Motor Sport collection: Beautiful Sarthe
Collectors of motor racing art, artefacts and ephemera will find a huge range, including these original Le Mans paintings, at the Motor Sport, shop – motorsportmagazine.com/shop
John Ketchell original artworks
With the centenary edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours freshly in the books, we have a stunning range of La Sarthe-themed original artworks from renowned motor sport artist John Ketchell available. Ketchell’s story is quite unique. A graduate of art school in Preston, Ketchell worked as an illustrator before switching to stop-frame animation, before once again picking up a brush. After dabbling with photo-realistic works he developed an abstract style, which has become his signature. The works here centre on Le Mans racers, from a 1927 Bentley running on rough and pitted roads to the Ford GT40 scything through the night and the monstrous Sauber Mercedes C9s of Group C fame. Each is a pure one-off, and as such prices and canvas sizes range.
From £2700
Jochen Rindt signed artefacts
We absolutely love a racing rarity. And they don’t come much more scarce than this wonderful display focusing on 1970 F1 world champion Jochen Rindt. The set includes a hand-signed original portrait photo from the 1970 season, with Rindt’s signature made out to Lotus team photographer Peter Darley. There’s also a pair of race-worn Grand Prix Drivers’ Association armbands used by Rindt’s wife Nina, plus
a photo of her in situ on the pitwall. You’ll never find another set like it.
£5500
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Vintage press passes
For those who yearn for something a bit different, our friends at Hortons Books recently came into a collection of photographer press armbands from various events. These make a superb collectible, especially for those with a love of historic photography. Our pick would be the ones from the much-missed Crystal Palace circuit. However, there’s a large range on offer, from Brands Hatch BOAC to Paul Ricard.
£25
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Moss flat cap
It’s that time of year again… and what better way to get your Goodwood on than by getting your order in early for a classic tweed flat cap – a staple piece of clothing for the upcoming Revival. This one’s made from British wool, woven in Yorkshire, and is simply a class act m’lad…
£35
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McLaren Triple Crown poster
You’ve got to hand it to Automobilist, they don’t hang around! McLaren only took the wraps off its special Triple Crown commemorative livery days ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, and yet the master poster designer has already created an homage to it. The three colours celebrate the individual liveries the McLaren MP4/2, M16D and F1 GT cars wore during their success at the Monaco Grand Prix, Indy 500 and Le Mans 24 Hours.
£56
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About the Motor Sport shop
With hundreds of special and unique racing-themed products, and many new items regularly added, the Motor Sport shop is aimed at both serious and casual collectors with a wide range of prices to suit your budget.
The expert view
Worth-less stuff?
It’s not always good news in the collectibles market, as there are often many factors outside of the control of owners that can cause values of their items to plummet, as well as pick up.
Books are a wonderful way to gain both knowledge and an impressive collection, and the rarities can quickly gain a lot of value. But what happens if they suddenly become not-so rare?
For example, there was a wonderful book released back in 2009 called Senna: Memories and Mementoes. The book itself was great with facsimile copies of things like Ayrton’s race licence, autographed team paraphernalia, letters, etc. Originally it wasn’t that expensive, around £40 a copy, but it soon rose to be worth over £200 as people cottoned on to it. But then it was reprinted; in big numbers. Suddenly the originals fell back down, as you could buy a new copy easily online.
We saw the same thing with the Stirling Moss Scrapbook series. There were four volumes in total, but 1955 was by far the most popular due to his Mille Miglia and British GP success. Copies of that rose north of £150, and then it was reprinted and, bang, back down again. There are exceptions to the rule. Publisher Porter Press also did a limited-edition leather-bound version, all of which were numbered and signed by Moss and Philip Porter, essentially locking-in the value.
This devaluation happens in other areas too, such as large-sized wall art. If you bought a limited print of an A0 or A1 artwork when they were all the rage a few years ago, you may struggle to sell it on as trends have gone away from large-scale art (with exceptions, hat doff to artist Emma Capener et al). Collectors don’t tend not to have the wall space anymore, and if they do it’s only for one special piece. Tastes have also changed.
Early models by Exoto were very collectible. But over time the plastic parts have warped and model-making technology has moved on (as has Exoto). Sometimes the older stuff isn’t as appealing anymore. Ultimately, buy what you like and enjoy it.
Andrew Francis is director at The Signature Store, thesignaturestore.co.uk