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Notes If
you are new to the hobby and are confused by the jargon below, visit the
Primer. My
comments have a loco artifact related bias. These notes are not intended
to provide a full list of prices at the auctions covered. As the results
for most auctions are all now available on the relevant website soon
afterwards, there is little point in just recording prices here, so
comments are generally restricted to those items whose price or other
aspects which are IMHO particularly noteworthy. My comments on prices
tend to be based on relatives rather than absolutes. Any views on price
are purely my own and readers should form their own judgment. I think everyone is wondering just what effect the current economic woes will have on the railwayana market. Railwayana buyers are not necessarily representative of the UK consumer, but an economic downturn is bound to have an effect. In1993, apart from a fall in prices, the supply of quality items tended to dry up as vendors awaited the return of better times. However, the supply currently seems to be unchecked, putting even more pressure on prices. There is not one market of course. The more commoditised sectors such as smokebox numberplates and worksplates seem to happily absorb anything thrown at them but further up the scale, the actual plate is all-important.
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Any
comments/queries to
Auction
Reports
fta = first time at auction, nsb = not seen before
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Sheffield 12 June 2010 Derby results are here
Not perhaps Sheffield's finest auction line-up. The single line items category was very modest this time, but there was a good South African cabside selection.
Mainline steam loco nameplates. A bit lacklustre apart from Merchant Navy "Nederland Line" which made a robust £26,500, especially noteworthy as the other side sold in the railwayana.net auction a couple of weeks before for £25,500. The King Arthur, "Sir Galleron" failed to sell, perhaps due to an ambitious reserve.
WR cabsides 7239 made a stiff £1,600. The catalogue says it was brass, very unusual for a 72xx, as every other one I have a record of is cast iron.
Headboards. I thought the "Cheltenham Spa Express" was very pleasing and £950 does not seem expensive for such a nice piece.
Other loco items. I do not usually comment on industrial nameplates, but I noted "Rother Vale No 7" here, as there is a photo of "Rother Vale No 0" in Casserley's "British Locomotive Names of the Twentieth Century" (somewhat prematurely written perhaps, in 1963). I had this book out of the library many times as a youngster, using my mother's library ticket as all the railway books were in the grown-ups section. The plate made £800 here. A Britannia whistle, unusually complete with the mounting casting, made £3,900. I imagine this tempted the buyers as its completeness rather confirmed the authenticity. Britannia had more or less standard Crosby chimes so they would be easy to pass off as the real thing.
Other items. There was a fair selection of paintings by well-known contemporary railway artists. Prices I suspect are not what the artists would like. Even £2,000 probably does not translate into that much an hour for the work in creating it. It is all a matter of personal taste but I much prefer the more impressionistic works to the minutely detailed jigsaw puzzle or birthday card for nephew -type works.
Chinese railwayana. I cannot recall an auction with more than one item of Chinese railwayana and we had no less than five here, presumably from one source. Chinese artifacts should be fairly plentiful in that enthusiasts have been bringing plates back from China for the last 25 years. Pride of place price-wise went to a (RH) cabside plaque in the shape of a flag, which made a surprising £1,050. The catalogue entry was a bit garbled. What the slogan on the flag says is (it reads right to left - the image in the catalogue is for some reason printed at 90 deg. anti-clockwise to its correct position) - "model locomotive crew" and above that "learn from (the) Mao Zedong (loco)". There was a loco named Mao Zedong and by tradition, the crew was exemplary as railwaymen and good communists. The below is an image of my own such plate (which reads left to right).
The catalogue classifies the JS front numberplate as a smokebox numberplate, and they don't come much bigger or heavier than this. I weighed mine and it measured just under 39kg. This also did quite well, as the weight would put many off, making £480.
Finally, three worksplates. Surprisingly, the least common, a Dalian 1959 plate from a JS, made less than the two rather more common Datong plates. The Dalian plate made £200, and the two Datong plates £220 (1978) and £400 (1980), both RH plates. With prices like these, expect to see some more Chinese plates emerging.
Other foreign items. A cabside plate from an Indian WP made £800, while one from a metre gauge WD made £300. There were about 10 South African cabsides. I thought the prices were a bit subdued. 19Bs are rare and £300 was not expensive for the one here. 19Ds are not rare but plates from the British-built locos are and 3330 was disappointing at £260.
GCRA Stoneleigh 24 April 2010 results are hereMainline steam loco nameplates. West Country set "Wadebridge" made an impressive £37,000. Who says plates from preserved locos don't do so well? "Manors" have historically been relatively rare at auction although in the last couple of years there have been five such plates. Prices have been inconsistent, disguised by several being sold with cabside etc. "Broome Manor" made a robust £12,500 here, and this despite being neither a particularly striking name nor a Cambrian loco. "Cobham Hall" made a modest £4,500, taking us back to prices 15 years ago. "Counties" (the 4-6-0 version) are also a bit shy, although again there are signs of an increased flow. A curious feature is that nearly all the plates to have appeared have been left hand plates, i.e. without the supporting plate needed for the RHS plate to make it free standing. "County of Caernarvon" here was a LH plate and made £12,000, not over-priced, as it is probably one of the better names. "Kidwelly" from the ex-BPGVR loco, has sold before and rose to £4,800. L&MM "Hilda", not quite up there with "Berry Pomeroy Castle" in the league of impressive GW names, made a decent £5,400. LNER B1 "Dibatag" has now appeared at least three times in auction, falling back to £5,000 here. A1 "Redgauntlet" made £11,500, which does not sound too demanding. B17 "Wynyard Park" failed to sell. This has sold twice before previously but many years ago. LNWR "Queen of the Belgians" from a "Prince of Wales" 4-6-0 had last sold in 1988 when it made £3,300. It made £14,600 here. Over to the LMS, there were a couple of Royal Scots" "The West Yorkshire Regiment", a double liner with replica badge, made £12,600. This sounds pretty modest, even without the proper badge. "Welsh Guardsman", a very nice name, made £12,000.
