A highlight of Sworders’ Country House sale in Stansted Mountfitchet on June 27 was this rare tinplate London omnibus.
When it was made by the Rock & Graner factory in Göppingen in the 1860s this would have counted as a luxury toy and it remains so. Estimated at £600-800, it took £23,000 (plus 22% buyer’s premium).
Rock & Graner (1813-1904), the premier toy maker of the period, made many different omnibuses for different world cities which were remarkably accurate depictions of the real thing. The 1875 catalogue shows a structurally identical London horse drawn omnibus with a different route and livery.