Model Train Collection Expected To Fetch £6,000 At UK Auction
Model Train Collection Expected To Fetch £6,000 At Halls’ Auction
A large collection of modern model trains, which were collected by two late brothers and their uncle, is to go under the hammer in a saleroom in Shropshire’s leading fine art auction house next month.
The collection, which is valued at around £6,000 and comes from a vendor in the Wrexham area, has been consigned to Halls’ auction of toys and collectibles at the Welsh Bridge saleroom in Shrewsbury on August 3.
Models by Hornby Dublo, Bachmann and Danish manufacturer Heljan are included in the collection.
“This collection is being sold by the widow of a collector who also inherited model trains from his uncle and brother,” said Stewart Orr, Halls’ toys specialist. “Also included is an interesting and extremely large gauge three locomotive.”
The gauge three live steam model of a 2-6-2 locomotive, pictured, which has a matching tender with the crest and motto ‘Quocunque Jeceris Stabit’, is valued at up to £400.
The auction also includes a small collection of nine stationary engine models built from scratch by a late Rolls Royce engineer in his retirement. “The workmanship on these models, which are valued at between £100 and £300 each, is of the highest quality,” said Mr Orr.
Six packs of Matchbox Toys, which have never been opened, are expected to fetch between £70 and £180 each. The packs, each containing six toys, were purchased by a North Wales vendor in 1971 from a West Midlands toys wholesaler for just 80p each.
At Halls’ toys auction in May, 18 of the packs sold for more than £2,000.
“These toys are in their original factory shrink wrap packaging,” explained Mr Orr. “Collectors must take potluck because the value of Matchbox Toys can be dependent on their colour and we had no idea what colour these toys are.
“Matchbox made large numbers of each model and sometimes ran out of a particular paint during production. Rather than waste production time, they would complete the run using trial or end of run colours.
“Collectors are particularly keen to own toys painted in trial colours because so few were made. There is a chance that a collector could buy a collectable model in a rare colour.
“The vendor decided to buy what he could from the wholesaler and would probably have paid around 80p for each pack, which made them a very good investment 40 years ago.”
Source: Uk Auction News Website