Billingshurst auctioneers asked to sell further historic and London street signs

Following the success of the auction of more than 300 London street signs in May, which saw two distinctive enamelled street signs depicting two of London’s most iconic addresses- Abbey Road and Downing Street -sell for a combined total of £16,350 at Summers Place Auctions, Billingshurst.
Readers' newsReaders' news
Readers' news

The auctioneers will b offering the second tranche of signs on behalf of Westminster Council including another 190 black finger post signs and over 100 enamel signs in their next sale on Tuesday October 22, 2013 – complemented with a sealed bid auction which finishes the following day.

Estimates range from £20 to over £1,000 and buyers can buy a single sign to use as a signature piece displayed indoors or purchase a number of signs and display them on a post, just as they would have been seen in the capital.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Each sign comes with a Certificate of Authenticity verifying its origin.

The enamel signs include wellVknown landmarks such as Bow Street, which is estimated to fetch £200-300, while Drury Lane, Shaftesbury Avenue and The Strand each carry an estimate of £300-500 and another one for Downing Street is estimated at £1,000-1,500.

In contrast to the May auction, the October sale will offer groupings of signssuch as – Horticultural Halls, St James’s Park, Westminster Cathedral, Buckingham Palace and City Hall or Tourist Information, Buckingham Palace, Victoria Coach Station, Westminster Cathedral and Queens Gallery Royal Mews; Berwick Street Market, Chinatown, WC, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Street; WC 24 Hour, Tourist Information, Buckingham Palace, Victoria Coach Station, Queens Gallery Royal Mews and Victoria and Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk, Cabinet War Rooms, Embankment, Westminster, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, Charing Cross, Houses of Parliament.

These will carry estimates of £350 upwards.

As auctioneer James Rylands explained: “This is a rare opportunity to pick up a real piece of London’s history.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Anyone wandering the streets of London will have noticed the distinctive cast aluminium finger signs directing Londoners and tourists alike to famous landmarks such as Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park.

Westminster City Council and Transport for London are upgrading all of their signposting in the Capital as part of the Legible London campaign resulting in these rarities being removed and offered for sale at auction.”

Cllr Robert Davis, Deputy Leader of Westminster Council commented: London is home to some of the most famous street signs in the world and the first auction in May showed that buyers are keen to acquire a genuine piece of the capital’s history.

More than 15 million visitors came to London last year to be greeted and guided to historic locations by signs like these.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“With signs from Downing Street, Drury Lane and Oxford street on offer in the forthcoming sale, the auction room will resemble something close on a Monopoly Board – except bidders won’t have to pay monopoly money to buy an iconic piece of London ”

The items can be viewed in The Walled Garden, Stane Street, Billingshurst, West Sussex, RH14 9AB.

The catalogue will be available a month before the sale and will be fully illustrated on the website.

For further information on the auction, please visit www.summersplaceauctions.com or call 01403 331331