IT is well known that in times of economic uncertainty or political upheaval the price of gold and silver tends to rise. Less commonly appreciated is the relative strength of the market in collectables, many of which have shown a modest but continuous growth, year on year, for more than a decade.

Greenslade Taylor Hunt, the West Country’s premier specialist in this field, are ideally placed to assist both buyers and sellers wishing to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in an otherwise unpredictable world.

It is a capability that can be demonstrated by the range of consistently impressive results delivered by the company’s Taunton saleroom.

Toys and models are performing particularly well and have included a 19th century doll’s house , at £4,200, a rare diecast Shackleton David Brown Trackmaster 30 caterpillar tractor, at £1,550, and a 7 ¼ inch gauge Great Western Railway Class 14xx 0-6-0 tank locomotive which, even with a seized motion and a boiler of unknown condition, steamed to £3,200.

Railwayana, in a broader sense, is also much in demand. A Great Western Railway drop-dial wall clock, from the signal box at Bishop’s Nympton, made £2,400; a group of railway tickets took £1,250; and a Southern Railway ‘King Arthur’ Class cast brass locomotive nameplate, ‘Sir Gareth’, fetched £4,800.

Successes in the postcard sphere have included £2,200 for a naval shipping collection, £1,400 for a group of Exmoor views, and £1,500 for a series of Spanish Civil War propaganda cards.

The latter mirrors the returns enjoyed by the company for other militaria, too. A British R.A.F. Omega pilot’s wristwatch flew to £3,200; an R.A.F. sector wall clock was bid to £2,900; a D.S.O. medal group made £2,600; and a piece of painted aluminium fuselage salvaged from a crashed Luftwaffe bomber sold for £3,200.

An archive of personal letters from a nurse in the Great War took £1,600 and illustrates the sometimes surprising value that printed matter can have if properly handled and sold in the correct context. An album of Suffragette ephemera reached £2,200 and a collection of Australian postage stamps recently came to a combined £4,750.

Greenslade excels in handling entire collections, which are carefully sorted in order to achieve the best possible prices for its clients. A multi-album accumulation of West Country postcards, divided into multiple, themed lots, made £7,500; a large fleet of model ships – rejected by another Somerset saleroom – realized its true potential in the right hands, selling for £8,600; and a collection of diecast model buses, consigned from Cornwall, totalled over £12,000.

Single items are no less warmly welcomed. A Nicole Freres musical box sold for £3,800; a small tin of hand-made marbles went for £1,700; a Jeffries concertina fetched £3,200; and a Powell & Lealand microscope reached £3,000.

With quarterly stand-alone Collectors Sales and further specialist sections of collectables every month, Greenslade Taylor Hunt offers the most comprehensive calendar of fully catalogued, internet-backed sales in the region.

The next collectors’ sale takes place at The Octagon Salerooms, East Reach, Taunton, on Friday, December 2.

Free valuation sessions are held at The Octagon Saleroom, in Taunton, every Monday (9am – 1pm) and, on a regular basis, in the company’s residential offices in Bridgwater, Burnham-on-Sea, Chard, Ilminster, South Molton and Tiverton. Home visits can also be arranged without charge or obligation.

For professional, impartial, friendly advice on all aspects of buying and selling collectors items at auction contact Peter Rixon at peter.rixon@gth.net or ring 01823-332525.