The 500-lot collection – the contents of the British Engineer-ium founded in Hove, West Sussex, 32 years ago – was slated for sale at Bonhams on May 10. Dr Minns ran the museum at the Victorian pumping station until lack of funds forced him to close it earlier this year.
But the day before the sale, businessman and philanthropist Michael Holland, who lives near the Engineerium and who recently saved a local school from closure, came forward with an offer to save the collection, which charts the history of British engineering in the age of steam.
Negotiations continued right up to the sale, when Bonhams brokered the private treaty deal for a substantial undisclosed sum. Mr Holland plans to keep the collection in situ and on public display.
Bonhams broker deal to save steam collection
BONHAMS have brokered a last-minute deal to save the unrivalled Jonathan Minns Collection of Industrial Archaeological Artefacts from being split up.
