Saturday, January 23, 2010

Ticket - No ride

How much would you pay for an airline ticket when the aircraft has already left? From the History Today blog:
Neville Chamberlain flew to Munich to meet Hitler at 8.30am on September 29th, 1938, on a British Airways flight. The following day, Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain and Daladier signed the Munich Agreement. Chamberlain’s plane ticket was recently discovered amongst the papers of George William Denny MBE, one of the founders of British Airways. It is due to be auctioned by Mullock’s in Ludlow, Shropshire, on January 19th and is expected to fetch up to £7,000. Further information is available on the website of Mullock's Auctioneers.

Mullock's said:
This is possibly the only opportunity for collectors to acquire an item of memorabilia relating to that epic flight. Papers concerned with the Munich Treaty are naturally state papers and unavailable. This small piece of paper therefore remains in its way one of the most important items available to collectors of 20th Century history. Note: another part of this ticket was sold for 13,600 pounds at Christie's London in 1992
From History Today's post of 21st January;
The final selling price was considerably higher than expected. The ticket sold for £9,280. Richard Westwood-Brookes from Mullock’s Auctioneers was unable to tell me the name of the buyer, but confirmed this morning that he was a private individual. It is also believed that the British buyer purchased the ticket with the view to donating it to a British museum.

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