Sold on thesaleroom.com: A rare Airfix model, a Spode cup and saucer fit for the Titanic and the Ericsson ‘grinder’

A White Star Line Spode cup and saucer

A section of maritime antiques offered at Adam Partridge in Liverpool on July 1 included an otherwise pedestrian early 20^th century Spode cup and saucer.

In most guises this demitasse blue ground and gilt piece would command perhaps £10-20 but this one carries the registered number 580303, the pattern number R4332, the marks of the Liverpool retailer Stonier & So and magical words White Star Line. To the saucer is the monogram for the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company.

Spode created a number of designs for White Star (the pattern books list the first in 1899) but this particular design (R4332) was the most luxurious and was introduced in 1911 for use on the grandest ships of the day. Importantly, this is the pattern believed to have been used in the First Class dining rooms on the Titanic, the Olympic and the Majestic.

Pieces have been recovered from the Titanic wreck site (together with other ceramics in other patterns by other manufacturers).

Others, such as this, were sold at the time as White Star souvenirs, given as gifts by the company, or remained in use until the Olympic was broken up in 1935 at the time of the merger with Cunard.

The knowledge that several have been offered at auction before – including that sold by Bonhams in 2011 for £3500 – made the estimate of £80-120 appear somewhat modest. However, the hammer price of £8400, bid via thesaleroom.com, may be a record.

A rare Ericsson phone for the Swedish market

Estimated at just £60-80, a rare Ericsson telephone sold for £10,500 at Wessex Auction Rooms in Chippenham.

It was bought by a collector via thesaleroom.com.

This relic from the early days of telecommunications had arrived for sale in filthy but seemingly wholly original condition. Key to its appeal was the wording to the case LM Ericsson Co. Stockholm.

The phone was a model made only for the Swedish market. Patented in October 1895, it features the same magneto technology as the better-known Ericsson ‘skeleton’ (or Eiffel Tower) but in this case the mechanism is hidden inside a metal case. This outer shell expanded the range of decorative possibilities – allowing for the lithographed ‘boulle’ style decoration.

It was commonly known as ‘the grinder’ as, once the crank inductor was added (missing in this photograph but included in the lot), it resembled a coffee grinding machine. While deemed very rare, other examples of the grinder have been offered for sale in continental Europe in the past decade with prices more typically around €5000.

The sale took place on June 27.

An Airfix Attack Force battle scene gift set

Toys from the Attack Force range are not the earliest of the Airfix toys but they are perhaps the most desirable.

Airfix first began producing plastic scale model kits for the mass market in 1952 with the 1/72 scale Attack Force series following in the late 1960s. Made as cheap plastic toys in budget card boxes, they were hugely popular with a generation of children but seldom treasured. Today examples in original packaging are among the rarest known sets known to the collecting hobby.

This goes some way to explain the feverish competition for this battle scene gift set offered by Lacy Scott Knight in Bury St Edmunds on June 27.

These sets, appearing in the Airfix catalogue of 1968, contain a quantity of various American and Japanese figures, vehicles and a plastic battlefield play base. Miraculously, it was still housed in the original all-card lift-up lid box and included printed instructions. These almost never survive.

It was estimated to bring around £100 but the hammer price bid via thesaleroom.com was £3100.

Last year Tunbridge Wells firm C&T Auctions sold a smaller bubble-backed set from the Attack Force range for £1700.