Regular viewers of British TV show Four Rooms are unlikely to have forgotten the largest and perhaps most spectacular object to be sold on the show: A nose cone from a British Airways Concorde sold by curator of the British Airways museum, Paul Jarvis.
| Concordre taking off in its glory days |
Looking to raise funds for the museum, Jarvis sold the extraordinary piece for £55,000 ($89,200) to dealer Andrew Lamberty, correctly assessing that the sharp-suited dealer would pay him the most for it.
Indeed, it was obvious that Lamberty was really keen to buy the nose cone, as he was almost shaking as the sale was made. He believes that the cone, one of two spares that British Airways owned, would be the last to come to market
Despite the hard bargaining over the price, the dealer has had no difficulty whatsoever in selling it on. One of his regular clients contacted him also as soon as the show was over, making him an offer for the cone.
The price they've arrived at is £100,000 ($162,200), representing a substantial profit for the dealer.
 The £100,000 Concorde nose cone sold in Four Rooms |
We've commented before on the great potential for Concorde memorabilia as an alternative investment.
Last year, a collection of Concorde memorabilia at Regency Superior which included flight covers, FDCs, photo cards and autographed covers (mostly crew member signed) soared past its $2,000-3,000 listing to hit $18,720.
In a Toulouse auction in 2007, a set of Concorde landing gear sold for $36,000 whilst a machmeter (a device which shows the ratio of the true airspeed to the speed of sound) estimated at €1,500 to €2,500, sped to €29,000 ($41,600).
It seems that the Four Rooms dealers are generally not having too much difficulty in shifting their merchandise. Emma Hawkins has also mentioned that she has already sold some of the collectibles bought on the show.
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