Worksplates. A Dübs 1885 plate from LSWR 4-4-2T 30584 made £3,400. It, or the other plate, sold for £4,600 in May 2009. The catalogue description seemed to think that two of these locos are preserved, which is probably news to most of us. Possibly it is confusing these locos with the Beattie well tanks? The Great Central plate from 4-6-0 "Earl Beatty" made a huge £3,500, which increases the record for a GCR plate by about 300%. I thought the 1905 Hawthorn Leslie plate might have done a tad better than £520, as there are not many HL plates older than this in circulation. The curious Hunslet plate from J94 68008(?) which has 68050 in the centre, made a modest £260. Star of the show was a Lowca Engineering 1899 plate, which made £7,000.
WR cabside numberplates. 1010 from "County of Caernarvon" made £3,500. 1655, ex-loco, made a huge £2,450. I thought at first it must have been one of the Dornoch locos, but it seems to have been based for most of its life on the ex-BPGVR. £1,080 seems a lot for Pannier 8701.
Smokebox numberplates. Plates from the LMS passenger classes remain comparatively rare. 46117, from "Welsh Guardsman", made a robust £3,300. A couple of 9F plates were on offer and made £1,100 and £1,000, which seems expensive.
Classic traction. Class 47 "Odin" made £5,100, showing the demand that is there for the early BR named diesels. The Armstrong Whitworth/BTH 1924 plate from a South African industrial electric loco made £740. A plate from a sister loco appeared 20 years ago.
Signalbox boards. The GNSR board from "Craigellachie" made £1,100.
Other items. Lynton & Barnstaple artifacts continue to have a devoted following. A small carriage board made £6,200.
Sheffield 13 March 2010 Derby results are here
A fairly lacklustre catalogue by Sheffield standards.
Mainline steam loco nameplates. A couple of Jubilees: "Sturdee" was a much photographed late survivor, and "Bengal", an unattractive St Rollox plate which the catalogue entry noted had been "vigorously restored". The latter made £9,000 and the former £8,400. LNWR George V plates are the least common of all the LNWR passenger types. "Miles MacInnes" was perhaps not a name to quicken the pulse and made a disappointing £9,200. GWR "Saint Bernard" had already failed to sell at two auctions and struggled to sell here, although a deal seems to have been done at £11,000. I think it would be better to try and sell something with the stigma of "not sold" writ large privately. It is a very nice plate and seems very good value at this level. The other results were unremarkable, save for West Country "Yes Tor". For a short plate, without scroll, £14,000 was a pretty good result, and the highest priced lot in the auction.
Cabsides. £3,500 for ex-loco Castle 5001 is low by historic standards.
Smokebox numberplates. Incredibly, 64493 seems to have been the first J35 numberplate to have appeared at auction, and one might have expected LNER fans to have been more appreciative than £360 suggests. A J39, which are common, made £450.
Other items. A GWR brass crest, from something rather special (Dean Single, Armstrong 4-4-0 or a French Atlantic) made a moderate £2,300. What has happened to all the GWR fans?
Overseas items. This category was very weak by Sheffield standards. Of note were two nameplates from French electric locos, "Toul" and "Villiers le-Bel", attractive items with shields, which made £900 and £920 respectively.
GCRA Stoneleigh 16 January 2010 results are here
A very well attended auction for the final instalment of the Bourhill collection.
Nameplates The last of six Coronations to appear at auction in a little over 13 months, "City of Liverpool", made a respectable £33,000. Double line Jubilee "Gilbert and Ellice Islands" made £18,200, somewhat down from when John Bourhill bought it in September 1999 for £26,200, but reasonably robust in this market. This was one of three Jubilees: "British Columbia made £13,600, which suggests that other things being equal, a longer plate makes more than a shorter one, and "Victory" made £8,500. The rather prosaic Patriot "Bradshaw" (named after the railway timetable publisher), made a respectable £9,000. This had failed to sell at another auction recently. LNWR Prince of Wales" made £15,000. LNER D49 "The Cattistock" and matching fox made £14,000, A3 "Sunstar", no stranger to auction, made £9,400, and there were a couple of B1s, "Eland" (third time at auction) at £7,800, and "Harry Hinchliffe" at £6,500. GWR "Farleigh Castle" made a moderate £9,200. I understand that this was not the plate sold at Sheffield in October 1991, described there as "re-riveted". "Heveningham Hall", one of the Halls requiring a longer back plate than usual, made £6,900. Last but not least, a plate from Isle of Man Railway 2-4-0T No 3 "Tynwald" made £8,000. It is difficult to say whether this is high or low as the plate is incredibly rare, as nearly all the locos are in existence and presumably most still have their original plates.
The industrial pairing of "Peckett No 2" and matching worksplate was a pleasing combination and made £2,200.
Headboards "The Royal Scot" (the standard BR design of plate) made a modest £2,500. It is not actually that common a plate, and as prestigious as you can get. "The Aberdonian", another impressive name, made £2,000.
Smokebox numberplates 32689 appears to have been the first E1 at auction and made £1,750. Ivatt 41225 made £1,100. There is quite a range of prices for this class, the record being £2,600, ranging down to around £700 (in recent years). A3 60062 made £2,900. B1 plates seem to be sought after at the moment, 61231 making £1,000 here.
Classic traction An ex-loco BTH worksplate from a Class 15 made £950, not far short of the class record. An English Electric plate from preserved Deltic D9009 made £2,200. Class 74 rebuilt plates are fairly rare. One from 74009, selling for the second time, made £1,600.
Signalling A W&T large staff, "Byfield - Fenny Compton" made an impressive £2,100.
Hawkseyes "Binton", an SMJ station, made an impressive £1,900. "Tebay", probably the plate which sold in 2006, made a more modest £660.
Overseas items An ALCO 1916 plate from a RENFE 240 made £720, which seems quite pricey. An ex-loco Baldwin plate of the same vintage from a Cuban loco made £320.
Sheffield 5 December 2009 Derby results are hereNameplates. A fairly moderate selection by SRA standards. I thought the "Erlestoke Manor" name and cabside set would do rather better than the £12,000 it made. "Manor" nameplates are not that common relative to the number of locos, and Erlestoke is quite a pleasing name. Britannia "John Milton" appearing for the first time since 1991, made £12,000. Castle Class "Earl Bathurst" and cabside made a very moderate £11,000. Assuming £4,000 for the cabside, this puts the nameplate in mixed traffic 4-6-0 territory. The Earls are difficult. Some of the names are pleasant enough but the different radii between name and splasher are not to everyone's taste (the plates were originally fitted or destined for smaller "Dukedog" 4-4-0s). B17 "Belvoir Castle" made a surprisingly robust £9,300, more than A3 "Colorado" at £9,000. Jubilee "Conqueror", the second such plate this year, fell slightly to £8,000. "Littleton Hall" name and cabside made a miserable £6,000 which must be a new low for a Hall in recent times. The cabsides still fetch £1,500-ish so this puts the nameplate at £4,500, 1995 prices.
