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Horsham Museum & Art Gallery Toy Valuation Morning

Toovey’s toy specialist Chris Gale with a rare Star Wars Han Solo Action figure

Toovey’s toy valuation event in support of the Horsham Museum & Art Gallery has become an extremely popular annual fundraising event. Toovey’s specialist toys valuer, Christopher Gale, will be at the museum on Saturday, 17th February 2018, between 10am and 12noon providing free auction valuations and advice on your toy trains, cars, Star Wars action figures, models, teddy bears, dolls and collectors’ toys.

A number of valuable toys have been discovered at previous events. Chris Gale who is donating his time explains: “A third of the seller’s commission for items subsequently auctioned by Toovey’s will be donated by us to Horsham Museum to help with its important work.”

Chris is excited by a Star Wars Han Solo action figure by Kenner in its original box which has already been entered for his toy sale in March. He says “This particular action figure depicts Han Solo wearing his Rebel Alliance Medal of Honour which Princess Leia presents him with in the closing parade of a New Hope after the Death Star has been destroyed. This particular model was never sold but was given to the cast and crew on the film. This one was purportedly given to the vendor by Peter Mayhew who played Chewbacca- it’s worth hundreds of pounds!”

For a morning of fun and free pre-sale valuations come to the Horsham Museum & Art Gallery, The Causeway, Horsham, RH12 1HE on Saturday 17th February, 10am to 12 noon. Toovey’s next specialist toy sale will be held on 20th March 2018.

Leo Genn Archive For Sale at Auction

A large archive of material collected by Leo Genn (1905-1978), all concerning the investigation and prosecution of war criminals at the Nuremberg Trials in 1945-1946. The archive comprises Genn’s original copies of the signed witness and prisoner statements, photographic evidence and images of the defendants, case files and other evidence. The majority focuses on Belsen and Auschwitz concentration camps, including statements and photographs of the defendants Irma Grese, Hilde Lohbauer, Karl Schmitt, Walte Steuer, Franz Harich, Jonas Levi and Willy Jong and others. Also included are Leo Genn’s identity tags and an army-issue canvas bag, in which the archive was discovered.

Lot 3271 Courtroom Scene — Lot 3271 Photogrpah of a Courtroom Scene included in the Archive

Leo Genn studied law at Cambridge and was a qualified barrister, but he also enjoyed a successful career in film and theatre. He volunteered his legal knowledge to the British Army unit involved in the investigation and prosecution of Nazi war crimes perpetrated at the Belsen concentration camp, and subsequently became an assistant prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.

One of the many photographs included in the archive of Irma Grese and Hilde Lohbauer

£26,000 for Louis Vuitton Trunk

A rare Louis Vuitton zinc covered cabin trunk (malle cabine), circa 1895, the interior with original printed label numbered '44...' sold for £26,000 — A rare Louis Vuitton zinc covered cabin trunk (malle cabine), circa 1895, the interior with original printed label numbered ’44…’ sold for £26,000

You never know what will be brought to the salerooms for valuation. Recently an old trunk was brought to Toovey’s for valuation and sale. The owner’s hopes were confirmed, when it was identified as a rare early Louis Vuitton ‘malle cabine’ trunk dating from around 1895. It sold last week for £26,000.

The famous Louis Vuitton ‘LV’ monogram decoration was not introduced until 1896 as part of George Vuitton’s worldwide expansion of the firm. This early example was beautifully crafted but quite plain in comparison to the George Vuitton’s trunks. All Louis Vuitton trunks are numbered and it was the original numbered paper label in the interior which confirmed its authenticity and value.

The early story of Louis Vuitton is a romantic one caught up with the industrial and political revolutions of 19th century France. Its founder, Louis Vuitton, spent his early childhood in Anchay in the Jura region on the eastern borders of France. The 1830s witnessed a significant migration in France from countryside to city. In 1835 the thirteen year old Louis Vuitton left home. It took him two years to walk the 292 miles to Paris as he worked to feed himself along the way. He arrived in the city in 1837. These qualities of determination and hard work would inform his life and success.

