Figure army marches to Sheffield

By the very nature of their work auctioneers learn to expect the unexpected, however at times even they are taken aback by what they find. This was the case with Sheffield Auction Gallery's John Morgan when confronted recently with a home in South Yorkshire.

John picks up the story: "It was earlier this year that I was asked to view the contents of a modest 3-storey house and from the moment I opened the door I knew this was not the conventional fare. The gentlemen concerned had some serious collecting habits. One of which was model and toy figures, predominantly from the early 20th century right up to the modern era. It is very difficult to say how many there were in total because of the style of collector which he appears to have been. There are potentially over 30,000 figures, with the majority not in boxed sets but as loose examples. They range from the extremely rare to the common, with a cataloging and sorting system and reference book collection that showed a real insight into the subject. On display, in storage, in display drawers they were all over the house, sat alongside other collections including toy forts, both fascinating and initially overwhelming."

With such a diverse and eclectic collection it is almost impossible to describe it's content, metal, plastic, composition, military, civilian and animal with so many rarities with makers from the fine work of Courteney to Kentoy plastic AA figures. With prices from £10 to hundreds of pounds this is one auction well worth detailed inspection.
 
"This is without doubt one of the most important collections of its type to come to the open market in 2017’ John concluded.
 
The collection has been split into three parts with modern Britains and similar plus the white metal being sold in Military auctions, and the toy metal and plastic figures being sold in a Fine Figure Auction on 19th October 2017 at Sheffield Auction Gallery.