Leigh joined International Auctioneers Bonhams as the Toy and Doll specialist in 1994 after 5 years of running a successful Antique Doll and Toy business with his wife Rachel at their shop in the famous Portobello Road and exhibiting at fairs both in Europe and America. Over the following 21 years at Bonhams Leigh has offered for sale an all-encompassing range of fine antique Toys, Trains, Dolls, Dolls Houses and Teddy Bears with many highlights including selling the world famous Vivien Greene Dolls House collection in 1998/99 over two sales achieving total sales of over ?500,000.

 

Leigh will be helping conduct our current Vintage Toy Auctions along with producing specialist Antique Dolls and Teddy Bears auctions. Leigh can be contacted on 

leigh.gotch@candtauctions.co.uk

James Opie has been valuing and cataloguing toy soldiers and figures for well over thirty years, working for Phillips, Christies and then Bonhams. Now his unique series of toy soldier auctions, comprising in all over three million figures sold, takes place at C & T Auctioneers three times a year. He is one of the world's pre-eminent toy soldier experts, with nine books on the subject in publication. He was trained as a military historian, and for many years was known to the 40,000 members of the Military and Aviation Book Society as their Editor.

Types of figures included in the sales come from all over the world, manufactured over the last two hundred years until the present day in tin, lead, composition, mazac, pewter or plastic among other materials: Britains, Heyde, Timpo, CBG Mignot, King and Country, Tradition, Lucotte and Elastolin are just a few of the famous makers on offer, as well as the breathtaking models of the master military modelers such as Stadden, Berdou and Metayer. Civilian figures also feature, together with the accessories of war and peace that complete a model world that has entranced children and adults down the ages.

 

The first auction conducted by James is scheduled for Wednesday 21st October. If you have suitable entries for this auction then please contact  james.opie@candtauctions.co.uk