Clock collection fetches £98,000

Clock collection fetches £98,000 .Clocks collected by a 91-year-old man, who died earlier this year, raised £38,000 more than expected when they were sold at an auction in Kent.
Leslie Brundle was a carpenter and self-taught horologist who restored antique clocks and also made his own.

The Canterbury Auction Galleries said Mr Brundle's modest Margate home gave no hint of its contents when he died.

The extensive private collection was expected to raise £60,000 but fetched £98,000 when it was sold on Tuesday.


'Standing like soldiers'

"I knew he was a collector; I had no idea of the quality of his collection," auctioneer Anthony Pratt said.

He said Mr Brundle's three-bedroom semi was full of clocks, including 15 grandfather clocks and more than 60 wall and mantel clocks.

"There were clocks everywhere, eight or 10 on every wall, behind doors and standing like soldiers in every room.

"It was like stepping into a clockmaker's workshop."

Mr Brundle was born in London in 1912 and moved to Margate, Kent, when he was a small boy.

'Too shy to bid'

He spent all his life in Thanet and worked as a carpenter producing doors, windows and general joinery work for the building trade....