A £1 banknote carried by Alcock and Brown on their record-breaking trans-Atlantic flight sold for £2,875 sterling (€4,436) in April at Sotheby's, far exceeding its estimate of £400 to £600.
The note was signed and inscribed in ink by Alcock as follows: "Carried across the Atlantic by the Vickers `Vimy' aeroplane. Left St John's 4-28 g.m.t. June 14th 1919. Arrived Ireland 8-40 g.m.t. June 15th 1919 To L.H. Cade. First non-stop flight!"u2,875 sterling in April at Sotheby's, far exceeding its estimate of u400 to u600.
Mr Steve Maycock, specialist in aeronautica at Sotheby's, says there is an international market in aviation memorabilia. The market includes "aviation from its early days of ballooning through airship development and pretty much up to the modern jet age, although the market tends to focus very much on military aviation rather than civil". It can be difficult to estimate what items of aviation memorabilia will fetch. According to Mr Maycock, if someone had said to him that the Alcock and Brown £1 note would fetch £2,875 sterling, he would probably would have dismissed them as mad. "We're always cautious and it's a market that's constantly throwing up one-off items . . . To the best of my knowledge there were perhaps one or two others of those pound notes that were given out to close friends as souvenirs but that's the only one I'd ever seen or heard of. So how do you price it?"
The periods of greatest interest to collectors are during the two world wars, where the more valuable material tends to come from, with the value of later civil material tending to be much less, he says.
The aeronautica market includes a vast range of material: "It's anything and everything, from books, paintings, posters, clothing and flying equipment, aircraft, full-size aircraft, flying or otherwise, components of aeroplanes." Signed material and anything to do with record-breaking events tend to command a premium.
If anybody has an aviation connection, such as if their uncle or father served in the RAF or worked for an aircraft manufacturer, they may well have material in the family for a long time but "they may not necessarily attribute it with any commercial value. But it's quite often that scenario that produces something of value", Mr Maycock says.
For instance, pieces of the fabric from Alcock and Brown's Vickers Vimy are being put up for auction at a Sotheby's sale on July 13th. The fabric was "given to a chap who lived in the vicinity of Clifden where the machine came down and the piece was then cut in half and distributed to two members of the family. Now I think it's the grand-daughter has put the two pieces back together and you have a very valuable piece of history", he says. The fabric, measuring approximately 40 cm by 15 cm, is part of the linen covering of the aeroplane's wooden frame. Regarded as a very large piece - according to Mr Maycock one would normally expect to see only a postage-stamp size - the lot comes with autographs from Alcock and Brown and is estimated at £1,000 - £1,500 sterling.
Another item in the forthcoming auction is a large piece of framework from the German Naval Zeppelin L33, from 1916, measuring 132 cm by 38 cm by 28 cm. It was one of four Zeppelins which raided London in September 1916 but was hit by anti-aircraft fire. This triangular section with cross-struts is expected to fetch £3,000 to £3,500.
While it was not permitted for people to take souvenirs of crashed planes or airships, this nevertheless occurred. "It wasn't legal but it happened. But 80 years on I don't think anybody is going to get prosecuted."
Readers can contact Mr Steve Maycock by phoning 0044 171 293 5206.
