A matchbox car collection, put together by a renowned Darlington artist, sold for a whopping £46,000.

Terry Kneeshaw, who started his career as an artist at The Northern Echo working out of the newspaper's Priestgate office, sold off 450 Matchbox Regular Wheels on October 30 last month. 

The auction, which was held online,  saw buyers from across the world bidding on 445 lots. All of the lots sold on the day. 

(Image: Vectis)The lifelong collection started in the 1970s, focuses on the artwork for each box type A to F by model series 1 – 75 and includes colour variations and rare issues.

A spokesperson for Vectis auction house said: "The auction was a fantastic success and achieved a phenomenal £46,000 (inclusive of Buyers Premiums)". 

Initially, the 450 lot auction had an estimate of £16,000 - £21,000. 

(Image: Vectis) Some highlights of the auction included: 

  • Lot 297 a Matchbox Regular Wheels 55a DUKW Amphibian in rare late issue type D1 box printed by Pembroke Abbey with matching model artwork, sold for £760 against an estimate of £40 - £60.
  • Lot 161 a Matchbox Regular Wheels 33a Ford Zodiac pair which were estimated at £40 - £60, they sold for £539.
  • Lot 253, a Matchbox Regular Wheels 47a Trojan Brooke Bond Tea Van – in rare type D1 box with matching model artwork and printed by Pembroke Abbey was given an estimate of £80 - £100 and achieved £515.
  • Lot 24, a Matchbox Regular Wheels 5d London Routemaster Bus "Pegram" Code 3 in type E4 box estimated at £20 - £30 achieved £441.

(Image: Vectis) Part two will be held on November 21 and features over 340 Lots of Matchbox Superfast models. 

Terry is selling his whole collection via Vectis auction house, as he is retiring and moving on to new projects. 

On his unique collecting methodology, Terry said: "For a lot of people, the cars are the most important part [of the collection] but for me as an artist, what was more important was the pictures. 

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"So when I collected, I collected all the box types. It may be that you see you have three of the same car, but I would collect every A box, every B box, every C box and so on. 

"I collected them as sets of boxes, rather than as cars. It was an unusual way to collect. 

"I could never understand why people collected the cars in a series when you're neglecting the fact that there are all these different boxes."