Not a one-horse race

10th October 2026

 

This time of year at Hartleys the sales seem to come thick and fast, with our October 10^th Toy Sale, the Wine Sale just over the horizon and the Fine Sale proving a monumental end point of our working calendar. With the first hurdle completed on Saturday and as toys and collectables begin to file out of our saleroom to new homes and in some cases new countries, we can take a brief moment to reflect on some of the many wonderful highlights.

The dolls and teddies kicked off the day, with their own hopeful faces and a long history of childhood happiness. The section sold well as a whole, with most lots finding a new family and my favourite, a smartly and brightly dressed felt Mozart by Lenci making £260.

One of the more intriguing sections came next, with an offering of celebrity autographs and film ephemera. A signed Schumacher racing balaclava sold well at £320, and a rare poster from 1968 of “Bullitt” staring heart throb Steve McQueen made £400. But the best of this mini section was an eclectic collection of autographs pulled from two folders that made a collective total of £3,020, this covered names such as the Duke of Wellington, the Churchill family, David Lloyd George, Laurel and Hardy and others, with the best single signature, the hand of Benito Mussolini, making £230.

The miscellaneous section followed, filled with all the fun items that do not quite fit into a larger defined section, including both the “modern” and the antique. A single Pokemon card of Mew, a special addition given out to those who attended the 1999 film release, made £120, and a beautifully inlaid Sentchordi Hermanos Spanish classical guitar made £380. But the crown of the section and the best price in the whole auction was lot 162, a Victorian rocking horse, on a long scroll tipped rocker, painted in dappled grey and oozing with the patina of age. We have found out that it is thought to have originated from the workshop of Paul Leach, from Euston Road in London. With all this history it soared, with interest from the net, room and phones to a hammer total of £6,800.

One of my favourite sections followed, with the tin plate lots and a large number of clockwork oddities. A wind-up Kingsbury Golden Arrow speed record car made £320, and wonderfully complete Meccano constructor Car Set No1 still fitted within its box made £360, and a rare Gray Dunn & Co. delivery van biscuit tin made a cracking £560. But the best of the tin plate was seen from a very stylish motorbike, found and rescued from miscellaneous lots brought in for our weekly sale, a Mettoy clockwork AA Motorcycle Patrol, that even with its guide wheels missing made £1050.

The sale held a great range of diecast lots this October, from the modern such as Sunstar and Minichamps, right to the classic offerings of Corgi and Dinky. A great little Corgi 268 Black Beauty Green Hornet car in lovely condition made £120, a Corgi 267 Batmobile with Batman and Robin figures fetched £170, a Dinky Racing Cars Gift Set No4 with five race cars made £190 and a Corgi Gift set No16 Ecurie Ecosse Racing Car Transporter made a healthy £200. But the item that made the room hush, was a mixed lot of heavily playworn cars with a mixture of manufacturers that rocketed well past our expectation to £850. The buyer, whilst excitedly collecting the lot, pointed out one chipped and weathered Hot Wheels roadster within the lot that was the reason for all the excitement; scary stuff when the market is roaring for items from my own childhood!

The real “big boys toys” now came up for sale with the live steam section, because nothing says “toys” like combustion! A serious and early 'A' frame model steam engine of unknown origin, possibly never made to be a toy, but instead a small engine to run a workshop made £340, a smart and boxed Mamod steam powered General red bus reached £560, and a great Wilesco D32 Electric Steam Plant (a rarer model than most) made a hammer total of £680.

On we rolled into the train section, with a large offering of kit built and high-quality O-gauge trains, which saw a spirit fired Freelance 4-4-0 tank locomotive make £190, a Kit built brass locomotive LNER b1 Blacktail make the same and a Kit built brass locomotive GWR Class 28xx hit the high note at £460. Following the trains came the last section of the auction, the large-scale train, transport and advertising items; a real mix of lots and the sorts of items that you would want adorning the walls of any respectable “man cave”.  The best of the bunch was a Hunslet locomotive plate that made £200, a Yorkshire Penny Bank enamel sign that made £230 and a plaster cast coal delivery man advertising figure, 'Coal for comfort', heavily weather but also very rare that made a brilliant £520.

The sale was a great success with 95% of the lots presented finding new homes and a collective hammer total almost 10% above our overall top estimate! But there is no time to dwell as the show goes on and work starts for our Wine Sale on November 21^st as well as the Fine Sale that closes for entries at the end of the month. We already have our sale calendar ready for 2027 and we are already happily inviting toys for our next event.