Although private collectors did most of the buying, one of the top toys sold to the UK-based Puzzle Museum.
Poorly catalogued as a ‘box of 11 circular metal games, 1 3/4in diameter’ the (4.5cm) diameter glass-fronted brass discs were actually examples of those games where one endeavours to slot all the enclosed ball bearings into the holes.
The hand-held games, probably Victorian, with each disc depicting a different image – an eclectic selection, from the Eiffel Tower to an elephant – were new to Keys specialist Sylvia Cooper but they attracted the attention of the museum which bid £720 for ownership.
The most expensive entries in the sale, which totalled around £80,000, were two sets of officers’ uniforms.
A 10th Royal Hussars uniform including feather-plumed shako, dress jacket, trousers, pouch belt, boots and battle dress was contested to £3800, while a Victorian 12th Lancers uniform realised £2000.
Victorian games go to museum
AS one of Keys of Aylsham's (10% buyer's premium) huge, six-a-year, sales aimed squarely at collectors, the strengths of this 1423-lot outing on June 17-18 lay in toys and militaria.