At the age of sixteen Louis Vuitton was taken on as an apprentice in the workshop of the successful packer and box maker Monsieur Marechal where he quickly gained a reputation for his abilities in this fashionable field of enterprise.

A Louis Vuitton travelling trunk with overall LV monogram decoration on a brown ground and a paper label inscribed '1 Rue Scribe, Paris, Louis Vuitton, 149 New Bond St. London' and numbered '108407' — A Louis Vuitton travelling trunk with overall LV monogram decoration on a brown ground and a paper label inscribed ‘1 Rue Scribe, Paris, Louis Vuitton, 149 New Bond St. London’ and numbered ‘108407’

In 1854 he married Clemence-Emile Parriaux and left Marechal to found Louis Vuitton. To begin with he specialized in packing fashions and fragile objects. It was not until 1858 that he introduced his revolutionary rectangular, stackable trunks which were an immediate success and the business expanded. His reputation for boxes of the finest quality was assured.

Napolean III and the French Empire was re-established in 1852 and Louis Vuitton was hired as the personal box maker to the Empress of France, Eugine de Montijo. This patronage and the period of urbanization and industrialization that ensured brought Europe’s elite to his firm.

The quality of Louis Vuitton’s work, his determination and hard work continued until his death in 1892. His son George Vuitton would build on his father’s foundations and establish Louis Vuitton as a worldwide company.

It was George who launched the famous LV monogram on a brown ground that you can see on the larger Louis Vuitton travelling trunk illustrated. It had a paper label to its interior inscribed ‘1 Rue Scribe, Paris, Louis Vuitton, 149 New Bond St. London’ and numbered ‘108407’. The other Louis Vuitton trunk illustrated is more reminiscent in its size and shape of the earlier plain example. It too had its original paper label. Both trunks dated from the late 19th/early 20th century and sold recently at Toovey’s for £5500 and £2200 respectively.

The story of the founder, Louis Vuitton, together with the beautiful craftsmanship which he established ensure that the earliest and rarest examples of the company’s work attract international attention at auction and underpin the continued reputation of this luxury brand today.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

Rare Louis Vuitton trunk at Toovey’s

Advance notice: Consigned in our forthcoming sale on 6th October 2017, a rare Louis Vuitton zinc covered cabin trunk (malle cabine), circa 1895, the hinged lid and sides with brass trim, studs, side handles and locks, the top with three wooden slats above a single wooden slat to the front and back, the interior with original printed label numbered ’44’, length 88cm, height 33.5cm, depth 49cm (later painted and faults). Pre-sale estimate: £10,000-15,000.

Major Robert Hobart Mayo

Lots, 67, 731-742 in our auction on Wednesday 6th September are from the estate of the late Major Robert Hobart Mayo, O.B.E., M.A. (Cantab), Assoc.M.Inst.C.E., F.R.Ae.S., M.Inst.T., designer of the Short-Mayo Composite aircraft and a consulting engineer of long and varied experience in aeronautical engineering.

Robert Mayo joined the staff of the Royal Aircraft Factory in 1913 and became head of the experimental department. He qualified as a pilot in December 1914 and went on to serve in the Royal Flying Corps in France during the First World War. On returning to England, he became Flight Commander in the Testing Squadron at Martlesham Heath and was personally responsible for the flying trials of a wide variety of new types of aircraft. In 1917 he was appointed head of the Design (Aeroplane) Section at the Air Ministry and he retained this post until 1919, when he resigned in order to take up Consulting Engineering. He was consulting engineer and technical manager to Instone Air Lines (later Imperial Airways) from 1923 to 1924. Robert Mayo became a prominent official in competition flying; he was a timekeeper for the Schneider Trophy Contest in 1929 and chairman of the Records, Racing and Competition Committee of the Royal Aero Club in later years. He flew over one hundred different types of aircraft and had a thorough knowledge of aircraft and engines used in various commercial services.

Included in the Lots is a small section of original fabric, 4.4cm x 3.7cm, from Kitty Hawk ‘Wright Flyer’ with printed certification for Robert H. Mayo, the piece of fabric was used in the first successful flight in history by Orville Wright (Lot 738).