26 November 2024
Lyon & Turnbull
By the 1970s and 80s, Lyon & Turnbull had already been part of Edinburgh life for well over a century. While the firm was respected for antiques, jewellery, and fine furniture, its weekly catalogues revealed a broader truth: almost anything might appear under the hammer.
These decades brought some of the most unusual sales in the firm’s history - auctions that combined practicality, curiosity, and - sometimes - sheer surprise.
One of the most memorable sales came in 1969, when the old fire station in Leith was turned into an auction venue. Inside, rows of scarlet engines, some dating back to the 1940s, stood alongside ladders, helmets, and scrap equipment.
The star lot was a 1952 Leyland Comet fire engine, meticulously cared for and with surprisingly low mileage. Bidding was lively, and it sold for £530 to a private company for conversion into a foam tender. Other engines went to dealers, with one buyer destined to dismantle them for parts.
The sale was described at the time as equal parts practical disposal and public spectacle, a reminder that auctions could be as much about atmosphere as about objects.
Alongside fire engines, Lyon & Turnbull also became known for handling Edinburgh’s lost property auctions. Each month, items unclaimed after six months were sent to the auction house.
Catalogues could read like an inventory of everyday urban life: bicycles, umbrellas, typewriters, jewellery, handbags, even the occasional suitcase whose contents hinted at forgotten journeys. While not glamorous, these sales were part of the fabric of the city and buyers loved the unpredictability.
The 1970s and 80s also produced some truly eccentric moments. Director William Plews recalled offering half a dozen coffins, inviting bidders to “try them out for size” before purchase. Another sale saw an Egyptian mummy pass through the salerooms, while oddities like a ship’s wheel, stuffed fish, and even a 25-foot mahogany conference table were sold.
What united these unusual sales was Lyon & Turnbull’s readiness to handle variety, from high-value antiques to the curiosities of everyday life. It was a marketplace that welcomed every kind of object and every kind of buyer.
That spirit of variety, established in the late 20th century, still shapes the firm today. While catalogues now focus on carefully curated sales of art, design, and jewellery that achieve world record prices, Lyon & Turnbull continues to celebrate the unexpected, keeping alive the tradition that surprises can always be found under the hammer.
[Years 1950 - 1999]
