Hi folks, thsi was my write up for the Frome sale, I have been on the Mac all week and only just got back in office/yard on a PC to post this. Sorry for delay
After running the Pet and Animal feed shop in Somerset for over 50 years, Mr Clothier and his daughters decided to retire from the business, leaving a fantastic time warp of old shop signs, advertising, packaging and shop fittings behind. While they were operating, every man and his dog had tried to buy the enamel signs that were everywhere in the shop. They were on the backs of doors and on the counter whilst many other others were hidden until the day the owners contacted Richard and Tora at Chippenham auction rooms who agreed to manage the sale.
Tora described it as a ‘dream phonemail’ that led her and Richard to the neighbouring county the following day to assess the job at Moore & Sons in Frome. Following brief negotiations, they were instructed to dismantle the animal feed shop and bring it all back to Chippenham for their April 29th Early Advertising sale. ‘The signs were everywhere’ explained Richard, the longer we spent at the shop, the more we found. Enamel signs were holding together drawers and forming part of the very fabric of the building. When the owners bought the business in the 1960’s, many of the signs were already in situ, ‘so they were as surprised as we were when we removed a large enamel sign to reveal two fabulous melox tin signs already in place behind them!’ he continues.
Having got a sneak preview of the sale, Steve Burton commented that ‘ such finds are becoming so rare now, but Richard and Tora have made this their second haul in as many years’. He went on to say that the ‘excitement of opening a drawer to find piles of tin shelf strips still bundled up in their original wrapping is one of the greatest feelings a collector can have’.
With this thought in mind, I couldn’t wait to get in on the action too. Stories like this make up the on going history of our hobby and need to be preserved almost as much as the objects themselves in my opinion. Fortunately Richard took an hour out of his busy schedule to let me mooch through the lots as he was cataloguing them.
What struck me most was the condition of the signs, most having been displayed inside since they were delivered by the pet food reps nearly 100 years ago. Some were thought never to have been hung, certainly not since 1969, some of Spratts signs were found buried behind boxes and underneath shelving. The provenance of these signs, has to add value in a world full of fakes, while knowing where they came from sets a marker in time that is hopefully preserved by the collectors who are successful at the sale.
Despite such a large volume of items, the Frome haul forms just a part of the upcoming Chippenham sale, with some unique and many desirable lots covering the collecting areas of enamel signs, packaging and general advertising.
https://www.chippenhamauctionrooms.co.uk/upcoming-sales