Fowler and Doe lead the way at Cheffins Vintage Sale
Fowler and Doe Lead the Way at Cheffins Vintage Sale
If there was a shortage of confidence in the Vintage sales before Saturdays sale there is surely no lack of it now. Whilst one could not say prices had dropped over the last 12 months there had certainly been some uncertainty as the recession took hold. With a quality entry of some very interesting lots Saturday’s sale received some excellent pre-sale enquiries resulting in a strong trade.
The headline lots found new homes and exceeded pre-sale estimates. The only full size steam engine in the sale was arguably the finest restored John Fowler K7 ploughing engine which romped past it’s pre-sale estimate of £100-120,000 to achieve £139,000 (plus 5% BP).
The buyers are new to steam but are not unfamiliar to the sight of steam engines coming as they do from Stourpane!
The headline tractor was the 1962 Doe Triple D which was the much loved property of the recently deceased and well known Doe expert Alwyn Blatherwick. Spirited bidding saw the tractor eventually selling to a local enthusiast who lives a few miles from Alwyn’s base for £61,000, so back home it went to Nottinghamshire.
No-one could possible dispute the quality of the restoration achieved for Lot 2434 the 1953 David Brown 50D. The attention to detail was faultless and it was sold to an Irish enthusiast for £43,000. Some 220 tractors were on offer and over 170 found new homes, a selling rate of 75%. With many vendors being very realistic with reserves, selling prices often easily exceeded the reserve price and there was lots of bidding on almost all the tractors.
Other prices of note were the excellent County 1184 (ex Forestry Commission) at £19,600, County 1124 Super Six £12,700, beautifully restored OTA Mk1 at £2,700, which found a new home in New York State! Something the Americans will not have seen before. 1958 Massey Ferguson Mk1 rowcrop £3,800, 1953 Field Marshall Series III A – £12,800. A very original Caterpillar D6C in very good order was bought by a well known Bedfordshire collector after some spirited bidding for an impressive £9,000.
The Vehicle Section was complemented by the very rare 1965 Roadless Land Rover, in original and good running order and was sold to a telephone bidder for £12,000 and is headed to the Emerald Isle.
A trio of 2 Scammells and a Foden from a deceased’s Estate caused much pre-sale interest with a 1952 Scammell generator truck (conversion) ex Radcliffe, Sussex called ‘Old Faithful’ (probably referring to it’s indefatigable Gardner 6LW engine) made £13,500, a 1956 Scammell winch tractor, £7,800 and a 1936 Foden STG5 timber tractor £13,200.
The marquee served up an eclectic range of starters in the form of automobilia and literature amongst which the most noteworthy items were a fine Mille Miglia entrants Chopard watch at £800, a quantity of the ever popular Profile publications on cars at £200 and a fine framed collection of car retailers dash plaques which were eagerly chased to an eventual £380. A nice Vanwall style pedal car took £250 whilst a Norton “doll’s head” gearbox made £300 and some associated girder forks sold at £220. Enamel signs sold well with a Duckhams version at £180, Dominion Petrol made £240 and a small but wonderful “Lennards for Good Boots & Shoes” stole the show at £460.
Petrol pump glass globes were popular with several examples sold and an Esso Extra led the way at £380.
The main course of motorcycles and two cars were polished off eagerly by the large crowd creating a virtual sell out. A 1951 Vincent Comet took £9,600, and close behind was a nicely original 1913 New Hudson 500cc single at £8,600, the 1968 Triumph T120R was superb and deserved its £6,000 hammer price. A very tidy American import 1949 MG TC requiring UK registration was hotly contested both in the room and on the phone to a healthy £16,200 whilst the 1970 Mk2 Lotus Cortina, driven to the sale, drove away to its new home for £7,900.
Next door, the building saw its 550 lots of agricultural literature, models and spares equally sought after, the early steam catalogues made consistently good prices with examples from Foster at £290, Robey & Co. £160, Dewrance also at £160 and a later Marshall example at £100. Tractor literature fared well with a 1915 Whiting Bull catalogue taking £240 which was eclipsed by the £300 for the 1920 British Wallis catalogue. One vendors hard work of amassing 2,500 colour slides of steam engines and tractors paid off with a £380 hammer price whilst a quantity of International brochures sold at £360 and an album of Burrell photos took £420. The models had a good following with a scale Hercules gas engine making £680, a 4” scale Ransomes stationary baler sold for £2,400 and an exhibition grade ¾” scale Foden steam lorry made an extraordinary £4,400. Both sales saw better than a 95% sale rate showing that there is no loss of appetite in the collectors market when a good bill of fare is well presented .
The new sale 4a kicked off at 1pm with a good entry of ploughs and an interesting array of implements. Top prices of the day went to a John Deere single furrow ride on plough at £300, a painted Ferguson 2furrow plough made £320, Ransomes Elite 2furrow trailed plough made a ressounding £740, a Ransomes 6furrow GP trailed plough hit the button at £1,400 and a P & O Sulky 2furrow ride-on plough with a lovely patina made £780. Ferguson and Massey Ferguson implements were hotly contested as usual with a very original trailed seed drill making £460, a potato planter at £270, a very original 712 manure spreader spreader hitting £520, a very nice 3ton tipping trailer at £620 and the real surprise went to a 3.5t Ferguson trailer in what can only be described as being in ‘unloved’ condition making a huge £800! Other top honours in this section went to an Eagles of Warwick pole trailer at £1,000, a Crowland horse gig made £400 and a Pettit 4ton high lift trailer at £440.
Sale 4 heaved with over 550 lots of spares and prices soared with a quantity of Ferguson plough parts making £360, pair 11x32 tractor tyres at £300, Ransomes YL plough spares topping out at £580, a sought after metal half-track conversion kit for a MF 135/35 made an impressive £1,100, an International 414 bonnet made £310 and a pair of rear tyres for an International W9 knocked down at £400. David Brown, Roadless, Ford and Fordson spares were in demand again with some David Brown round mudguards making £420, Roadless 4wd box for a Fordson Major at £500, a pair of Roadless front wheel centres made £420, a Fordson raised pto hit £400 and a very original Boughton HDW2 winch made £720.
Sale 3 had an impressive line up of stationary engines many of which were restored to a high standard and reflected in the bidding. First up was a nicely restored 1923 Ruston & Hornsby 7hp open crank which had been restored from a very original state and knocked down at £2,500. Other top prices went to a Petter ‘Apple’ top at £660, a single cylinder open crank steam engine had good interest at £460, a Lister Type R 9bhp engine made £760, Lister P 7hp engine mounted on a trolley hit £1150, an Amanco 2.5hp open crank stationary engine made £640, a very smart Allan 11hp lamp start engine topped out at £4,300 and a Bamford Tulip Top stationary made £1,000.
All sections had a notetable entry of quality and a high selling rate all of which culminated into very enjoyable day with some very happy vendors.
