Helixophiles in a spin over Cotswolds’ sale

Collectors are in a spin over a large collection of antique corkscrews, which will be going under the hammer in the Cotswolds next week.

The corkscrews, bottle openers, apple corers and cheese scoops will be sold over 10 lots at Moore Allen & Innocent in Cirencester on Friday, April 24.

Among the best is a folding corkscrew in the shape of a bottle inscribed John Dewar & Sons Distillers Old Highland Whisky and two similar corkscrews inscribed MCL, together with a brass pull ring corkscrew inscribed The Clough Wire Corkscrew Company Alton NH Hail Columbia 1492 1892, and a corkscrew as a pair of scissors inscribed Foucher and Co Eperney. A bid of £50 to £80 should secure the lot.

Meanwhile, a bottle opener inscribed John Watts Maker Protected No 14795 Sheffield, together with a bottle opener inscribed Fabrication Francasise Lesinge Depose, a can opener in the form of a duck’s head inscribed Preston bearing a Victorian kite mark, together with a can opener inscribed Peerless Pat Feb 11-90 should achieve between £60 and £80.