Headboards "The Fair Maid" is rare but made a modest £1,500.
Cabsides. The number of cabsides being sold as a lot with the nameplate will be noted. Of the separate cabsides, "Hall" 5931 made £1,450.
Smokeboxes. The market can still not get enough of Britannia smokebox numberplates. 70006 made £3,200. B1 61255 made an impressive £900. It made £800 on its previous outing.
Worksplates. The engraved LNER plate from A4 60002 made £9,000. The £2,700 paid for the Sharp Stewart engraved plate 2967 of 1881 made a new record for the builder at £2,700. The plate had sold previously in 2003. Pre-1900 Peckett plates are rare and a nice example No 474 of 1890, made £1,800.
Classic traction. A cabside from D1028 "Western Hussar" made a robust £3,200. The complete set of name and number made £7,400 in January. A nameplate and crest from Peak "The Cheshire Regiment" made £7,600.
Boxboards. Swynnerton Junction, a BR enamel, made £820.
GCRA Stoneleigh 3 October 2009 results are hereGCRA continues to sell the Bourhill collection. My impression is that prices for the nameplates are weakening, not really surprising in view of the quantity passing through the market this year, and condition of the plates seems to be a factor. Most people are not shopping for nameplates of course, and there seems to be a lot of money around at the £500 - £1,000 level. Totems and single line tokens, staffs etc remain popular. Enamel station direction signs are quietly building a fan base.
Nameplates. Patriot "Duke of Sutherland", rather nice, made £10,000. Coronation "King George VI" made £39,000. A1 "Boswell" struggled a bit and finally made £8,000, very low for an A1. Badged double-line Scot "The Northamptonshire Regiment" was pretty disastrous at £12,200. The plate appeared to have been skimmed. D49 "The Bedale" with an original fox, made £13,200. B1 "Murray of Elibank" made £9,800. Director names are generally not sought after but this aristocratic moniker would be an unusual talking piece on the wall. Britannia "Charles Dickens" should have done better than £8,400 and LMS "Princess Victoria" set a marker for single line Princesses at £17,000, which will not please owners of same. The nameplate badge from 46126 made a remarkably low £940. Were there doubts as to authenticity? Jubilees continue to be firm, "Renown" making £8,500.
Smokeboxes. The caption to 70028 in the cat. suggested the plate was acquired direct from Kingmoor shed, had not been sold previously etc. I understand that this is not the same plate which went through Sheffield in September 1998. It made £3,200 here.
Worksplates. A Manning Wardle plate from L&B "Exe" made £6,300 ("Lew" made £8,200 in 2001).
Classic traction. "Western Envoy" and cabside made £6,000. Name seems to be important for these - see September Sheffield results.
Single line items. As is usual for GCRA, a good selection and prices continue to be a bit arbitrary. The Festiniog Railway miniature staff is a rarity at auction - presumably from the Boyd collection - and made £1,300, rather cheap compared with L&B tablets. A large W&T staff Skibbereen - Baltimore made £640. This may also have been a Boyd item - he was familiar with this part of Ireland. Another W&T large staff, "Ryde South - Brading" from the IOW, made an impressive £2,500. I thought the IOW was token territory, so perhaps this is a great rarity. Square tablet "Girvan - Pinwherry" made £460. Generally square tablets seem to punch below their weight - a similar tablet made £99 on ebay last year - but I would have thought they demanded a bit of a premium because they are far less common than the circular ones.
Hawkseyes. "Bromsgrove" made a hefty £1,850, about 10% up on its last appearance.
Totems. I do not usually report these but interesting to see both Shap and Beattock in the same auction. Both had appeared earlier this years in GCRA auctions. "Beattock" tanked to £520 (from £1,550) but Shap more than doubled, to £3,300. In both cases, it seems likely that the condition of the item had some impact on the prices, plus perhaps a fully flanged Shap totem is more desirable than a wall fixing variety, and a half-flanged Beattock totem less desirable than a fully flanged version. Another classic WCML location, "Tebay" is hardly scarce, but was vigorously bid up to £2,300.
Other items. Running-in boards are usually difficult to shift but "Thurso" made £1,700. Location, location, location.
Sheffield 12 September 2009 Derby results are here
"Duchess" "City of St. Albans" failed to sell. A very nice name to my mind, although the loco itself was one of the shyer Duchesses - try finding a photo of it. Of course there have been a lot of Duchesses in the last 12 months which must have some effect. BTW, City of Coventry (tender plate, Lot 343) surely was not withdrawn from Camden in 1964? Camden had been shut to steam for some time by then. A2 "Chamosssaire" nearly halved in price from its previous outing in 2007, making £12,500 here. Jubilees are holding up well and "Invincible" made £10,200. D49 "Hertfordshire" made £8,000. "Saint" "Stanford Court" appearing for the third time, made £8,100. "Yarmouth" from an Isle of Wight E1 was a tad disappointing at £7,000.
Classic traction. "Western Crusader" name and cabside made a very robust £10,500
Worksplates. The 1952 NBL plate from an East African 2-8-2T made a surprisingly firm £360.
Smokebox numberplates. Yet another Britannia, 70034 this time, making £2,500. Ex-loco Black Five 44697 selling for the third time, rose to £820, not far short of the record.
Loco whistles. The LNWR whistle from an 0-8-0 made £980.
Overseas items. There was a plentiful supply of South African cabsides. Notable was a 19A, very rare at auction, which made an undemanding £400. A GCA plate made a record for its class at £820.
