Piece of railway history sells for £4,100

It was full steam ahead for a piece of railway history from Mid Wales as it sold for £4,100 at Hall’s Fine Art.

The commemorative oak silver mounted wheel barrow and spade, presented to Mrs Dugdale of Llwyn to mark her cutting the first sod of Llanfyllin Railway on 20 September 1861, was secured by a bidder at the recent country house auction.

Made by Stephen Smith and William Nicholson of Duke Street, London, the wheelbarrow and spade also included a song sheet with lines composed by I. Glan Abel and attracted keen interest from specialist collectors.

“Railway heritage items with this level of provenance always attract great interest from collectors and we were delighted with the price it realised,” said Halls’ fine art director Jeremy Lamond.

It proved a good day for rare and unusual pieces. A Copeland earthenware platter from a service made for HMS Discovery during the British Arctic Expedition of 1875-’76, discovered on Anglesey sold for £1,150.

The platter was made to mark the Expedition led by Admiral Sir George Strong Nares, who where attempting to reach the North Pole via Smith Sound. Two ships, HMS Discovery and HMS Alert, sailed from Portsmouth on May 29, 1875.

There was also a Royal flavour as a boxed piece of wedding cake from the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Accompanied by a range of ceremonial and souvenir programmes, commemorative coins and related stamps, the lot sold for £700.
“It was a lively and well attended auction with some interesting lots which was reflected in the above estimate prices that we achieved,” said Mr Lamond. “The niche market lots in the auction did very well.”