A scale model of a Fosters of Lincoln threshing machine is one of the highlights of the June sale at the Lincoln auction rooms.
Made by a local maker, the model is expected to attract the attention of collectors of local memorabilia when it goes under the hammer at auctioneers Golding Young & Mawer on Wednesday, June 20. Auctioneer John Leatt said: "Lincoln has a long and proud history of engineering and there will be many collectors of local memorabilia competing for this item on sale day. We expect it to sell for between £200 and £300." The Lincoln engineering company, William Foster and Co was well-known for developing an armoured fighting vehicle, known as the 'tank', during the First World War.
Before the war, the company specialised in agricultural machinery, such as tractors, threshing machines and steam engines. But with fighting in France reaching stalemate, the Admiralty Landship's Committee approached Fosters to put its engineering skills into developing a machine which could overcome the mud, cross trenches and barbed wire.
Managing director William Tritton, chief draughtsman William Rigby and engineer Walter Wilson, along with the loyal and highly skilled workforce, set to work to design and build the tank.
After one failed attempt, a tank named 'Mother' was created in 141 days and in 1916, the first tank saw action in France. The use of the tank had a huge effect on the war and is believed to have pushed it to its rightful conclusion.
The collection also includes four Mamod model engines which are estimated to sell for between £40 and £60 each. Elsewhere in the sale, there is anunusual clock called 'Mr Harrison's Sea Clock' by Sinclair Harding of Cheltenham which was made
in homage to the late John Harrison (1693-1776). Harrison was a clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a device which solved the problem of establishing the longitude of a ship at sea.
Mr Leatt added: "Harrison made the famous Marine Chronometer. The clock in this sale is unusual because it has linked bar balances or compound pendulums designed to allow the clock to function when not level. It also has one of Harrison's famous grasshopper escapements.
"We expect a great deal of interest in the clock from collectors on sale day and estimate it will sell for between £1,000 and £1,500." Meanwhile, a rare Flambe vase by Bernard Moore, depicting an owl catching mice, is estimated to sell for between £600 and £800. It was brought into one of the auction house's free valuation days.
A collection of Rock and Roll memorabilia is sure to leave bidders 'all shook up' when it goes under the hammer. The lot is estimated to sell for between £500 and £800 includes items signed by Eddie Cochrane and Gene Vincent. A rare, unframed Steve McQueen cinema poster for the film 'Bullet' is expected to sell for between £700 and £900.
The silver and jewellery section has in excess of 150 lots including numerous sovereigns, gold pocket watches and watch chains. Among the lots is an 18 carat gold half hunter pocket watch with an estimate of between £500 and £800.
A highlight of the furniture section is a Victorian walnut and marquetry side cabinet with an estimate of between £400 and £600 and a Victorian oak library bookcase. The sale also features collections of railway memorabilia including a signal, items of Royal Doulton china, Victorian glass, militaria and tin plate and die-cast toys. The next Fine Art and Collective Sale at the Grantham saleroom on Wednesday and Thursday, July 4 and 5.
