Special Auction Services

Pre-war delivery vans advertising commercial brand names have long acquired trophy status in the Dinky toy market.

The story goes that Steiff black mohair bears were produced as mourning bears after the Titanic disaster in April 1912.

The descendants of the original owner, who purchased it new from the maker, Ernst Leitz, are offering this Leica I Anastigmat Camera for sale at Special Auction Services of Newbury.

Cameras and photographic equipment are among the fastest growing categories for Newbury saleroom Special Auction Services.

This Märklin 0 gauge 20 volt electric train is a model of the ‘Earl Marischal’ (no 2002), a LNER P2 Mikado 2-8-2 locomotive built in 1935 to pull passenger trains on the Edinburgh/Aberdeen line.

Special Auction Services of Newbury have been elected to the Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers (SOFAA).

Regional auctioneers are showing their confidence in the future as they embark upon new building projects.

Dealer, collector, author, military historian – Shamus Wade amassed the remarkable collection of toy soldiers and figures which was recently sold at Special Auction Services of Greenham, near Newbury.

This original vintage photograph of Anita Ekberg, best known for her role as Sylvia in the 1960s film ‘La Dolce Vita’, is one of a number taken by celebrated cinematographer and director Jack Cardiff that will go on sale in Newbury at Special Auction Services on July 19.

A rare Märklin ‘first series’ tinplate toy ’HMS Terrible’ was the jewel in the Ron McCrindell collection sold by Special Auction Services of Greenham, near Newbury, on April 20.

The range of British die-casts is so massive that enthusiasts tend to narrow the field and collect either by factory, period, vehicle type, category – or a combination of these. Nostalgia has a big part to play.

THERE is less than a year to go before the Olympic Games return to Britain for the third time and, rest assured, a number of themed auction sales are already in the pipeline.

Special Auction Services (SAS), founded in 1991, is moving to larger premises in October. Currently based in Kennetholme, Midgham, near Reading they are relocating six miles away to New Greenham Park, Newbury.

Specialist auctioneer Andrew Hilton describes the Bear's Grease Manufacturer as 'the Holy Grail of pot lids'.

SPECIAL Auction Services, the West Berkshire auctioneers best known for regular sales of commemoratives and pot lids, are themselves on the market.

Topping a very successful sale by Reading specialists Special Auction Services ( 15% buyer’s premium) on March 12 was this rare brown stoneware spirit flask, left, by Oldfield & Co. Date c.1835 and depicting the then Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. The 9 1/4in (23.5cm) flask sold on its mid-estimate £3000.

PROVING the highlight of the commemoratives offered by Special Auction Services (15% buyer’s premium) in the wake of the Leslie Crowther collection of pot lids and Prattware on June 7 was this George III King and Constitution earthenware beaker.

The primary artistic influence behind the Prattware phenomenon that captivated Victorian society for 40 years was the freelance artist and engraver Jesse Austin (1806-1879).

SINCE moving to premises in Kennetholme, Midgham, Berkshire’s Specialist Auction Services (15% buyer’s premium) have acquired a reputation for selling not just commemoratives and pot lids but also collectable toys.

June saw the fourth and final episode in the dispersal of the Ken Smith Collection of Staffordshire pot lids and Prattware by Reading auctioneers Special Auction Services (15% buyer’s premium inc. vat). The 240 lots from the collection, mainly four items per lot, formed part of the 1000-lot event over the weekend of June 9 & 10 and contributed £47,400 to the hammer total of £207,500 for the whole collection of which only a remarkable 23 lots failed to get away.