Armstrong Auctions appointed to sell 91-year-old Russell Gregg’s vintage collection
This has been a lifetime of usage, collecting and restoration, and Russell is delighted that everything can now find a new home.
Russell Gregg was born on the land near Convoy in County Donegal. His father died when he was 14, so he left school, and took on the family farm. In 1944 Donegal, the horse was his tractor, and horse drawn implements and hand tools were his day’s work.
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In 1964, with wife and family he moved to farm in Co. Tyrone, and later in life worked on farms in Co Antrim and Co Down. It was his early days of working the land in Donegal with horses and hand tools that spawned his interest in collecting and preserving the implements and tools of the pre-war years.
In 1977 he took up work as a Herdsman with Blakiston Houston Estates, looking after calf management and a large dairy herd. Retiring in 1994 after 50 years on the land, he immersed himself in collecting and lovingly restoring the tools and implements of his past. From a Horse Drawn Potato digger to a Hay Knife, a Turnip Slicer to a Turf spade, to a Cross Cut Saw, Russell collected and restored them.
Throughout his life the need to grow and cultivate was always present and he is still an enthusiastic gardener, growing vegetables, fruits and flowers.
Jack Blakiston Houston remarked that “although Russell retired some time ago, he remains a much admired figure at Carrowreagh where he still lives. The knowledge, care and attentiveness of farming he retains is shown through these wonderful pieces of machinery which really demonstrate a different era of farming and are a rare collection which would be very well displayed.”
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Different people over the years had offered to buy different items from him, but he never wanted to say yes to one friend and no to another for the same item, so an auction was agreed as the best way to solve that problem.
With the decision made to auction, the question turned to the man with the hammer, and it was agreed that James Armstrong, who had recently conducted a sale of surplus farm machinery for BH Estates on site at Dundonald, was to be instructed.
As far as Armstrong Auctions are concerned, James Armstrong said: “I’m really looking forward to this sale! It is always an honour and a privilege to be asked to do this kind of thing, and I am delighted to help to find new homes for this collection.”
Russell Gregg’s collection will be sold by Timed Online Auction at www.armstrongauctions.co.uk with online bidding concluding on Thursday, 24th June 2021.