Topping the July 17 sale was a standard 3ft (92cm) wide totem for Portobello, the station for Edinburgh’s coastal suburb which closed in 1964. Estimated at £300-400, it sold to an Edinburgh bidder at £1900.
Regional pride among private buyers was a major force throughout the collection which totalled £17,100 overall – double the pre-sale estimate.
Redcar East totem sign– £1700 at McTear’s.
A North Eastern Railways totem for the North Yorkshire seaside town of Redcar East went to a north of England buyer at a five-times estimate £1700; a Southern Railways example for Welling in south-east London went back to southern England similarly above estimate at £1700 and a Western Railways totem for Cheltenham Spa (Malvern Road) went to a Midlands buyer at £1500.
This totem sign for Yeovil Pen Mill station, which opened in 1854 between Castle Cary and Weymouth, was estimated at £500- 700 at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (23% buyer’s premium) in Exeter on August 12. It sold for £1450.
