As usual, most of the 780 lots were aimed at collectors and dealers on three-figure budgets and priced accordingly – hence a very satisfactory 92 per cent success rate and a total of more than £65,000.
The catalogue itself was equally shrewdly organised – the potential star, a rare Kammer & Reinhardt bisque head doll with blue millefiore sleeping eyes was given the catalogue colour illustration and estimated at £3000-4000.
With its blonde wig on original joint composition body, lace-trimmed silk dress and matching bonnet, the 2ft 2in (66cm) doll was a specialist buy at £3800.
Other dolls included a boxed set of 3in (7.5cm) all-bisque German dolls’ house figures, c.1920, with fixed glass eyes, plaited wigs and jointed composition bodies with dresses and painted shoes, which doubled the lower estimate at £740.
What can only be a brief glance through a pretty comprehensive offering might give dealers and collectors some idea of current prices.
Biscuit tins: a casket-shaped Peak Freans example – £220. Tinplate: a battered Gunthermann Silver Bullet car in equally battered box, £440 and a pre-1939 Hausser Mercedes Wermacht staff car at a surprise £900. Die cast: A Chad Valley Fordson Dextra tractor and a Corgi No.40 two-vehicle Avengers set, each at £320. Model railways: 0-gauge very early Bing live steam set of loco and two carriages in original box, £520; 00-gauge Hornby Dublo 3232 Co-Co diesel loco and boxed brick viaduct, £200, and an N-gauge lot of six Minitrix and Peco locos at £300. Railwayana: BR posters Ireland by R. Lampitt, 3ft 4in by 4ft 2in (1.01 x 1.24m) at £420 and Bexhill-on-Sea, 3ft 4 by 2ft 1in (1.01m x 62cm) at £360. Miscellanea: a 1950s battery-powered painted wood rocket boat by Kokusai Mokei in original box, £380 and two 1851 Great Exhibition paper peepshows at £500.
Andrew Hartley, Ilkley, March 22
Buyer’s premium: 10 per cent + Vat
Pretty blue eyes woo specialists to Yorkshire toy and doll sale
THIS Saturday sale was one of the series of dolls and toys specialist events extending the West Yorkshire auctioneers’ Andrew Harley's reputation in the niche market beyond the more frequent antiques events.
