ELDREDS COLLECTORS’ SALE 5TH OCTOBER 2021 

Eldreds Collectors sale on 5th October starting at 10.00am encompasses a huge range of lots from coins and medals, through antiquarian books, wines and spirits, postcards, toys, railwayana and cameras to unusually small knitted socks!

Nearly sixty lots of model railway steams away with a 3 ½” gauge live steam 4-6-0 GWR locomotive and tender. An impressive 1.25m long, this steam engine requires some work to be done and would be a fascinating project for a steam enthusiast. Est £1,500-2,000.

Great Western Railway fans may be interested in several GWR lots, including an Annetts key, used for controlling points and signals. This one has particular Plymouth interest, being impressed “Devonport (Albert Road) East, G Frame Points 2” and is estimated at £100-150. A GWR mahogany cased wall clock with white-painted dial marked “GWR” is estimated at £500-700.Of local interest is a large collection of postcards of Princetown, including many real photographs of the prison, a visit by the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1909, 1911 Coronation day and others of the nearby villages. Estimate £300-350.Local Freemasons may wish to acquire a 9ct gold and enamelled past master’s jewel for The Royal Naval Lodge no.3337, estimated at £300-400. Other medals include a South Atlantic medal with rosette to be sold with a collection of photographs taken during the Falklands conflict and SS Canberra memorabilia. Est £400-600.

A Victorian album of cartes de visite photographs includes an unusual photograph of the African-American conjoined twins, Millie and Christine McKoy who were such a sensation in the late 19th century that they were able to purchase the very farm where they had been born as slaves in 1851. Estimate £200-300.

Hugely popular in the late 19th century were a series of, in all, 25 books of fairy stories and folk lore collected by Andrew Lang and his wife, Leonora Blanche Alleyne. Included in the series were twelve “Fairy Books”, each distinguished by a different colour. Despite critics’ and educationists of the day decreeing that these tales of “unreality, brutality and escapism” would corrupt young minds, these books became hugely influential and were reprinted many many times. The Fairy books in the sale include five first editions and expect £100-150.

A large collection of cameras ranges from a brass mounted mahogany framed half plate camera by Benetfink & Co to a Mamiya C3 Professional twin lens reflex camera and more modern digital cameras.

A fascinating collection of mid 20th century and earlier African art was amassed by a Devon man on his travels through Africa for a two-year period. The collection includes masks, figures, vessels, spears and clubs.

And, finally, the small collection of incredibly small socks and bootees knitted in 1820 by a Mrs Coward of Devizes. The largest knee-high sock measures just 8cm top to heel and the smallest bootees are 1.2cm long. Est 40-60.