Big kids shell out for €50,000 at toy auction

Collectors paid more than £35,000 (€52.000) for Hornby and Meccano toys and memorabilia at auction today.

Dozens of photographs, old adverts, instruction manuals and toys dating from the early 1900s were rescued from the Meccano factory in Liverpool when it closed in the 1970s and went under the hammer this morning.

Among the lots was a rare framed and signed photograph of Frank Hornby, who founded the largest toy manufacturing company in the world when he opened his factory in 1914.

A museum spokesman said: “This is a very historic item that we had to ensure went back to Liverpool where Frank Hornby had his factory and where hundreds of Liverpudlians were employed.”

Vectis, the auction house which has been selling Hornby Trains, Meccano and Dinky toys at its monthly sales for the past few years, held today’s event.