Vectis Auctions

A look at the Mike Linham Fire Engine Collection – Tuesday 20^th October

Collecting is a personal journey about what appeals to you or fits in with your existing ensemble. Some people concentrate on a specific manufacturer or sub group such as Matchbox Models of Yesteryear, other collect by scale, 1/12th for example. One of the most popular way of collecting is by genre such as military, farm related or emergency service models.

Mike Linham falls into the latter category choosing the Fire Service as his central focus of his troop amassed over many years. Vectis auctions will be offering this interesting and wide-ranging collection of several thousand pieces in its auction on Tuesday 20^th October.

Included are models produced around the globe UK, USA, Japan and German where they are referred to as Fire Engines, Fire Trucks or even Fire Lorries. Historical models include authentic horse drawn Fire Engines based on those from the mid-19^th century when the progressive water pumps transported by a set of horses revolutionised response times for emergencies.

By the 1920’s inventions such as telescopic ladders, turntables and aerial platforms mounted on trucks provided better access to far corners and high buildings saving many lives. There are several superb Marklin reproduction examples of these 1920’s – 30 vehicles in the sale, in boxed, near mint condition. Looking to the future there is even futuristic fire vehicles and rockets.

There are further examples in tinplate, pressed steel, diecast and plastic spanning decades of toy production. Dinky Toys famously made in Binns Road in Liverpool can be desirable in themselves and there is a strong selection in the sale including a rare Dinky 25h (250) Streamlined Fire Engine Trade Pack containing 6 examples -finished in bright red, including ridged hubs with black smooth tyres and silver ladders, all complete with bells. Early Dinky toys did not come in individual boxes but were delivered to retailers in trade packs, generally of six pieces. To find a complete one is unusual which is why this lot 3313 has a pre-sale estimate of £280 - £320.

Presentation sets also include multi- vehicles but these were created on a theme and sold as a set, it is exceptionally rare to find these in complete order. Added to this fact that they would not have been produced in great numbers as the retail prices of the sets would have been outside the reach of most family’s pockets in post war Britain. Lot 3358 Dinky Set No.6 "Commercial Vehicles" includes 5 pieces - 25h Fire Engine red including ladders, black ridged hubs and smooth tyres, with bell; 29b Streamlined Bus grey with blue flashes, black ridged hubs with smooth tyres; 29c Double Decker Bus in two-tone grey, red, black ridged hubs and smooth tyres; 30e Breakdown Truck in red including jib with hook, black ridged hubs and smooth tyres and 30f "Ambulance" with cream body, black chassis and ridged hubs with smooth tyres, red crosses to sides and has a pre-sale estimate of £1400 – 1600. There are other similar set with figures included in lot numbers 3359 and 3360.

There are examples from other quality toy manufacturers such as Schuco, Linemar, and Chad Valley plus more obscure ones such as Horikawa, Yonezawa and SSS Toys. As children’s minds developed so did the ingenuity of toy producers with clockwork, friction drive action, working ladders and moving turntables being added. There are even models with fire bell sounds and a later talking version.

More novelty items in the sale include a Bradgate Trumpton Fire Engine based on the well-loved Gordon Murray stop motion picture TV series from 1967 which is completer with Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb. If you would like to create the Fire Station for the Trumpton Fire Service then lot number 3196 would allow you to do this with the marvellous boxed kit.

If you wobble but never fall down you might be an ideal candidate to be a Fire Officer as is the Weeble in lot number 3124, made by Airfix in the 1970’s which has to be my favourite of the sale, which goes to prove the point that collecting is a very individual thing different for everyone.

This collection is sure to ignite interest as it offers such a great variety with many talking points.

For more information contact David Bowers This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call +44 (0) 1642 750616.

The Mike Linham Fire Engine Collection held on the 20^th of October featured over 600 lots of boxed and unboxed models, including Fire Engines, Fire Chief cars and vehicles, Station houses, boats and Horse Drawn wagons. The collection included scarce models, sets, presentation sets, trade boxes and kits and includes tinplate, plastic, pressed steel, and diecast. Manufacturers included Marklin, Schuco, Mettoy, Timpo, Chad Valley, Charles Rossignol, Hubley, and Lego plus Corgi, Dinky, Triang Spot-On, Lledo and many others.

The Specialist sale held on the 24th of September featured The Doug Osborn Matchbox Dinky collection, 477 lots of boxed and unboxed models. The collection included pre-production Trial models, unreleased, unpainted and unusual variation models, plus, promotional variations, R&D Staff Signed models, colour trials and code 2 models. The collection also included Gift Sets and pewter models, plus collection books, reissues, and Atlas Editions. The sale also featured 67 lots of Matchbox Yesteryears from the Matchbox Retailer Collection and further items from other vendors including Matchbox, Dinky, Corgi and others.

The Model Train sale held on the 25^th of September started with almost 200 lots of OO Gauge British Outline from Hornby, Bachmann Lima and others, and included a Single Owner Collection. The sale continued with HO American Continental Outline, N Gauge, Hoe, Hornby Dublo 2-, and 3-rail plus Xrail and Acho. The sale also included Wrenn, Triang, Triang TT, OO Gauge Kit/Kitbuilt, Live Steam, and O Gauge from Hornby and others; the sale concluded with Books, Magazines, Catalogues & Railwayana and our usual good selection of General Trains.

The Specialist sale which was held on the 22^nd September held no fewer than 10 private owner collections. Dinky models featured heavily in this sale with variations from Dinky Dublo, Atlas Editions, French Dinky, and Pre-war models, these and other models could be found in The St Martins Bay Collection, The Kent Collection, The Dinky Ex-Shop Stock Collection, The Canadian Collection, The Devonshire Collection, and The Germany Collection. Corgi road and racing vehicles, commercials and Chipperfield circus models were found in The County Durham Collection, and The Birmingham Collection, whilst The West Yorkshire Collection and The Cheshire Collection featured Triang Spot-On, Matchbox, Tekno, Solido, Lansdowne, Minichamps and many more.