Rare Wiltshire football programmes auctioned for £41k

Wessex Auction Rooms sold the lots on 1 October

Football club matchday programmes dating back to the 1920s have been auctioned for £41k.

Ken Bridgeman gave his collection, which included Swindon Town Football Club programmes, to an auction house before he died on 9 September.

The programmes were sold in different auctions to various buyers from around the world on 1 September.

Wessex Auction Room workers said the collection was also important because they had known Mr Bridgeman well.

In total 355 lots were sold.

Different buyers from around the world had purchased the programmes

Only the Swindon Town FC collection was complete which made it the rarest lot

Some of the programmes predated WWII

The auctioneers said the programmes were in "pristine" condition

A Wessex Auction Rooms spokesperson said auctioneers were often approached by people who believed they had a rare football programme collection on their hands but they had never seen anything "quite like this one".

"The reason his collection was worth so much money is because it's not often you get a complete collection like this," he said.

"Collections like this just don't exist and they especially don't exist in good condition."

The rare collection included programmes from all of the team's matches, including away games and reserve matches.

The rest included other various UK football team's programmes and speedway programmes.

"Ken was someone who was known to all collectors and auction rooms in the area for his football programme collections," the auction house said.