Collector's £8,000 win on the cards

THE subject matter ranges from Girls of Many Lands and Notable MPs to Gems of Belgian Architecture and Holiday Haunts by the Sea.

One man’s lifetime collection of 30,000 cigarette cards were sold yesterday at Boldon Auction Galleries in South Tyneside.
The 148 albums and 14 assorted lots of cards date from the 1920s onwards and came from a house in Hartlepool.

The collection, which sold for £8,000, includes popular runs of footballers, cricketers, swimmers, boxers, rugby players and race horses, turf personalities, angling, cycling, film stars, radio celebrities, musical celebrities, girls from the shows, famous beauties, and Kings and Queens.

Aeroplanes, pilots and airports, railway engines, railway equipment, celebrated ships, mining, engineering wonders, fire fighting appliances and famous inventors also figure.

Military subjects include military motors, colonial and Indian army badges, military uniforms of the British Empire, military mottos, modern armaments, life aboard a Man of War, the Great War series, Army corps and divisional signals, the history of naval dress and soldiers of the King.

The natural world is covered by aviary and cage birds, dogs, wild animals of the world, poultry, British livestock, wonders of the sea, flower culture in pots, alpine flowers, British butterflies, curious beasts and game birds and wild fowl.

Offbeat subjects include Alice in Wonderland, wireless telephony, household hints, arms of public schools, garden life, flags of the League of Nations, physical culture, polar exploration, zoo studies, the bridges of Britain, shrines of Britain, and fortune telling.

Giles Hodges, who runs Boldon Auction Galleries, said: “It is a complete and outstanding collection and a real cross section of subjects.

“Everything is there. It shows what collecting is all about.”

One of the football cards shows Inverness-born Tom McDonald, who signed for Newcastle United from Rangers for £2,000 in 1921.

In 10 years at Newcastle, the inside forward made 367 appearances and scored 103 goals, and was a key player in United’s FA Cup and League title wins in 1924 and 1927.

During these glory seasons he formed a potent striking partnerships with United star forwards Hughie Gallacher and Stan Seymour.

After he retired from the game McDonald worked for United as a club steward with responsibility for the press box.

Also in the sale were 17 albums of black and white photographs of steam locomotives taken by a Sunderland train spotter, which sold for £260.

A linen table cloth signed by the Sunderland 1973 FA Cup final squad, including manager Bob Stokoe and Arthur Cox, plus the programme from the Wembley game, when Sunderland beat Leeds 1-0, fetched £150.

by Tony Henderson, The Journal, Thursday 14th June 2012.