cost a few years back when I bought one from the Teifi Valley railway shop in Wales and then had to carry it to the car park).
Traditional toys included a gilt coloured, Lehman tinplate clockwork airship that was sound but lacked its propeller (£ 65); and two unboxed Dinky lorries in reasonable condition (a Foden first series flat truck in blue and orange and a first series two tone blue tanker), made £120. ■