Speedboat and Sportscar from the pilot episode of ‘The Investigator’ to be offered at Vectis Auctions on Thursday 26^th September.

Gerry Anderson is forever associated with "supermarionation" - a sophisticated form of puppetry. Having had numerous successes with Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet, amongst others he planned on releasing a new series based around two inexperienced but dedicated teenagers, trained by a mysterious alien intelligence with unknowable powers to tackle international espionage, environmental disasters and political corruption. Sounds like it had a huge amount of potential for mystery, suspense and action, however, for a variety of reasons including the concept being "too far-fetched" and problems with some of the models, the show never went into full production. It was seen as a rare failure for Anderson, who had enjoyed phenomenal success with his previous 18 successful shows.

The two vehicles in the sale where created for the 1973 pilot episode, shot on location in Malta.  The first is a speed boat, in one sixth scale which had to be towed for the live action sequences in the twenty-three-minute pilot episode. The red, eight-wheeled sports car is radio controlled and fitted with a petrol fuelled motor-bike engine. Both were designed by Reg Hill and manufactured by Space Models of Feltham, who had made many of the props for Gerry Anderson's other productions, including Thunderbirds. The Investigator was to be the final Supermarionation production for Anderson. Three Thunderbirds voices were used- Peter Dyneley (Jeff Tracy) as The Investigator, Shane Rimmer (Scott Tracy) as John and Sylvia Anderson (Lady Penelope) as Julie.

Vectis have previously sold toy protype vehicles produced by the iconic British toymaker Dinky, which were to be marketed alongside the show. Unfortunately, the toy line was also moth balled and therefore these are also incredibly scarce.

These two pieces are extremely rare examples of TV and Film history.

Both the car and the boat have pre-sale estimates of £3,600 to £4,600 each.

For more information please contact Kathy Taylor or Andrew Reed on +44 (0) 1642 750616 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

JM

The Specialist sale held on the 1^st of October started at the earlier time of 10am to incorporate the 819 lots, which included boxed and unboxed Dinky, including French, Spanish and pre-war; Corgi, Triang Spot-On, EFE, plus others. Lots included Military vehicles, buses and coaches, lorries and wagons, road and racing cars, construction, fire and farm vehicles. Corgi models included gift sets and Chipperfield Circus. The sale also included TV and Film related models, Corgi Aviation Archive and Airfix plastic kits.

The Tony Hillman Collection, featured 129 lots of cinema and film lobby cards and stills, Star Wars press books and literature, Photoplay and other monthly film magazine groups including Empire, Film and Picture Show etc; plus movie posters and production notes, film scripts and screenplays.

“The collection started in 1955 when on holiday in Great Yarmouth I got the idea of collecting autographs, the first ones being Ronnie Ronald, The Beverly Sisters and Charlie Chester. Returning home to Birmingham every Saturday evening I’d go to the Hippodrome and wait at the stage door for autographs of the variety artists, getting anyone who came out so my first books were mainly of unknown names. I rarely went to the other city theatre, the Alexander, which did plays, as at that time I didn’t know of many actors but I did get Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.

As I got older and more knowledgeable about actors, I started doing trips to London to get top names and by that time I’d started building up a collection of film magazines and books and bits and pieces scrounged from cinema managers

By the late 60’s and being in a dead-end job and with my interest in the cinema I decided to try for a job in the industry and got one in the publicity department of Classic Cinemas based in London’s West End.  Being close to the theatres and hotels made it easy at times for getting top names, such as one evening after a few minutes wait at Claridge’s getting Bing Crosby then a walk around the corner and getting Fred Astaire coming out of the Athenaeum, while at other times it could be a long fruitless wait.

Contacts in the distributor’s publicity departments helped build up “Classics” stills collection and mine until in 1974 Classic’s head office was closed. I asked what was going to happen to the publicity material and was told to help myself, so I did, taking the lot,

After moving North in the early 70’s I started writing a film column for a local magazine and doing research on films made in the North East and the film actors born in the region. I put the information to use by doing talks for various groups and when it was the “Centenary of the Cinema” I got six plaques for the region and put my collection to use by mounting a good number of exhibitions.

It’s now come to the point to thin some of the collection down and hope that it will give enjoyment to some other collectors."

The collection was part of the 26^th Septembers TV and Film Related sale held at Vectis Auctions, Thornaby.

The Model Train sale held on the 27^th of September featured OO Gauge British Outline including ex shop stock from Hornby (China) and Bachmann, plus other locomotives, coaches and wagons from Heljan, Dapol, Lima and Airfix; HO USA & Continental Outline from Roco, Marklin and Liliput; N Gauge from Dapol and Graham Farish, plus Hornby Dublo 2- and 3-rail boxed and unboxed models and accessories. The sale also included Wrenn, Trix/Liliput, OO Gauge Kit and Kitbuilt, O Gauge and Accessories from Hornby, plus others. There were three private owner collections, including two further Japanese/Korean Brass Sunset models; Part 2 of a Single Owner G Gauge Collection; Part 4 of the Lawrence Scale Models OO Gauge Single Owner Collection and The Pontypool Collection featuring O Gauge models from Bassett Lowke and similar, Hornby and Lionel, plus others. The sale also included Gauge 1 & Larger, G Gauge, Meccano & Other Constructional Toys, Live Steam, Catalogues, Books, Magazines, and our usual good selection of General Trains.