GCRA Stoneleigh 18 July 2009 results are hereThe
big question was whether the market could continue to digest the riches
of the Bourhill collection – and it is worth bearing in mind that
there were plenty of other plates in this auction e.g. some of the
plates which used to be on display at Loughborough GCR station. The
answer appears to be a qualified yes – read on. Perhaps
the star of the show was the signalbox board “Shap Summit”, a BR
enamel job, which made an enormous £13,400. This previously sold for
£2,000 in June 2000. Onto
the nameplates. LMS Duchess “Queen Elizabeth” is not everyone’s
cup of tea. A prominent loco in the early days, it was a Scottish-based
loco for much of its career, and a relatively early withdrawal which
kept it out of the limelight of the last couple of years of the
Duchesses. Having said that, it is prominently associated with the blue
streamliner era. In the event, my reservations on the attractiveness
were unfounded and the market spoke with an emphatic £51,500 voice.
There were a couple of badged-LMS plates. I thought Patriot “ So,
pretty good results. However £13,200 for double-line Royal Scot “The
King’s Dragoon Guardsman” made it the bargain of the auction, and I
thought £14,600 for A2 “Tudor Minstrel” was undemanding for one of
the best known names in the class (i.e. the Peppercorn A2s), although
you would need a block and tackle to lift it. D49 Hunt “The Quorn”
made a modest £11,000, but it had a replacement fox, and the very short
name is not very attractive for the length of backplate. King Arthur “Sir
Villiars” made £7,000. West Country “Axminster” (no badge), GWR
straight “ Headboards
as a class did pretty well. “The Caledonian” with shields, made
£4,000 which was a bit weak compared with “The Thames-Clyde Express”,
great name but common as headboards go and in polished condition, which
made £3,600, “The WR
cabsides. 4410 made £4,400. Restored cast iron 6418 made £940
which seems aggressive. Perhaps it was the Banbury connection? Worksplates. There were a couple of LNER engraved plates. That from A2/3 60521 made £4,300, while that from A4 60003 (LNER filled in) made a stiff £7,200. A curiosity was the Midland Ry Rebuilt 1923 plate, apparently from a 4-4-2T which made £900. Smokebox numberplates generally did well as a category. 45527 (Southport) in ex-loco condition made £2,300. Yet another Britannia 70050, selling for the second time, made a very robust £3,800. Loco
whistles. A Britannia chime made a very reasonable £1,600. Key
tokens from
Sheffield 13 June 2009 Derby results are here
SRA is a bit over-shadowed at the moment by the Bourhill collection passing through GCRA. With so many plates currently available, anything less than prime is going to struggle, and so it proved.
Starting with the mainline steam nameplates, Merchant Navy "Union Castle", definitely prime, made £27,000. Jubilee "New Hebrides" made a respectable £9,000. A3 "Tagalie", is no stranger to auction and continued to fall in price, to £8,400. Standard 5 "Etarre", not the same side as sold in December 2008, made £5,000. By comparison, it (or the other side) made £2,500 in 1996. B1 "Sassaby" made £7,100, LNWR Precursor "Ajax", selling for the second time, made £8,000. "Crawley Grange" and "Arbury Hall", both with cabsides, failed to sell. A numbered D49 Fox made £3,700.
In classic traction, genuine stuff, before BR went in for namings big time, is holding up well, EM1 "Jason" made £6.000, not that great a drop from £7,300 it made in March 2002, esp if you add in bp. Warship "Rapid" has been in auction three times and held up quite well at £6,200. "Western Marksman" actually rose in price from its last appearance in 2004, to £7,300 here, although last time it sold without cabside.
Worksplates. The Hawthorn Leslie plate 2318 of 1894 was the earliest I have recorded at auction from this manufacturer, and made £700. The engraved LNER plate from A3 60050 made £4,100. The LNER plate from 60515 with the company title filled in, made £2,300.
Smokebox numberplates. Duchess 46239 made a hefty £4,600. Yet another Britannia, this time 70027, made £3,300. Why are Brit smokeboxes so common at auction and yet rarely fail to make decent prices?
Other items. The LNWR cabside from "Hardwicke" made £2,600. I think this has been in auction before.
GCRA Stoneleigh 25 April 2009 results are here
We had all been waiting for this one, with GCRA putting the first instalment of the Bourhill collection through, contributing to a catalogue stacked with desirable things. The timing seemed unfortunate with the global economic situation expected to limit the punters' enthusiasm to spend. Well, we were proved wrong, with some very robust prices for major items and some seriously expensive relative prices for minor items such as key tokens. Whether the momentum can be sustained for the second instalment remains to be seen. The venue was packed.
There is a theory circulating, applicable to consumer good purchases as much as railwayana, that with interest rates so low, you might as well spend it. Not sure that is entirely logical as a contrary argument - lack of investment income coming in - would tend to inhibit discretionary spending.
The mainline steam nameplate class was of unusual quality. "Duchess of Atholl" (not clear if this was the plate sold at Sheffield in February 1992) made a stiff £39,000. "Princesses" remain a bit of an unknown quantity as very few pass through auction. "Princess Helena Victoria" is one of the large double-liners and a rather pleasant name. It previously sold in April 1993, so seems to enjoy recessions in the market, and it made a respectable £30,000 here. "Royal Scots Fusilier" and badge is very eye-catching and £32,000 did not seem excessive in this environment. Jubilee "Conqueror" made £8,800. The other regions were represented: "Clan Mackenzie" made £19,200. Clans are in danger of losing their rarity status, with 20% of all plates now having been at auction and 25% of the free float. West Country "Seaton" plus badge and scroll made £20,000 - not sure that is very expensive. Its badge alone sold for £15,500 in April 2006. Schools "Lancing" made £9,600, disappointing but we have not had a Schools for a few years. Another one for sale in May may give a better idea of levels, although the name of course is very important. A3 "Cameronian", one of the Gills sans plates, made £10,800, and the second V2 plate to appear in quick succession, "St Peters School York" made a robust £24,000. D49 "Aberdeen-shire" made an undemanding £6,200 and GWR "Moseley Hall" brought up the rear at £4,650. We have not seen prices like that for 10 years.
There were several headboards, notably a horizontal format, aluminium "Royal Scot" at £6,400 (down from its previous appearance) and, fta, "The Lakes Express" which made £3,400.
In smokebox numberplates, notable was the first A1X plate to appear at auction, 32670, which made £2,900 (why are they so scarce)? One of the few Kings to appear, 6019, made a new record for the class at £3,600, but Lord Nelson 30851, appearing for the second time, fell to £1,600.
