Valuable doll collection expected to fetch £500k

Peggy, an English wooden doll dating from 1765, is expected to fetch at least £10,000

A collection of dolls dating from the 18th Century is expected to sell at auction for as much as £500,000.

It is the largest and most valuable doll collection to be seen by Special Auction Services in Newbury for 25 years.

Daniel Agnew, teddy bear, toy and doll specialist, said the collection is “truly a collector’s dream".

The dolls will be going under the hammer on Thursday 22 February.

Austin Smith and his late partner Margaret Harkins began the collection in 1949, after they rescued a broken doll from a house contents sale in the West Country.

The top lot in the sale is an English wooden doll dating from 1765 called Peggy, which is expected to reach between £10,000 and £15,000.

Although she is legless, she is wearing original clothes and is being sold with family provenance.

Mr Agnew said he was “blown away” when he first saw the collection.

One 18th Century doll in the collection was valued at between £8,000 and £12,000

Another doll, dressed in a yellow gown, is expected to reach between £8,000 and £12,000.

Her petticoat is made from a broadsheet newspaper, which features the murder of a young maid.

Mr Agnew said: "I was staggered by the first room which was full of the best antique dolls you could imagine, then shown a corridor full of wall mounted cabinets of small dolls, then another room of dolls’ houses, a room of automata, then a further two rooms of dolls.

"There must be over 1,000 dolls, and many smaller items too."

Also up for sale are a portrait pair of Pierotti King Edward VII and Queen Alexander in Coronation robes from 1901, which are expected to fetch £1,500- £2,000.

King Edward VII and Queen Alexander in Coronation robes circa 1901