Aviation, Military & Transport

The sale held on Friday 18 May included many highlights. The James Venn Collection of Railway Photographs (Lot 603) included approximately 1750 black & white photograph negatives all circa 1930-1960 and were of the highest quality selling for £4400 (Est. £500-800).

The aviation art section included three unsigned lithographs by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889-1946), Assembling Parts £2200, Banking at 4000 Feet £5200, Swooping Down on a Taube £3800 (Est. £700-1000 each)

A rather unusual lot consigned to the sale was 767 The Historic Green Avro Hangar, originating in the United States of America in 1917, it was shipped over to Alexandra Park near Manchester which was used as an Aircraft Acceptance Park (AAP). The hangar was primarily used by Avro to ship sub-structures, build up Avro 504s, flight test and formerly hand over the finished product to the Royal Flying Corps or Royal Naval Air Service. After the war it was moved to Woodford airfield near Stockport and here it stayed until about 10 years ago when the vendor purchased it. The hangar was dismantled and kept in a container in Oxfordshire. The hangar sold for £100,000 against an estimate of £100,000-150,000.

Other highlights in the Aviation Memorabilia section included lot 777 a section of a tail fin from a Bf110 which was discovered in the beams of an attic in Dorset. The owner had purchased the house from a gardener who had served in the Home Guard during WWII and this was believed to be a "War Souvenir" it sold for £5000 (Est. £2000-3000), and a pair of dolly wheels from a Messerschmitt Me163 Komet sold above estimate for £2300 (Est. £1000-1500).

There were several mixed lots of Imperial Airways ephemera included which all did extremely well including a carton of over 500 photographs of various aircraft both exterior and interior views (lot 811) the estimate was £500-800 and it sold for £3200.

The arms, medals and militaria section included a large collection of Indo-Persian weapons which included shields, edged weapons and helmets, the highlight of the section was lot 973 an 18th century Turkish Miquelet long gun, inlaid with ivory and embellished with mosaic work and "jewels" this sold way above the estimate of £2000-3000 selling to a telephone bidder for £18,000.

Other highlights included a four barrel flintlock pistol by the London gun maker Isaac Riviere £5000 (Est. £1200-1500),

plus a pair of Queen Anne cannon barrel pistols by J. Johnson of Wigan £5100 (Est £3000-5000).

Victorian medals are always popular and a Waterloo medal to a private in the King's German Legion sold for £1600 (Est. £1500-2000),

a Zulu medal sold for £520 (Est. £400-500),

whilst a very unusual Turkish Crimea medal named to a Private who rode with the 17th Lancers and was wounded during the charge sold for £1300 (Est. £500-800).

The next sale will be in November for more information please contact Henry Meadows on 01285 860006 or henry@dominicwinter.com