A ribbon from the champagne bottle used to launch the Queen Mary has been sold by a Dunfermline auctioneers for more than 70 times its estimated value!
Bowler & Binnie Auctioneers, based in Lynburn Industrial Estate, sold the historic ribbon for £2900 plus commission. It was originally estimated at just £20-40.
The auctioneers deals with estates, which is where the ribbon came from.
Andrew Bowler, director at Bowler & Binnie Auctioneers, explained why the ribbon was estimated at such a low price
“We estimated at that because how do you value a ribbon?" he said. "A ribbon is worth pennies, but we did think the history might be worth some money.”
The Queen Mary was launched on September 26, 1934, from the shipyard of John Brown and Company, Clydebank. The ocean liner was retrofitted to serve as a troop ship during the Second World War.
“We were very, very surprised. We thought it might get in the hundreds but not in the thousands,” said Andrew.
“I think it’s been framed and that gives it some kind of protection, it’s clearly been kept out of the light.”
The Queen Mary is now permanently moored as a tourist attraction, hotel, and museum, in Long Beach, USA.
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The ribbon is not the only unusual item of historical significance that Bowler and Binnie have sold in their eight years of operation.
Andrew added: “We had a biscuit from Captain Scott’s artic exploration.
“There’s a story that goes with that. It came into our sale about a year and a half ago, and was withdrawn because the person stated that the Antiques Roadshow was interested and wanted to show it.
“He'd got the biscuit from his grandad who had stolen it from an exhibition. So Antiques Roadshow couldn’t film it and he came back, and we sold it on his behalf.
“Where’s the proof that that was Captain Scott’s biscuit? Nobody really knows apart from hearsay.”
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Another strange item sold by the auctioneers was a Victorian paper mache Santa Claus.
Andrew said: “It doesn’t look very nice, it would frighten me out my wits. We get some very strange things here.
“There are so many strange things that come in with all different stories attached.”
Currently, the auctioneers has a television that was built by someone in bomber command. He spent years in a prisoner of war camp, where he built a radio. Later, during the late Queen’s Coronation, he appealed for TV parts and built a TV so that his whole street could watch the coronation.
Andrew added: “It’s a look back in history, it’s a different world.”
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