In lineside furniture, there were some robust prices in signalbox nameboards, but LMS "Hawkseyes" were very subdued for some reason. In the former category, "Quintinshill" made a huge £3,300. At its previous outing in 2000 it failed to sell (I seem to recall the reserve was £800). Famous name of course. "Oxenholme No 2", an enamel plate, fell to a modest £270, although "Shap" another enamel plate, rose to £1,550. GWR "Chelsea & Fulham Signal Box" made £1,850.
In Hawkseyes, "Hest Bank" fell here to £300 (from £2,300 in June 2007, in unrestored condition), while Low Gill fell to £520, from £1,250.
Cambrian single line tokens were bid to mystifying levels. Very few of these are rare. Why the new found interest? Have a number of collectors recently retired there?
Although I do not follow totems, there were some very good names, and particularly Scottish names here, including "Kyle of Lochalsh" at £6,400 and "Connel Ferry" at one seems to me to be a very disappointing £1,000. Of the others, NE "Thornaby" made a stiff £3,200 but I thought WR "Rhayader" very disappointing at £1,350 - images of a bucolic line on innocent summer days long ago etc. Perhaps surrounded by so much choice, the bidders concentrated their fire power elsewhere?
Sheffield 14 March 2009 results are here
Nameplates Jubilee "Hawkins" did very well to make £11,000, perhaps a few eponymous collectors bidding? A3 "Book Law" made £8,200, not far off "Hall" prices, but not one of the better names. The name, number and cabside set from "Iford Manor" did poorly at £11,700. "Manor" names are rare at auction for some reason - I can count only six including this one out of a class of 30 locos / 60 plates. Iford is not a great name but you would anticipate at least £1,000 and change for the smokebox and £2,500+ for the cabside, making the nameplate only £8,000.
However, one imagines that some Manors would still do very well e.g. the above, were it to become available.
"Lord Nelsons" should be rare as there were only 16 locos but no fewer than 10 different plates have been at auction. "Lord Rodney" made £12,000 here, I suspect not too bad a price in this market. A "Grange" name and cabside set, "Trellech Grange", made £8,500, not a bad deal for the buyer. Grange names are remarkably lacklustre in general but this one is quite pleasant, if obscure. "Britannia" "Shooting Star" is a very good name and, at £15,100, shows that buyers are still out there for the right name. Isle of Wight plates usually sell but "Bonchurch" here did not. I thought the "Rood Ashton Hall" name and cabside set would do better than the £8,500 it made. Double-barrel Hall names are not common. Conventional wisdom is that names from preserved locos are not as attractive as those from non-preserved locos. I am not totally convinced that this is a reliable guide but possibly this was a factor here?
Headboards "The South Yorkshireman" is a considerable rarity and first time at auction. It made £7,200. Contrast that with "The Royal Scot" which made an undemanding £2,500. According to my records, the only previous such plate (this is the standard curved design rather than the more elaborate horizontal format) failed to sell - very strange. There are concerns about the authenticity of some plates but I did not hear of concerns over this one.
WR cabsides "Dukedog" 9028 made a robust £3,100. As noted, there were several cabsides selling with nameplates.
Smokebox numberplates A bit of a commodity market but demand seems to be there for most plates at up to around £400. A number of notable examples from the Southern here. "U"s are not common and ex-loco 31615 did very poorly at £450. Southern "USA" plate 30062, rare at auction, made £920, not quite a record. "Schools" 30933 made £1,700, not bad. From the other regions, a Jubilee, 45715 (a St Rollox casting) made a robust £2,900. Jubilee plates are apparently still in fashion. Plates from Caley 4-4-0s are exceedingly rare and 54482 made a very moderate £750.
Classic traction I thought the splendid name "Royal Inniskilling Fusilier" and badge from "Peak" D63 might have done better than £6,000. An ex-loco example (presumably not this one) sold at GWRA in November for £11,000.
GCRA Stoneleigh 17 January 2009
The market is surprisingly robust if this auction is a guide
WR Cabsides 2918 made a record for a "Saint" class at £4,200.
Other loco bits. The brass crests from Dean Single 3035 made £1,650. Difficult to gauge the price of something like this but this does not seem that demanding.
Classic traction A nameplate from "Conquest", one of the five Class 41 "Warships", made an impressive £11,200. A Class 43 "Warship" nameplate "Tenacious" made £6,000. "Western Hussar" and cabside made £7,400. A BR Crewe "rebuilt" plate from a Class 74 made £1,950. These seem to be rare, this being only the second one I have noted. An AEI/BRCW 1960 plate from a Class 81 electric made £900.
Single line equipment Prices for tokens etc continue to be all over the place with no apparent logic but this auction suggests that prices are firm and increasing. As usual for GCRA, there was a lot of such items but I mention only the Bath - Midford tablet, not common, which made a modest £540.
Overseas items. ALCO worksplate no 74208 was described as from a metre gauge MacArthur but is surely from an SNCF 141R. It made £450.
Sheffield 6 December 2008 results are here
Based on the results here, prices are holding up in certain categories (we had three new records in smokebox numberplates) but there is no doubt that by the standards of the last 10 years, prices are generally weak.
Nameplates. GWR "Star" "Princess Charlotte" struggled in the room but sold afterwards at the reserve of £12,000. As the cat. said, this has to be one of the better "Star" Princess names. A couple of non-mainline plates. An ali. replacement plate from Metropolitan Railway "Dick Whittington", made £2,500. Dinorwic plates are usually keenly contested. "Lady Joan" struggled a bit to make £1,500, perhaps due to the name itself and perhaps due to the loco having been re-named(?) to "No 1" in 1948. West Country "Swanage" made £10,000 which is not a bad price for a preserved loco plate without scroll. B17 "Lincolnshire Regiment" was a tough sell and went for £7,000, presumably the reserve. Not quite such a resonant name as "Royal Inniskilling Fusilier"! Star billing went to LMS Pacific "City of Chester", one of the Duchesses which lasted until the end. £28,000 does not seem too bad in this market although some way from the £55,000 for "City of London" in 2006. GWR "Farnborough Hall" was offered as one lot including cabside and smokebox. Generally the feeling seems to be that by lotting as a set, the vendor foregoes an opportunity to maximise the price for each item (although it seems a shame to deliberately split a set), but here it almost seemed there was a marriage effect to get to £10,000 - say £1,500 for the cabside, £700 for the smokebox, then £7,800 would not be a bad price for a Hall nameplate at the moment. "Etarre" would not be everyone's favourite for an Arthurian name from a Standard Five, and £6,600 did not seem too shabby.
