With perfect provenance
Stephen Paul Hardy gets introduced to some diecasts with a special story.
In the August issue, I admitted to the diarised intention to return to Beaulieu for the International Autojumble on 10th and 11th September, and to get some more of the finds that I discovered in the Spring event. Well, with something like eight or nine hours of foot slogging taking in around 1,500 plus exhibitor’s pitches in (mostly) beautiful early autumn weather on both the Saturday and Sunday, I did unearth a lot of ‘finds’. The number of diecast and other model vehicles to be found was verging on overwhelming. Yes, with my Diecast Collector hat on, I spotted many of the ‘more difficult to find’ models amongst the familiar and commonly found ones, yet it was in that latter category that I was introduced to what I think were the best diecast finds of the weekend.
I’m not the only visitor to the Beaulieu Autojumbles to know that one of the best hunting grounds for models, sales literature and similar treasure is the five large white Marquees set near to the event fields entrance. There, thanks to a friendly tip-off, I found a table with a collection of outwardly fairly common diecasts including several items of Matchbox Models of Yester-year plated giftware items, first introduced in 1966, but all sharing a particularly relevant provenance: “We are pleased to offer this opportunity to purchase some very special items collected over many years by the late Edward, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu”, said a sign.
One in particular caught my attention – a silver-plated-Y-16 1904 Spyker giftware item. Now with the insight of having watched the Scouting for Toys TV series, I am well aware that (sometimes) a fairly common model that has a special provenance suddenly becomes very attractive to specialist collectors. What could be better then, in this respect, than an item from the late Edward, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu’s collection than something bought at a Beaulieu Autojumble with a perfect provenance? DC