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.
This exceptional 2ft 1in (62cm)
spirit-fired, steam-propelled model of the British battleship,
which was involved in the relief of Ladysmith in 1899 and served in
the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, was made at the height of the
Göppingen factory's creative genius c.1904. Save some minor
replacements and the absence of the lifeboats, it was in
exceptional condition.
It was pictured in David Pressland's 1976
book The Art of the Tin Toy and appeared in the 2010
Toy Boats exhibition at the National Maritime
Museum. The vendor, a pioneer of toy collecting in the UK who died
last year aged 91, was also filmed firing her up for a run on
Hampstead Ponds as part of a 1972 BBC programme titled Ron
McCrindell's Toys.
Special Auction Services had estimated it at
£40,000-60,000, but on the day it sold to a Belgium telephone
bidder at £76,000.
While tinplate boats have made more in the
US (a Märklin model of the cruise liner the Lusitania c.1909
sold for $160,000/£106,650 as part of the Forbes collection at
Sotheby's in December 2011), SAS toy specialist Hugo Marsh believes
it is the most expensive single tinplate toy to be sold in the
UK.
May 12 sees perhaps the finest collection of German tinplate
boats go under the gavel when Bertoia Auctions of Vineland,
Pennsylvania, sell the Richard T. Claus collection of nautical
toys.
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