A rare 1920s British enamel advertising sign has sold for a record £83,780, underlining the growing strength of the UK’s automobilia market.
The Stepney Tyres sign, which measured five by four feet, sold for more than eight times its £10,000 estimate at a standalone auction hosted by Cheffins Machinery Auctioneers on 21st March, setting a new UK record price for an automobilia item. It was sold to a UK based collector.
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The piece was part of a large-scale single-owner collection, with the auction seeing over 400 automobilia items go under the hammer, including enamel signs, petrol globes, bicycles and a wide range of motoring ephemera. Having been amassed by a local collector from Cambridgeshire, this extraordinary assortment had been stored across two barns and had remained hidden from public view for over 20 years.
Many of the items offered were fresh-to-market, and set new benchmarks for the automobilia and general advertising sector, with other highlights including; £21,240 for a Farine Lactée Nestlé Aliment Complet Pour Les Enfants - a single sided pictorial advertising enamel sign - which was sold to Germany, and £4,130 for an Essolube double sided pictorial enamel sign which was bought by a Dutch collector. Other high prices included £3,422 for a Jeyes’ Fluid enamel sign; £3,068 for a Wellsaline Super-Bright Motor Lubricants tin wall calendar and a £2,596 for a Firestone Tyres map of Scotland advertising sign.
The vendors of the collection wish to remain anonymous.
Tom Godsmark, Director at Cheffins says: “This sale encompassed what was truly one of the most exciting barn-find secret collections of automobilia having been seen on the market for decades. We were delighted by the response to the sale, and the prices achieved far exceeded our expectations. The sale saw a global audience, with pieces selling to Germany, Czech Republic, Australia, Canada and more Values have been consistently rising for automobilia over the past decade or so, however this sale goes to show that this is now a high-value collecting class of its own right. In general, buyers are car enthusiasts and those who have a real interest in motoring history, and this is now a global marketplace with collectors willing to pay top dollar for the best in class of examples. These pieces were certainly some of the most significant we’ve seen come to auction in the UK to date, and we were privileged to offer them to the market.”
Among other items, an 1879 Coventry high-wheel penny-farthing bicycle achieved £5,192 and £8,496 was paid for a 1917 Douglas 350cc motorcycle.
Tom Godsmark continues: “At Cheffins we are seeing first hand the demand for motoring ephemera and continue to offer a dedicated automobilia section in our flagship Cambridge Vintage Sales, as well as dedicated standalone auctions twice a year.”
At the Cambridge Vintage Sale on 24th and 25th April, Cheffins will offer a further 400 automobilia items, with star lots including rare petrol pump globes, enamel signs and oil and fuel cans. The auction will take place at the Cheffins Machinery Saleground at Sutton, near Ely.
Cheffins also hosts two standalone automobilia auctions each year, the next will be on Saturday 14th June
For more information, please visit contact Cheffins Machinery Department on 01353 777 767, [email protected]