They may want to consider a lot coming up at Chippenham Auction Rooms.
On August 17 a rare City of Westminster enamel street sign for Downing Street consigned by a collector will be offered with an estimate of £2000-3000.
But this isn’t the first time a Downing Street sign has sold at auction. In 2013 an apparently less rusty version sold at Summers Place Auctions in Billingshurst, West Sussex, for a huge £31,500. That Downing Street sign was bought by David Soskin, a former special advisor to John Major in the No 10 Policy Unit.
It had been sold off as part of cache of hundreds of signs dispersed on behalf of Westminster City Council, which was upgrading all signposting as part of the Legible London campaign.
Collectors of French signs had a rare chance to buy part of a historic collection in April this year when Lucien auctioned collector Roxane Debuisson’s ensemble of Paris signs in a single-owner sale at Hôtel Drouot.
For collectors who prefer transport to street signs, a Northern Line ‘Way Out To Street’ sign is on offer at Watson’s in Heathfield, East Sussex, with an estimate of £500-600 on August 22. It can be viewed on thesaleroom.com.
Read more about street signs at Antiques Trade Gazette.