Classic toys up for auction in Chippenham (From Wiltshire Times)

Classic toys up for auction in Chippenham

11:00am Tuesday 17th November 2009 in News By Gazette Reporter

Toys from as far back as the turn of the last century will go into an auction in Chippenham next week.

A collection of more than 100 train sets, a staple Christmas favourite amongst boys in the past has come into The Chippenham Auction Rooms with some of the examples being extremely rare indeed.

In among the piles of toy train boxes at The Chippenham Auction Rooms are some real gems, including a rare Marklin model that is circa 1900.

This model, complete with original carriages, is expected to make £400 to £600 and there will be a further 100 lots of train sets and model train parts.

The trains have come in as part of one mans collection and it wasn’t just train sets that he had a passion for.

The gentleman originally from Wotton Bassett has passed away leaving his family with the task of selling on the vast eclectic collection that has been gathered over the last 40 years.

The collection also consists of 100 original Film reels and posters, dozens of photographs of The Royal family and stars of stage and screen, hundreds of Sports programmes, and a vast amount of Stamps, coins and medals, some from the First World War.

Richard Edmonds of The Chippenham Auction Rooms will be the man responsible for selling all of this.

He said: "Some of the things we are finding as we try to catalogue are incredible.

"He bought a lot of it at auctions and it is interesting to see what they will raise for the family now that they have come back on to the market."

"One of the interesting lots is the film reels. We have John Wayne films as they would have been originally played in the cinema back in 1967 when Forty Guns to Apache pass was first released and then we move on 30 years with a load of trailers including Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

"He really was an avid collector. Somebody may even snap up a Christmas gift for a loved one."

The auction will take place at The Chippenham Auction Rooms saleroom, Unit H, Ivy Road Industrial Estate, Chippenham, SN15 1SB on Saturday November 21.