C is for C&T Auctions - Forthcoming 12th December 'James Opie' Sale - Catalogue

Just a quick reminder that the catalogue for next Wednesday's sale is now available; ring +44 (0) 1233 510050, it is also available to be viewed online in either of two formats at the other ends of the below links.

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James Opie’s Pre-Auction Newsletter No. 10

 

Sale is on Wednesday 12^th December 2018 10.00 a.m.

Dear Collector,

My 10th C & T Auction, now online, is a full 600 lots with no gaps! It is now available, including nearly all the pictures, on www.the-saleroom.com. As usual we are also offering an online ‘flick-through’ version of the catalogue on the C & T website www.candtauctions.co.uk. This gives you easy access to the additional information included in the hard copy catalogue that doesn’t show up online on the auction site. Just go to the C & T website and click on “latest catalogues”.

There are 2,780 photographs, showing more than 14,200 items in the 600 lots. There are no gaps, but the subject sections are a little more complicated than usual, as I had to full some subjects into more than one position, and I wanted to keep the Arthur Smith collection together.

CONTENTS OF THE 600 LOT SALE:                                                                      

Britains and British Hollowcast Toy Soldiers:                                                                              

Early, pre-1918 (1 to 49, 160 to 175 and 382) 66 lots

Golden Age 1919-1941 (37 to 124, 176 to 204 and 477 to 499) 216 lots

Twilight of Hollowcast 1945-1966(122 to 202, 560 to 577 and 4 others) 67 lots

Britains New and other toy soldiers (250 to 299 and nine others) 59 lots

Britains and other Civilian figures (300 to 351 and 384) 52 lots

CJB Vehicles (Lots 361 to 365) 5 lots

French and German Toy Soldiers (381, 386 to 469 and 472 to 476) 90 lots

Courtenay Medieval Models (357 and 470 to 471) 3 lots

Military Models (Lots 500 to 504) 5 lots

Skybird (Lots 505 to 559) 55 lots

Plastic Toy Soldiers and Figures (371 to 377 and 578 to 600) 30 lots

As usual, the hard copy catalogue is also available online. The best way to look at the highlights of the sale is to take particular note of those lots I have chosen to illustrate, which in my opinion are the most interesting. Some of the many highlights are on the outside and inside of the cover at the front and back. 

Remember that you can bid online via the Saleroom.com (3% + VAT extra for this service), or you can place bids by telephone, e-mail or by the form in the back of the catalogue (please check to ensure they have been received) +44 (0) 1233 510050. You can also order hard copy catalogues on this number. The dollar continues to be at an advantageous exchange rate.

PLEASE do not send bids to my email addresses on the day before or the day of the sale, as I will not be able to transfer them.  Send instead to enquiries@candtauctions.co.uk, and the bids will be entered. Any queries about the content can be answered at my normal email jamesopie@yahoo.co.uk, or on my ‘phone: +44 (0) 20 7794 7447 (except day before and day of sale).

This catalogue features

THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE ARTHUR SMITH    Arthur was a Fellow of the BMSS, a keen modeller, painter and collector.

Lots 318 to 381 and 386 to 392

(Article re. CJB on SSW last week).

THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE PAT CAMPBELL part II, including the DELHI DURBAR

Lots 261 to 299

(Article on SSW last week).

THE DEREK GOLDBERG SKYBIRD COLLECTION 

Lots 505 to 55

 (Article and Highlights on SSW previously and last week).

SALE HIGHLIGHTS

Now to come to the highlights of this sale. In hollowcast Britains, the early section is yet larger than in the last catalogue, and there are some more gems, such as a complete blue jacketed mounted Band of the Life Guards, boxed rocking horse Omdurman 21^st Lancers and Middlesex Yeomanry, and a boxed Dr Jameson and the African Mounted Infantry.

Lot 23

Apart from 66 lots of early Britains, in this sale there are 216 lots of Britains manufactured between the wars, from four substantial collections. A number of rare items are included here also, starting with lot 88, the Welsh Guards. As the Welsh Guards were only formed in 1915, there weren’t any pre-war sets by Britains, and they only did their first issue of them in 1927, in one of the small two row display sets they were trying out at the time. Perhaps because they were a non-standard set and a bit more expensive, they were unpopular and didn’t feature in many collections. They are also somewhat difficult to spot if not in their box, as Britains seemed to be in some doubt as to how to paint them. Apart from the regular white plume with a green horizontal stripe in the centre, I have also seen them with a red plume on the left hand side, which would be the same as the not yet issued Canadian Governor General’s Foot Guards. In the set we have here, the only one I have yet come across in an original box, the plume has the green stripe of the plume left off, so they seem as though they are Grenadiers!  The figure count and type is right, however.