Worksplates. £1,000 seems pricey for a 9x5 from B1 61247, notwithstanding this was a named loco. The engraved plate from A3 60097 made an impressive £8,500 despite having had the company name filled in. Contrast this with that from 60111, fully engraved and with the apparently scarcer "&", ex-loco condition, £3,000 to the gentleman at the back. There must be a reason as this sounds very low.
Smokeboxes. Several records here so the market cannot be that weak. Caledonian 0-6-0 57345 made £720 which may be a record for one from this class. Caley 0-4-4T 55269 made a record for its class at £1,000. SR 31915 also made a record for a W class at £1,000. Plates from Southern 700 class locos are very, very rare. What according to my records is only the second to appear, 30317, did not really make the most of this advantage and £550 was less than half what the previous one sold for. 44113 made a surprising £1,000, which is actually a long way short of the record for a 4F which is held by 44559 at £1,800 (which was an S&D loco). The numberplate from 60097 made £3,200. 90117 made £780, a lot for a WD, but the casting was unusual, with serif "1".
Incidentally, I see that 58192 has sold, yet again, this time on ebay (for £293). This must be the most auctioned smokebox plate of all. I can count seven appearances.
WR cabsides seem to be weakening noticeably. Ex-loco 4099 made £2,950, 5063 £3,000 which is low for Castles, which for some years have generally been around £5,000. Cabsides from 43xx are very rare at auction. 4358 is only the second I have noted and £800 is not expensive by the standards of the last 10 years. The previous 43xx made £800 in 1993.
Classic traction. A nameplate from Warship "Swift" made £4,000. These appear to be weakening along with the rest of the market. An NBL worksplate from E3042 made a huge £2,200. The previous one at auction, in 2007, made £320,
In other loco bits, a pair of regulator handles from A4 60031 made £2,100, no doubt helped by the presence of the original paperwork. A "Southern" roundel from a "Battle of Britain" made £8,000.
Signalling. The LNER boxboard "Ilford Station" made a robust £1,100.
South African. 19C 2478 made a miserable £180. Surprising as poppet valve locos don't come much better looking than these. I have said it before but why are 25NC plates so expensive when they are one of the most common? 3420 made £1,500. A Class 1 cabside made £480, down from £980 for an ex-loco example in September.
Other foreign. £260 seems pricey for a Kolomna plate from an L. Eastern European plates continue to cause problems for cataloguers. The "Uzinele 23 August" (Malaxa) plate is from a Romanian n.g. loco, not a Soviet Er. David Love, who provided this info, wrote an article a few years ago in the erstwhile RCJ on Er plates. A Skoda plate ascribed to an Indian loco was actually a tender plate.
Railwayana.net November 2008 prices are hereA very good selection of items for this internet/'phone auction. I do like the large, and for the most part, good quality images on the site which surely others should follow. Look at the images of the Great Central and LBSCR worksplates - much more effective in making someone want to buy than a tiny image in a printed catalogue. It would be even better if the catalogue writer could resist using crass comments such as "would enhance any collection". I find expressions of that ilk on ebay extremely grating. It's unnecessary, the items will for the most part sell themselves. It would be difficult to say that the auction evidenced a recession, although some of the prices were definitely in the reasonable category.
Nameplates. Not a bad offering of BR steam plates. Britannia "Rudyard Kipling" made a reasonably solid £13,050. "Banbury Castle" also did quite well at £15,500. "Eaton Hall" however plumbed new depths for Halls at just £5,250, which is around the level in the mid-90s. To the extent the recession hits railwayana, this is the sort of item where it will show up.
Headboards. "The Thames-Clyde Express" has been one of the more common plates over the years and there are rumours that not all are genuine. The one here was according to my records the first to appear for seven years and looked genuine enough, making £4,250.
Smokeboxes. Duchess 46226 made a healthy £4,650. It last sold at auction complete with nameplate. Perhaps even Duchess owners need to raise the wind occasionally? Southern plates, as there were the least locos, are the least common but there were several on offer here. Q1s are not common and 33028 made £1,500, just short of the class record. 31764, an L, made £760.
WR Cabsides. The £780 for 9707 may be explained by it being one of the condenser-fitted locos.
Worksplates. Beyer Peacock "half-moon" worksplates are usually well received, an 1882 version from a NSWGR loco making £1,350 here.
Classic traction. A lot of modern diesel plates, some being sold on behalf of EWS. Otherwise, the plate from "Peak" "The Staffordshire Regiment etc" with badge, made £9,500.
Some nice loco whistles. The very pleasant LSWR Adams whistle was not demanding at £520, but a similar price for an SAR chime was surprising as these are neither rare nor particularly handsome. A Bulleid example fetched a modest £340.
Other items. A GWR chimney said to be from "Hinton Manor" made £1,050. A regulator handle said to be from A3 "Flying Fox" made £860.
Some nice cast iron. A matching pair of GWR "cross the line by bridge / subway" made a low-ish £180 each, while an LMS version of the classic LNWR BoT made £370.
Stoneleigh 4 October 2008 prices are here
This was well attended, prices were robust and few items unsold. However, the economic turmoil was about to hit the UK in a big way, although perhaps diversifying out of bank deposits into railwayana will become a better alternative than putting it in the mattress?
Stars of the show were a Nestles chocolate machine, which made £5,000 and an L&Y platform ticket machine, which made £3,000.
Continuing on a machine theme, single line signalling equipment remains sought after, and a Tyers token machine made £1,300, although a Spanish RSC/Webb & Thompson miniature staff instrument made a more modest £300. Readers may be interested in the Welsh Highland's acquisition of 17 RSC miniature staff machines from Ireland - described as token machines in the press announcement www.welshhighlandrailway.net/news.asp?dismode=article&artid=248.
Talking of single line equipment, some rare Irish narrow gauge staffs were on offer. An LLSR Buncrana - Tooban staff made £600, and CDRJC staffs Raphoe - Glenmaquin, Letterkenny - Glenmaquin and Stranolar - Castlefinn made £290, £320 and £120 respectively. In tablets, "Barnstaple Town - Pottington" shows the danger of bidding these up when, based on the numbers engraved on specimens passing through auction, there must have been at least 23 such. The one here made £300 compared with three earlier examples which made four figures, one of which over £1,500. Generally, GCRA seems to have a healthy supply of single line tablets, tokens and staffs.
