A wrecking ball once sat on by Naomi Campbell among weird items set to go under the hammer
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A wrecking ball once sat on by Naomi Campell is among the weird and peculiar items going under the hammer from two of the UK’s most eccentric shops. The pendulum made out of fibreglass was used by the British supermodel as part of a car safety campaign, and is part of a collection that decorated the walls of TMB Vape Lab Ltd.
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Auctioneer Paul Cooper said he was brought in by liquidators after the business ceased trading in March. He described being “amazed” at the variety of memorabilia he found at the Sutton-in-Ashfield and Mansfield shops, and dubbed the two stores two of the country’s “most eccentric”.
Other items found in the quirky haul is a miniature yellow submarine and a door that was once part of one of the UK’s most imposing prisons. Paul said: “We did know there was some unusual stuff heading our way but we were still amazed by what came out of the fleet of delivery vehicles that arrived at our Scunthorpe auction centre.
“The demolition wrecking ball is the prop that was used in a famous Vauxhall ad back in the early 1990s. The carmaker wanted to highlight the fact that its new Corsa had side impact bars.
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“What better way to get everyone’s attention than to have supermodel Naomi Campbell photographed riding a giant iron ball being swung at the little car?”
Mr Cooper, who is the director at Eddisons, said the action will showcase the peculiar range of items found in the two shops. He said he was most fascinated to come across a 50-year-old yellow miniature submarine, which has previously been used for mine detection.
He said: “I gather the idea was to give the shops a quirky edge – and the collection just kept on growing. A director of the company told one of my colleagues ‘We didn’t go looking for it – it came to us’.
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“The miniature submarine was a particular highlight, of course, the first submarine we’ve ever had for auction. It’s a remotely operated craft, developed by the French company ECA in the early 1970s for mine detection.
“Royal Navy minehunters were equipped with these ‘Poisson Auto-Propulses’ (Self-Propelled Fish’) and they sold off a number of them when their working days were over – which is how one ended up in a Nottinghamshire vape shop.”
Paul added that a door that once stood in HM Prison Leicester was also among the impressive finds that would be put under the hammer. He added: “The vintage prison door is reputed to have come from Leicester, one of the most impressive-looking jails in the country.
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“It was opened in 1828 and built in a castle style, with 30-foot perimeter walls, the highest in the country. The prison has been enlarged and changed numerous times over the past two centuries and historically it was not unusual for items to be sold off or salvaged when such work was being done so it could well be from there.”
Other unusual items that came out of the two vape shops include church windows, life-size model carol singers, and even some of the filming lights once used at the Carlton Television’s Nottingham studios. The items are going under the hammer in an online auction that ends at 1 pm on Wednesday April 26 at Eddisons auctioneers.
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