Fort Paull auction: Museum sale raises 'six-figure sum'
- Published
A military museum's entire collection - including RAF aircraft, deactivated weapons and a royal waxwork - has been sold at auction.
Fort Paull, a gun battery and fort on the north bank of the Humber Estuary, was a museum before closing in January.
The last surviving Blackburn Beverley Transporter Aircraft earned the biggest sum, selling for £21,000.
Auctioneers would not disclose the total sum raised by the 1,048 lots, but said it was a "six-figure amount".
The Blackburn Beverley, which was one of 49 built in the 1950s in Brough, near Hull, was bought by a local buyer who has access to a private airfield.
When it entered service, it was the largest aircraft in the RAF and could carry more than 100 troops and a range of military vehicles.
Fort Paull's top sellers
Blackburn Beverley Transporter Aircraft - £21,000
Pair of George III cannons - £17,000
Hawker Hunter aircraft (without engine) - £13,000
Military train dining car - £9,000
An unexploded German bomb which was dropped on Hull - £8,500
Avery 1940 field gun - £8,000
Gilbert Baitson Auctioneers said 909 registrations were made to take part in the online auction, which closed on Saturday, with offers coming in from as far as Australia, the US and Hong Kong.
Socially distanced viewing sessions took place at the closed museum earlier in September, with hundreds of visitors coming to view the items prior to the auction.
Auctioneer Andrew Baitson said: "It was a challenge due to the size of the property, there was so much stuff - we kept finding rooms full of bits and bobs.
"It'll all now be taken around the country and the world, hopefully some of it will stay within the public domain and end up in other museums for people to enjoy."
Unusual buys
Replica collection of the Crown Jewels - £5,500
Life-size waxwork model of Henry VIII - £2,600
Life-size waxwork model of Adolf Hitler - £750
Waxwork model of Queen Elizabeth II - £600
Human skeleton - £700
Bouncy castle - £320
Fort Paull was built in 1861 to defend the approach to the port at Kingston-upon-Hull.
Earlier, it was a strategic base for Charles I during the English Civil War and was used as an ammunition store during World War Two.
It opened to the public as a museum in 2000, looking at the past 500 years of conflict, complete with exhibits and aircraft displays.
The owner has retired and a buyer for the museum never materialised.
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- Published12 September 2020
- Published21 January 2020