WW1 propeller soars at Tamworth military auction ahead of Lichfield medals valuation day

WW1 propeller soars at Tamworth military auction ahead of Lichfield medals valuation day

A FIRST World War era aeroplane propeller has flown again – at auction in Tamworth.

The impressive wooden airscrew, measuring approximately 240cm tip to tip, was sold by Richard Winterton Auctioneers at The Tamworth Auction Rooms for £1,050 on Wednesday, January 24.

More than a century ago, the prop would have been fitted to a British SES 61 aircraft with a Hispano-Suiza 150 HP engine using a two-blade airscrew.

This type of craft was widely used on the Western Front from 1916 to the end of WW1.

Various companies made the propellers, which were also used on American, Canadian and Australian planes.

Auctioneer Ben Winterton said: “Items such as this come up very rarely. We had lots of interest in the auction and this propeller which once flew the skies sold for a fittingly high price to a UK bidder.”

Auctioneer Ben Winterton with the WW1 era aeroplane propeller. The 240cm long wooden airscrew went under the hammer with Richard Winterton Auctioneers for £1,050.

The sale at the Church Street auction house also saw an impressive family archive with links to Lichfield, Uttoxeter and Stoke go under the hammer for £1,600.

Running from the late 17th to the mid-20th century, the archive included documents, medals, badges, crests, photographs, birth, marriage and death certificates, wills and other ephemera relating largely to the Gibbons Mayne and Davis/Hancock families.

Sold £1,600: A family archive running from the late 17th to the mid-20th century.

The majority related to the families of Reverend William Gibbons Mayne the younger (1860-1928) and his wife Helen, including Rev Gibbons Mayne’s Lichfield Cathedral ordination documents as priest and deacon dated 1885 and 1886.

Senior valuer Sarah Williams said: “This was a fascinating archive to catalogue because it encompassed such a wide spectrum of different areas of collecting, from photography and silhouette portraiture to early military documents and travel papers.”

Sold £320: A vintage Japanese tinplate clockwork gear robot.

The auction also featured medals, stamps, postcards, and vintage and collectable toys, including a live steam road locomotive traction engine model selling at £520 and a Japanese tinplate clockwork gear robot making £320.

A large collection of stamps sold at £1,900, an accumulation of worldwide postal history and first day covers made £1,250 and a collection of early to mid-C20th topographical postcards depicting places across England totalled £785.

Sold £520: A live steam model traction engine.

Richard Winterton Auctioneers offers free monthly valuations of medals and militaria with specialist Jeff Clark at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Wood End Lane, Fradley Park, with the next on Thursday, February 1. To make an appointment, telephone 01543 251081 or email office@richardwinterton.co.uk.

Free home visits for large collections and house clearance quotations are also available.

Valuations of medals, military items, toys of all types, stamps, postal history and antiques take place at The Tamworth Auction Rooms too. To book, telephone 01827 217746 or email tamworth@richardwinterton.co.uk.