Quirky curios and antiques amassed by an award-winning British toy designer over 50 years are proving irresistible to bidders all over the world.
Patrick Rylands, 81, a man who created some of the UK’s best loved toys, amassed the giant and diverse collection. He bought anything and everything that caught his eye including rare tinplate toys, automata, early Mickey Mouse collectibles, 1930s American radios and what is thought to be the best Victorian marble collection ever found in the UK.
The collection is so vast it’s being offered in separate sales at Hansons Auctioneers’ Derbyshire saleroom. Part 1, Curios and Connoisseur Ceramics, went under the hammer on May 29 and exceeded all expectations. It achieved a hammer total of more than £57,000 and 89% of the 327 lots sold.
On June 25 Part 2, Curios and Works of Art, also achieved exceptional results, smashing estimates and attracting 400 registered bidders from Belgium, Singapore, USA, Portugal and France as well as the UK and Ireland. Some 94.2% of 328 lots sold achieved a hammer total of £48,976.
Buyers were enthralled by hundreds of eclectic lots including multiple badges, some scarce, pipes, penknives, antique beakers, 19th century pin cushions, fishing flies, a miniature concertina, novelty tape measures, advertisement cabinets, snuff boxes, decoy ducks and much more.
Many items sold for up to 10 times their guide prices. For example, lot 85, above, a late 18th/early 19th century carved coquilla nut snuff box, carved as an elephant, made £3,000 from a £300-500 estimate. In similar vein lot 81, a late 18th/early 19th century carved coquilla nut rabbit snuff box, below, hammered at £2,100 from a £400-£600 guide.
Mr Rylands’ interest in badges also proved popular. Lot 40, a large collection of enamel badges inspired by romance, below, achieved £1,700 from from a modest £80-£120 guide. It included various H. W. Miller romance badges depicting courting couples including Call Me Sweetheart, Romance in the Rain and The Old Covered Bridge.
In addition, an extremely rare c.1909 Women’s Suffrage ‘Votes for Women’ badge, designed by Sylvia Pankhurst (1882-1960), made £660 from a £100-£150 guide; a scarce WW1 era silver and enamel ‘The Allies Aeroplane’ badge made £380 from its £80-£120 guide and a collection of 20th century club/association pin badges hammered at £320 from a £80-£120 estimate.
Quirkiness came to the fore with lot 162, an early 20th century cast iron novelty money box, the ‘Punch & Judy Bank’, marked ‘Buffalo. N.Y. USA’. It sold for a punchy £1,250, around 10 times its £100-£150 guide. Bidders also liked lot 96, five 19th Century Tunbridge carved wood and inlaid puzzle balls which hammered at £1,150 from a £250-£350 estimate.
Anther lot to excel was a 20th century decoy eel and decoy fish which swam to £700 from a £60-£100 guide. And such was the sheer volume of objects many were placed into one lot. One set of collectors’ items, including everything from cardboard eye masks and Keswick pencils to straw and bead models and a 20th century sandelwood fan, made £290 from a starting price of £50.
Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, said: “Mr Rylands deserves a badge of honour for his knowledge and love for all things antique, vintage, quirky and collectible. It seems everything he likes others do too. It’s wonderful to see his many finds appeal to such a broad global audience. It’s an exceptional collection and there is lots more to come.”
Mr Rylands, who was born in Hull, East Yorkshire, but later moved to London, said: “I started collecting when I was 20, probably even a little before that. I suppose I started collecting toys because I was making them for a living but my collection covers many areas. I don’t have any favourites. I liked all the things I collected – that’s why I bought them!
“My method of sourcing them was at first solely based on where to find them cheaply. That led to regular visits to London’s Portobello Road, which was close to where I lived, and early morning visits to Brick Lane markets. The phase of my life when I was a designer and a collector is now over and I have moved into the next phase where the focus needs to be on care and comfort.”
Patrick Rylands is an award-winning designer. At 27 he became the youngest designer to win the Duke of Edinburgh’s Prize for Elegant Design. In 1966, aged 23, he invented Playplax, a construction toy which has sold over a million copies worldwide. After graduating in ceramics from the Royal College of Art in London in 1966, he worked as a freelance designer for iconic toy companies including Creative Playthings, Naef and Ambi Toys, where he worked exclusively as in-house designer for more than 25 years. He created more than 130 popular toddler and baby toys, known for their simplicity of design combined with movement, sound and primary colours. In 1999 he was elected the title of Royal Designer for Industry. His toys are on permanent display in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood.
The next auction: The Patrick Rylands’ Collection Part 3 will be offered by Hansons Auctioneers on July 30. Catalogue due live July 19.
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