One thing that definitely creates interest in lost is quirkiness. The slightly zany or unusual pieces often command the highest prices when coming through the sale, couple with this quality and the association of items with true greatness and you are onto a winner in today’s market.
The recent Lincoln Collective Sale on March 25th included what was reputed to be a small section of the truly immortal Arkle’s mane.
It came in for sale from a private source, with a typed letter enthusing the previous owner had written to Tom Dreaper, the trainer of this equine superstar and had been sent a photograph and a small curl of hair, reputed to be a section of mane from indisputably the greatest of them all.
What a story and who could doubt it? It conjures memories of this superstar steeplechaser, ridden by Pat Taffe and winner of three Cheltenham Gold Cups, various other weight carrying victories and often losing by only short distances on the rare occasions it ever tasted defeat because it carried many stones more in the saddling cloth than his rivals and whose prowess led to the altering of the modern handicap system to give others a chance and whose barometer of excellence can be summed up by its beating of the English trained 1963 champion Mill House, a horse many this side of the Irish Sea thought could never be beaten in jump racing’s blue ribband, first by 5 lengths in 1964, and a colossal 20 lengths twelve months later and a further canter in 1966 and the stature of this humble lock of hair rises immeasurably.
Arkle was quite simply the greatest, known purely as Himself and presuming the mane is genuine (and who could doubt the letter and romance of its content) you are owning proper equine history; a true life museum piece, a small snippet of the greatest ever and it is such things that create interest, are a little bit different and are perhaps dismissed as novelty and worthless to some, but great treasures to others.
The irresistible provenance and the link to the very best for what is an item that takes up little room but flutters many hearts is what created the large following and presale interest, which led to a wonderful result.
A good lesson from this is to always let us see everything you may wish to sell. Do not dismiss anything and never be afraid to show us objects, if you have something a little more unusual to sell, bring it in, send us an image, let us see it; it may just be a money spinner!
To some, the £130 that changed hands for a lock of hair may seem crazy, but to others it was money well spent; what if it is (and there’s no reason to doubt it) a piece of the finest jumps horse of all time? On this occasion gambling is very much not a mug’s game!
We would love to see any pieces of sporting memorabilia, equine or other at one of our three offices in Lincoln, Bourne and Grantham and we are here to help with anything you may have.
Gallop to the sale results here