Offerings in the nameplate section were typically modest but prices were reasonably robust against recent trends. A3 "Tranquil" made £11,000, not bad. King Arthur "Vivien" also did reasonably well at £9,800. The price of Arthur nameplates has generally tanked over the past 18 months but there are some good names out there which have never appeared. Continuing the Irish n.g. theme, an elderly nameplate from CDRJC "Inver" made £2,800. A fair number of CDRJC names have appeared over the years but they have never broken out of the £3,000 bracket.
Shedplates. I see that brass 52A codes are now considered to come from diesels rather than A4s.
Direction signs continue to perform well. A rare L&Y one, pointing to Hindley Station, made £620. "LMS Station Turvey" made £420.
The Lostock Hall Engine Shed signalbox board made a surprisingly robust £840. I say surprising as many buyers would be put off by the sheer length.
In other items, a brass badger motif from a bridge at Brock on the WCML made £660. A pair of Furness Railway "squirrel" platform seats ends made £1,000, despite lacking a bunch of grapes from one end. There seem to be two designs of such ends. One type has a "web" strengthening the rear leg and the other type does not. One is tempted to conclude that the latter is an earlier design, and the web was added when breakages started to occur.
Sheffield 13 September 2008 results are here
It was noticeable that the main auction had been pruned to 450 items, probably a sensible step, with the less valuable items being moved into a telephone auction. The catalogues for the main auction, telephone auction and postal auction were combined in one document for the first time.
Sheffield continues to dominate the nameplate sector although time was when B17s and "Halls" would have struggled to get into the catalogue. "Pioneer" a BPGVR "absorbed loco" made a robust £8,000, LNWR Precedent "Balmoral" £9,800 (why are there so many Precedent plates compared with the more modern George V or Prince of Wales class?). D49 "Dumfries-Shire" made £8,200. King Arthur "Sir Gaheris" failed to sell. It obviously has not sunk in amongst the vendors that Arthurs, at least the less evocative names, are over-supplied. The regimental crest from Castle 4037 made a huge £10,000. "Compton Castle" made a surprising £18,000, which looks expensive on today's market. Princess Royal "Duchess of Kent" which should have been great, was a bit of a disaster. The catalogue write-up was slightly off-putting and the state of the plate looked awful, apparently skimmed. Skimmed plates to me and I suspect other collectors, are unattractive. It failed to sell. "Birchwood Grange" did very well at £9,300 and B17 "Kilverstone Hall" about par at £7,000 (in very nice condition). "Marrington Hall" made £6,000.
WR cabsides. A couple of Castles made £4,000 each.
An engraved LNER worksplate from A4 60034 made an expectedly robust £10,200.
Smokeboxes. The write-up for 78007 strangely omitted the fact that this was a Cambrian line loco at one stage in its history. 78xxx are not particularly common and one with a Cambrian pedigree might have been expected to make more than £450. Q1s are rare. 33002 was selling for no less than the third time but still made £1,000. "West Country" 34031 was selling for the second time and rose to £2,500. A3 60105 also made £2,500. Generally these prices look pretty robust to me.
An A4/Britannia chime whistle, unattributed, made a healthy £2,100.
Stoneleigh 12 July 2008 results are here
GCRA are struggling to find nameplates to headline their sales, but the material they do have is not bad. As usual, their lack of foreign material does not help variety. I am amazed none of the auctioneers advertise in CRJ.
There was only one mainline steam nameplate, and it was a very good one, West Country "Ottery St Mary". Not only is this one of the most attractive names in the class, it is one of the few which have the smaller letters, which to my mind look better. Its presence was a bit of a mystery as I would have thought this a plate to hang on to, but even more surprising was its failure to sell. They don't come better than this. I know it does not have a shield but most of the ones that do have rather prosaic names.
Worksplates. Robert Stephenson plates from GWR 2-6-0s are not common. One from 6370 made £560. A relatively early Andrew Barclay plate, 811 of 1897, made £1,100.
On the classic traction scene, a "Sir William A Stanier FRS" from 86101 made £6,000. Warship "Daring" fell to £5,500, from £6,000 six years previously. A worksplate from a Park Royal railbus 79970-74, albeit unimpressive in itself, was very rare, and made £420.
Lots of single line material. A rare "Strathyre - Glenoglehead" token - I have not recorded one before - made £460. A W&T large staff "Maesycrigiau - Llanybyther", fta(?), made £1,400.
Direction signs continue to be popular and rightly so in my opinion, An LNER sign for West Monkseaton station made £1,600. A BR (E) sign for New Barnet Station made £920.
Cast iron. The attractive LBSCR cast iron trespass notices continue to be popular. An example made £760 here.
Other items. A rare Great Central enamel made £1,000. A Birmingham tramways destination indicator box made £480.
Sheffield 14 June 2008 results are here
Somewhat belated. I thought the offering a bit lacklustre. Perhaps there are just too many auctions?
Nameplates. IOW "Fishbourne" made a robust £11,500, ex-loco condition and perhaps one of the better names. A1s seem to be surprisingly popular at the moment. They have generally been considered less desirable than A2s (which were LNER locos, with classic Gill sans lettering). "Bonnie Dundee" here made £19,250. King Arthur "Sir Hectimere", made £8,000, about par. A3 "Sandwich", a moderate name, failed to sell, despite being one of the Gill sans plates. Merchant Navies while not rare, are not that common, and "Peninsular & Oriental S N Co" is probably one of the best names in the class, and the enamel appeared to be in very good condition. £28,500 did not seem that demanding, as one might have expected some strong interest from the man who collects the locomotives. The smokeboxes are significantly scarcer than the nameplates - no doubt one reason being that there is only one smokebox, but two nameplates, and 35006's plate was again not as demanding as one might have expected, at £3,100. LNWR Prince of Wales "Falaba" made £6,600.
Headboards. I thought £3,900 was very modest for "The Scarborough Flyer", to me the nicest of all headboards, with its brass suns. "The Robin Hood" is rare, having appeared only once before, and made £2,200. A real surprise however was "The Cunarder", a painted board, which made £7,900 on its first appearance.
