Antique tools to go under hammer.

Byline: SARA THOMAS 

MORE than 500 lovingly restored tools, amassed over 30 years by a collector are to go under the hammer next week.

Auctioneer and estate agent John Lewis, of Penmaenmawr, built up the collection from rusty and unwanted planes, chisels, spirit levels and braces left over at the end of his sales.

He painstakingly repaired and restored them and by the time of his death in 1998, they took over an entire bedroom of his home in Fernbrook Road. Now, his widow, Beryl, has decided to sell the collection.

She said: "It's taken me 10 years to come to the decision but I've made my mind up. John loved them so much but now it's time for them to go. They were all over the walls and they filled one room. I just hope they go to collectors who will cherish them as much as he did."

The collection will be sold in a sale of fine art and antiques by Colwyn Bay auctioneer Rogers Jones & Co next Tuesday and is expected to generate local and national interest. They believe the collection is the biggest to be offered locally in living memory.

David Rogers Jones said: "I first met John Lewis in 1959 when I commenced my articles with a firm of auctioneers and estate agents in Bangor.

"John had been for some time in charge of the Bangor branch of Jones & Beardmore, one of a group of auctioneers and estate agents stretching from Bangor along the North Wales coast to Prestatyn.

"John later became a senior partner with the company."

The collection comprises many rare and now seldom seen carpenter's tools, the most valuable of which is an "Ultimatum" brass and ebony brace by Marples with original owner's name, Rhys Griffiths, which is estimated at pounds 200-300.

A fine brass and rosewood shoulder plane by Cosgrove is estimated at pounds 150-200, while a brass soled hammer plane by Mathieson with hardwood infill and original oak handle is estimated at pounds 100-150.

A variety of moulding planes will be sold in lots comprising small quantities, while the collection also includes mortice gauges, brass-topped levels, screwdrivers, sets of chisels and a variety of old trade catalogues and collectors' books.

Viewing for the sale is on Sunday from 1.30-4.30 and from 9am on the morning of the sale, which starts at 10.30am.. For more information about the sale, telephone [phone] or email: [e-mail] [e-mail]

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Antique tools from the collection of John Lewis (above) of Penmaenmawr are being auctioned at Colwyn Bay