Railwayana
Geoff Courtney's regular column.
COLLECTORS may have experienced mixed emotions when digesting the results of Great Central's first monthly 200-lot live online sale on February 20.
Their overall feeling was surely pleasure that one of the most respected auction houses in the movement achieved such excellent results that bode well for future health.
Allied to that, however, must have been a sense that the sale may have sounded the death knell for future live audience auctions, beloved by many collectors, although Great Central auctioneer and director Mike Soden was understandably hedging his bets afterwards.
Firstly then, the sale's highlights, which were headed not by a nameplate or any locomotive item, but by a BR(M) totem, Broad Street, from the former North London Railway terminus close to Liverpool Street that opened in 1865, and closed by BR in 1986. This achieved £11,200, and was one of 14 totems with realisations into four figures.
On another day, BR(Sc) Loch Awe (£5000) or BR(W) Machynlleth (£3000), might have expected the top slot, but it was not to be. Also in the station sign category, SR target Topsham went for £2100, and London Underground platform roundel Wood Green for £2300.
LNER A1 Pacific No. 60140 saved the steam nameplate category's blushes when one of its Balmoral plates fetched £6500, more than double the £3200 realisation for the runner-up, Bingley Hall, from GWR No. 5921. A non-seller was The South Staffordshire Regiment, from LMS Royal Scot No. 46143.
Modern traction plates flexed their muscles when Queen Elizabeth II, from Class 91 electric loco No. 91029 (later renumbered 91129), gave the A1 a run for its money by selling for £6000, and Thunderbirds Tin Tin, from Class 57 Co-Co diesel No. 57308, for £5600. Eagle, from Northern Ireland Railways Class 101 Bo-Bo diesel No. 101, went for £3700, and Help for Heroes, from Class 43 HST power car No. 43076, made £2700.
A 1928 William Beardmore & Co worksplate (works No. 406) from LMS Class 3F 0-6-0T ‘Jinty' No. 47658 went under the hammer for £4100, GWR cabside numberplates from Scottish immigrant 0-6-0PT No. 1646 for £2500, and 6843 from Poulton Grange for £2000. A smokebox numberplate from GWR No. 7815 Fritwell Manor made £1550.
Clocks included an LBSCR 14in dropcase example from Forest Hill station booking hall in south London (£3400) and an ex-GER hotel freestanding regulator (£2500), and another pre-Grouping item was a 2d platform ticket machine (£2800).
Two other £2500 realisations were for a 1948 Terence Cuneo ‘On Early Shift' poster featuring A4 No. 21 Wild Swan approaching Greenwood signalbox near New Barnet, and a GWR policeman's tipstaff.
Prices for signalling items included £1700 for a Middleton Top to Hopton Top single-line train staff from the Cromford & High Peak Line, and £1500 for a Tyer's single-line tablet Awe Crossing-Lochawe on the Callander to Oban route. A Llanbedr & Pensarn Signal Box nameboard from the Cambrian Line went for £1400.
Final mention should be made of a BR(NE) Forster Square Station direction sign (£2200), and a bell and bridge wheel from BR(S) steamer Maid of Kent that worked the cross-Channel route from 1958 to 1972 (£1250). Prices exclude buyer's premium of 15%.
As he pondered over the results postsale, Mike said: “I cannot believe some of the prices; we are most surprised. The result for the Broad Street totem was probably double what we expected, although that category is a growth area, and another is modern traction as the diesel generation comes to the fore. We had up to 60 bids on some lots, and at times it was quite intense.
“It would be difficult to identify the precise reasons for what we saw, although it's worth noting that probably half the audience was new to us, attracted perhaps by the live online bidding. There may also be pent-up demand among regular collectors due to the absence of live audience auctions.
“Will we ever return to a live audience auction? It is our intention to do so at some point. I hope that we do because I enjoy them, but if we did it wouldn't necessarily be at Stoneleigh, our regular venue.”