225 lots went under the hammer at Tennants Auctioneers in Leyburn on Saturday 14 April 2012, realising a total of £68,000.
The musical instrument section of these specialist sales is always very popular. The sale set up allows potential buyers the time and space to view the items thoroughly, play, tune and admire them. Good violins, guitars and saxophones always sell well, with violins and their accessories prevalent in the top 25 lots of this sale in particular. A 19th century French silver mounted violin bow, stamped Vigneron, made £2,500, a 19th century German Lowendall violin made £1,000 and violin with burr maple back and sides made £900. One particularly interesting lot was a rare novelty hardwood violin walking stick. It had a part missing, was snapped and taped, but despite its conservative estimate ended up making £2,100 on the day. Nick Lambert, specialist in charge of the sale, gave credit to the double interest of this lot, ‘although notably damaged, the stick was interesting to walking stick collectors and musical collectors alike. Exceptionally rare items can often do well at auction, even when damaged, due to their scarcity in the market’.
Nick Lambert also noted how buoyant the vintage camera market is in this digital age, attributing their increased success at auction to their decorative, as well as collectable, qualities. A prime example of this was an Ilford Advocate camera which had a stylish ivory enamelled metal body. Sold for £100; not the dearest item in the sale, but as a similar camera made just £40 only 10 months ago this was a very pleasing outcome. More modern cameras, such as Cine-cameras, are having increased success at auction as they are being bought for their high quality lenses. This is an area of the market that has really picked up, and the same can be said for miniatures. Fourteen lots, all from one private collection which included Midget, Miniature and Sub-miniature cameras, modelled as items such as pocket watches and cigarette packets are incredibly novel and highly collectable. The internet bidding was strong throughout this section with particular interest from Russia shown in two Russian miniature genuine spy cameras which made £160 and £200 respectively.
A final word from Nick Lambert is that this is a fantastic time to be selling camera collections. Pre 1980 models are interesting and valuable, but cameras after this time, those with black moulded plastic bodies, are of no value at auction. If you are interested in selling your collection with us why not visit the Auction Centre in Leyburn any weekday for a free valuation. For more information please contact Nick Lambert on 01969 623780