The auction house’s saleroom premises and fixtures and fittings are up for sale.
The firm was set up around 15 years ago by Phil Aston and his son Chris, specialising in toys and collectables after they started out selling on eBay. Phil retired in 2016 and Chris has been running the business since.
However, now the pair have decided to close the firm and Chris is relocating to the French Alps.
Chris said: “We set up an eBay account in the late 1990s and the first-ever item we sold was one of my dad’s Scalextric cars which went to a bidder in the States.
“We became addicted to buying and selling over the following few years to the point where I quit my physics degree at Warwick University and my dad quit his job as a university lecturer so we could run our eBay business full-time. This lasted around four years and then in 2004 we decided to set up our own auction room.
“After having had the pleasure of selling more than £15m worth of collectable toys
we have now reluctantly made the decision to close Aston’s Auctioneers.”
Palitoy Star Wars Jawa – estimate £5000- 10,000 at Aston’s final sale.
The auction on October 29 is the third and final sale from a huge collection of sci-fi toys stored in a garage and house in Stourbridge.
The collection, rescued from being thrown in a skip, had been stored in black bin bags. Among the lots is a rare Palitoy Star Wars Jawa figure with vinyl cape (as opposed to the cloth cape) which is estimated at £5000-10,000 (above).
The Grade II listed saleroom, Baylies Hall, is kitted out with display cabinets, a rostrum, high speed internet connection and jewellery safes.
Enquiries regarding the sale of the premises can be made to phil@astonsauctioneers.co.uk
