Stamps get approval at antiques auction

 

A penny black stampIT wasn’t so much a case of a stamp of approval as a dozen albums’ worth at an antiques auction in the Cotswolds last week, where a philatelist’s dream made the top price of the day.

The collection included examples of the Penny Black – the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, issued in 1840 – Two Penny Blues - the world’s second official postage stamps – and Penny Reds, which succeeded the Penny Black in 1841 when officials noticed the black cancellation mark didn’t show up against the original stamp.
 
Carrying an estimate of £60 to £100, the collection licked the other 980 sale lots to take the top price of the day, when the hammer fell at £560 at Moore Allen & Innocent’s general sale last Friday (October 8).
 
Other top prices were recorded over in the furniture section. An early 20th Century studded leather upholstered three seat sofa and two matching leather armchairs made £540, while a pair of walnut and cross banded open bookcases achieved £500.
 
Of local interest was an iron garden table with thick stone slab top together with a set of six wrought iron chairs by Hugh Powell of Shipston-on-Stour, which sold for £480.
 
Outside of the furniture section, a suite of 113 pineapple cut drinking glasses, some by Thomas Webb, whose glassworks were described in the catalogue of the 1878 Paris Exhibition as “the best makers of glass in the world,” sold for £410.
 
One of the more unusual lots of the day was a scratch built three-inch gauge locomotive chassis and tender of the Southern 841 Greene King Southern Railway S15 class locomotive.
 
The full-size engine that inspired the model was built in 1936 and spent its working life hauling parcels and freight between London and the south coast, before being scrapped in 1964.
 
However, in 1972 steam enthusiasts, with sponsorship from the Greene King brewery, rescued and restored the engine, and it was a popular feature on heritage railways around the UK until fairly recently, when it was used for spares on a similar S15 class locomotive in better condition.
 
While the Southern 841 may be no more, the scale model keeps its spirit alive, and achieved a very reasonable £350.
 
For more information about buying and selling at auction, log on to http://www.mooreallen.co.uk


A penny black stamp A scratch built three-inch gauge locomotive chassis and tender of the Southern 841 Greene King Southern Railway S15 Class Locomotive, which made £350
A penny black stamp
 A scratch built three-inch gauge locomotive chassis and tender of the Southern 841 Greene King Southern Railway S15 Class Locomotive, which made £350