Heritage under thehammer
This month Towpath Talk launches a column written by Geoff Courtney covering the sale of canal memorabilia at auction.
The history of Britain’s canals is entwined with the construction of the railways in the early-Victorian era, and many railway companies owned canals, which gradually declined in importance as the railways increased.
Railwayana has become a major feature of transport auctions up and down the country and often these sales include canal signs or paperwork, which have an increasing following among transport enthusiasts.
Geoff, who has enjoyed a 60-year career in journalism, is railwayana specialist for our sister publication Heritage Railway and his new column in Towpath Talk will keep readers up to date with canalia that goes under the hammer.
Geoff writes: One of the many pleasures of attending auctions – or even simply researching catalogues online – is the possibility of finding a bargain, or a piece of history that has survived after an extraordinary amount of time.
Sometimes those two pleasures are combined, and that was surely the case of a canal item that went under the hammer in a two-week email and postal sale held by transport collectables auction specialist Paperchase from January 14 to February 1.
The lot comprised five Leicestershire & Northamptonshire Union Canal Company share call receipts in the name of Mr E Inkersole and dated between 1794 and 1805. And the hammer price for these five fragile, beautifully handwritten slips of canal history that are still with us nearly 230 years later? Just £32.
Another auction house that includes canalia in its sales is Great Central Railwayana, and at its February 19 auction three Thames Conservancy boat registration plates went as a single lot for £50, the oldest of which was a Buscot to Rushey plate for Witch dated 1934. The other two were a Buscot to Shifford plate for Lady Be Good from 1939, and a 1947 plate for motor launch licence No. 1842.
The price for the Paperchase share call receipts excludes buyer’s premium of 12 ½ % and that for the Great Central registration plates 15% (+ VAT).