COLLECTING IS NO MUG’S GAME AS COUPLE SELL OFF MUSEUM
A NORTH Wales couple are auctioning the entire contents of a museum that includes the “largest collection of advertising mugs in the UK”.
As a hobby over the past 30 years, Pat and Liz Lawty have built a collection of thousands of mainly 20th -century domestic bygones.
From a Sinclair C5 electric car to First World War memorabilia, vintage domestic items and kitchenalia, and a 1934 Standard 9 classic car, it also boasts what is understood to be the UK’s biggest collection of advertising mugs.
The items, collectively worth between £10,000 and £15,000, are homed in a specially-built barn at the Lawty’s home in North West Wales, which over the years has been opened to the public.
But the retired teachers, who are both in their 70s, are hoping to sell the lot at auction next month.
Mrs Lawty, 76, said: “We’ve had the collection for 30-odd years now, so we have a lot of stuff.
“I’ve recently had problems with mobility and my husband was recently taken ill, which worried me a little.
“We live in a very isolated area, so if we ever needed to move, we’d need to sell all of this stuff first.”
Mrs Lawty said the collection began after her husband bought an old car which he restored some years ago, and built a barn especially to store it in.
“We both enjoyed buying stuff from car boot sales and auctions and restoring them – and it sort of snowballed from there,” she added.
“I can’t tell you how much we’ve spent over the years – we’ve spent up to £100 on some things, and other things have been given to us.”
By the time the pair had built an impressive collection boasting thousands of unusual items, they began opening it up to the public as a museum, with donations collected on the door going to different charities every year.
Mr Lawty, says his unique collection includes “anything from A-Z”.
“It’s difficult to explain,” he said.
“I’m a buyer that sort of buys occasionally when I see it, if I like it. It’s one of these collections built out of interest. If I see the stuff and I like, then I will add it to the collection.”
Items listed on Rogers Jones & Co Auctioneers up for auction include police constabulary ephemera, prams, dolls and toys, children’s trikes, bicycles, medical equipment, helmets, medals, a signalling lamp, cameras, smoking ephemera, gramophones and vintage record players and radios.
Vintage domestic items and kitchenalia including a Prestcold fridge, Rippingilles cookers, a GEC cooker, vintage vacuum cleaners, butter churns, photography ephemera, retro picnic cases, telephones, old tools, sewing machines, vintage weighing scales and a large mug collection also form the collection. Mr Lawty, added: “The mugs started years ago, with my wife and myself on a bus ride.
“They’d set up a quiz, and my wife was very g ood at it and she won it. And the prize was actually a mug, which was a limited edition Rich Tea mug. “I took it home, and the bloke who gave it to us said, ‘don’t break it, it’s a limited edition’. “Some time later, when my daughter was doing her masters, she went to Cadbury’s to work. Cadbury’s make Easter eggs in mugs, and of course she brought me a load back.
“I therefore made a cabinet that would take 100, thinking that would be enough, but the collection now stands at way over 3,000.
“As far as I know, I reckon it’s the biggest collection of advertising mugs in the UK.”
The auction will take place on Tuesday, October 19, from 10.30am.
Items will not be sold separately and auctioned as one lot.
For more information, contact Rogers Jones on 01492 532176, or email info@rogersjones.co.uk