Joe 90 and Kate Kestrel up for auction!

May 27^th 2021 saw more Anderson-related items going under the hammer at the Ewbanks auction house in Surrey, as part of their latest Entertainment, Memorabilia and Movie Props auction. Although the number of Anderson items was not as extensive as the Terrahawks auction they played host to last November, nor did it contain any items that sold for the extraordinary amounts of money that some of those models (or the Lieutenant Dean puppet head did), there were still several interesting treasures to tempt the pockets of fans. The most expensive item sold was a reproduction Joe 90 puppet, produced in the early 1970s by Century 21 sculptor John Brown using the original moulds, and thus as close to ‘authentic’ as any reproduction puppet can claim to be. With an estimated sale price of between £1,200 and £1,800, Joe eventually sold for slightly less than the low end of his estimate, at £1,100. More reproductions came with a batch of eleven unpainted reproduction puppet heads (created by Lee Allwood) of prominent Thunderbirds guest characters. These included Brian, Hank and Bruce from The Shadows (Thunderbirds Are Go), Hassan Ali (Desperate Intruder), Nicky (Give Or Take A Million), Rick O’Shea (Ricochet), Loman (Ricochet), Hector McGill, Culp and Mrs Files (Attack of the Alligators), and Lovegrove (Vault of Death). This set sold for £100. Surprisingly for an item with only an estimate of £100 to £150 against it, a 9 inch tall wooden table from The Secret Service sold for £460. This table is visible in Father Unwin’s study throughout the series, most notably in the shot where Matthew Harding is shrunk by the Minimiser - which might account for its popularity. An original Kate Kestrel puppet head, decayed and restored at some point after production on Terrahawks, was listed with an estimate of between £150-250, but finally sold for just £75. Two pieces of original production used vac form of the hull of the Terrahawk itself sold for £55. Of more interest to Terrahawks fans were the set of 60 film slides of behind the scenes photos from the show's model department, which fetched an impressive £500 against an estimate of between £70 and £100! Always guaranteed to do well at auction, a copy of the first issue of the legendary TV Century 21 comic sold for £340, while a 50th anniversary Supermarionation first day cover featuring Stingray and signed by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, director David Elliott and voice artists David Graham and Robert Easton sold for the low end of its estimate, at £40. Complete sets of film reels of two of the UFO Italian compilation movies were also up for grabs, but to little interest. 6 16mm film reels of Prendeteli Vivi eventually sold for £25 against an estimate of £50-80, while 5 35mm film reels of Contatto Radar – Stanno Atterando didn’t sell at all. More interest was shown for a 16mm film print of the Stingray episode The Lighthouse Dwellers, which sold for £45. Although this particular auction was lighter on must-have items, it’s good to see that most of the Anderson lots in this particular auction found homes – and as always, we’re keeping an eye on the Ewbanks website to see what else might be up for grabs next!