Auction Summary - GWRA Pershore 10 May 2008 and others
It is some time since I put up a report. This is partly because of lack of time, partly due to there being so many auctions, and partly due to (IMHO) not terribly interesting results. Pershore was interesting as with the second part of an impressive collection of nameplates from a deceased estate passing through, there was a lot to take note of. Being an estate, the artifacts just had to be sold, so it may be that there were no reserves.
Nameplates According to my records, there have been 38 mainline UK steam loco nameplates at auction since 1 January, which I guess is a lot by historical standards. When the market tanked in 1993, there were fewer auctions and the main effect was the drying up of supply. That has not happened this time although one person is apparently propping up prices for a range of items, not just nameplates, so imagine what it would be like without his bid. Of the 38 plates, seven were unsold (at the time I noted the results). It is fair to say that there were very few (none) heavy hitters in this 38. Prices one has to say were generally weak but within that generalisation, A1 plates seem to be surprisingly expensive, and Halls have held firm at the sort of £6-7,000 established in the last couple of years. Fallen angels are the Arthurs and Jubilees, although again, having the "right" name has a lot to do with it. Arthurs are appearing with great regularity but the absence of the plates from pre-1926 locos (these generally have more famous or evocative names rather than being named after obscure knights with even more obscure spellings) continues. I wonder why? Sir Durnore at Pershore made a less than chivalrous £5,000, Sir Sagramore made £8,000 at Stafford and the same for Sir Torre (one of the less inspiring pre-1926 names) at Sheffield. Among the Joobs, Camperdown did not sell at railwayana.net, Ontario made a robust £10,000 at Stafford, but Zanzibar was a big surprise at Pershore, making just £6,700. The other side (I assume) sold in September 2002 for £17,100.
Having said all that, I think it is wrong to assume that the market is a finite pool of cash and the punters in the hall are the universe of bids. The very act of buying a nameplate is capricious - hardly an essential of life - and were auctioneers to go out of their way to get the sale - e.g. sending photos and actively soliciting bids in advance as a certain auctioneer did in his heyday - I think there are other bids out there. I noticed that one or two items at Pershore (not nameplates) appeared to have been sourced from ebay. It is a mistake however to think that arbitraging from ebay to an auction is a no-brainer. Some things do sell better on ebay, but there are undoubtedly successful arbitrages to be had from time to time.
Loco whistles There have been two A4 whistles in the last few weeks. That from Kingfisher, complete with finial, made £3,650 at railwayana.net. That from Lord Faringdon (no finial) made £5,200 at Pershore. There is a general concern with A4 and Britannia chimes as they seem to be more or less standard Crosby chimes with little way of authenticating them. Thus trying to establish some provenance is very important. I would be helpful if one of the auctioneers could try to construct a record of where the various A4 whistles are. The whistle from A3 "Blink Bonny" fell to £700, from £1,350 at its previous outing in December 2006.
Worksplates There was a very early Nasmyth Wilson plate at Pershore, No 199 of 1878, repatriated from Aus, which pre-dates anything else I have seen by 14 years. It made £2,200. The LNER engraved plate from early diesel shunter 15002 made a deserved £2,600. The £8,400 which the worksplate of A2 "Steady Aim" fetched at Stoneleigh in April was notable.
Signalbox boards continue patchy. "Arenig Signal Box" made £1,450 at Stafford, a gem for someone's collection. Another GWR plate "Heathfield Signal Box" made £2,150 at Pershore, about four times the price eight years ago.
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Great
Central, Stoneleigh 19 January 2008 results
are here The
auction, apparently very well attended, rather confirmed the difficulty
of extrapolating any particular direction for the market as a whole.
What to make for instance of bidding A1 “Meg Merrilies” up to
£25,000 when the same (or other side), in unrestored condition, fetched
£17,000 in September 2007? Straight “ Smokeboxes
were generally buoyant but helped by some reasonable quality plates,
60028 at £5,500, 60093 £3,400 (a record for A3s not numbered 60103)
, 60115 (from the aforementioned Meg), a new record for an A1 at
£4,600, In
worksplates, the Hudswell Clarke / RSH 1952 plate from a Pannier
seemed expensive at £2,100. A GNR engraved plate from a J6 seemed very
good value at £480. There
was a good showing in classic traction. The BTH plate from a
Class 15 made a new class record at £980. “Warship” “Druid”
nameplate made a respectable £6,400 and Class 47 “Thor” (an
original plate), £4,800. The English Electric worksplate off E3100 made
a hefty £1,050. “Fenny
Talking
of which, tokens and tablets are all over the place. This truly
seems to be an impulse buy area. A token “Evercreech Junc North -
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General
impression seems to confirm the weak-ish market, although care should be
taken in extrapolating any particular trend or level across the whole
market. Nameplates.
"Clans" remain uncommon. "Clan Mackintosh" was only
the third such plate to appear, and the first for four years, and made a
respectable £21,000. D49 "Hunt" "The Hurworth" made
£17,000, not bad in this market for a plate with a replacement fox.
"Oakley Grange" and cabside did very poorly, making just
£9,000. If one assumes a conservative £2,000 for the cabside, this
assumes £7,000 for the nameplate, no better than a "Hall".
"Jubilees" surprisingly are proving to be quite resilient in
this market, "
Time
was when Smokeboxes
were mixed but generally good. "Joob" 45698 made £3,000, but
77019 just £500. The first D49 plate to appear, 62734, made a modest
£750 although it had been welded. M7 30022 selling for the second time
made a new class record at £1,400 but £950 does not look excessive for
30087, the first B4 to appear. 41532 made a record for this small class
at £980. 84019 made £2,200, not far short of the record for the class. Worksplates
were rather humdrum with a few exceptions. An 1891 Robert Stephenson
engraved plate was rather nice and £2,550 does not seem demanding.
Following the excitement of the plate from 60004 at Overseas.
There were a number of SAR cabsides. Of note was £800 for an
"S" and £720 for an S1, both huge new records, but only £340
for a 19C. An 8B, the first to appear, made £400.
Other.
BR enamel station direction signs continue to be sought after but still
offer good value compared with many totems.
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GWRA
Pershore
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GCRA,
Stoneleigh
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Great
Central
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Great
Central, Stoneleigh
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Kidlington
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