Vintage toys beat estimates in North Yorkshire sale

The market for toys, models, collectables and sporting memorabilia at auction remains very buoyant, as proved by North Yorkshire’s Tennants Auctioneers’ specialist sale on December 9.

The diverse 672-lot sale achieved an impressive 97% sold rate, with a total hammer price of £112,720 – well above the pre-sale estimate.

The top lot of the sale was a Bing live steam horse drawn fire engine, hand-painted in red. Measuring 28cm high, the engine beat its £400-600 estimate to sell for a hammer of £3,500.

Tinplate toys performed particularly well, topped by a CIJ P2 Alfa Romeo in cream which sold for £3,000. Also selling strongly against estimate were a Josef Neuhierl Furth (JNF) clockwork Auto Union Racing Car in silver, which sold for £1,600, a Meccano No.2 Constructor Car, which sold for £900, and a Meccano Non-Constructor Car, which sold for £800. A rare Hornby Speedboat No.1 modelled as a duck sold well too, with a hammer price of £750.

Elsewhere in the sale, a rare Apollo moonwalkers framed autograph montage consisting of autographs of the twelve astronauts who walked on the moon sold for £2,300. Included were the signatures of Neil Armstrong, written on an Apollo 11 envelope franked ‘Patrick Air Force Base Jul 24 1969’, and Buzz Aldrin. The lot was sold with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Four lots of French railway posters attracted a good deal of attention, too. The top lot being a group of three posters advertising destinations in Avignon, Saint-Flour and St Lunaire and Longchamp, which sold for £750 against an estimate of £80-120.