Collector Macolm Guest was on the right track when he said he thought his collection of railway memorabilia was valuable, but it's only now that his family have realised just how right he was.
Guest, whose railway career started out at London Paddington station in the 1960s, collected posters, cartoons and other memorabilia which recollected the history of the railway including the age of steam.
 1935 '100 Years Of Progress' railway poster by Murray Secretan (£2,800) (Click to enlarge) |
In most cases the pieces were set to be destroyed. But they are now thought to be worth a total of £1m, with £411,000 being achieved for the first section of the sale.
Guest's collection included 2,500 rare posters and even original artwork, including drawings by famous cartoonist William Heath Robinson. These were set to be burnt (indeed 30,000 posters were burnt at Waterloo Station in 1960 which would be worth many millions today).
 Cornish Riviera Express (Click to enlarge) |
Also squirreled away in his Knaresborough house were signalmen's ticket collectors' punches, tickets, a brass plate from a steam engine, uniforms, timetables and station signs.
The collection is being handled by Morphets of Harrogate.
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Image: Morphets of Harrogate (poster) and Mikevam/Image.Xchng (thumbnail)
