Hansons Auctioneers to auction off Newark resident’s collection of 100 vintage school rubbers
A quirky collection of more than 100 vintage rubbers belonging to a Newark resident are set to be auctioned off.
Despite being more used to handling fine silver, porcelain, and paintings, Hansons Auctioneers are set to auction off a collection of more than 100 1980s school rubbers in a huge variety of shapes, sizes, brands, and colours at a guide price of £70 to £100.
Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, said that the rubbers had unleashed a “tidal-wave of childhood nostalgia”.
“Nostalgia, particularly childhood nostalgia, is very powerful in the world of antiques and collectibles. People like sentimental objects that connect them to happy memories, hence the buoyant toy market. It may seem crazily quirky, but these rubbers fit the nostalgia category too.
“Faces lit up in our Etwall saleroom when the collection came in, and the smell of the old rubbers took me back to my school days in 1985.
“They sparked childhood memories of summer trips to stationery shops to choose pens, pencils - and rubbers - for those back-to-school pencil cases.
“The rubber was an all-important staple of school life, not only to rub out mistakes, but to lend to friends and display a dash of personal style. As children go back to the classroom, history is no doubt repeating itself. Life and technology has moved on but most pupils, and people, still own a rubber.”
The set coming to auction includes rubbers in the shape of cats, dogs, dinosaurs, ice creams, a burger, cheese, a padlock, an octopus, and many more, as well as pencil-top rubbers and examples made to advertise washing powders Persil, Tide, Daz, and Fairy Snow.
Charles said: “The history of the rubber is interesting. People made mistakes and tried to correct them long before the eraser was invented. Rough bits of sandstone or pumice were utilised to remove ink from parchment or papyrus. In Japan, they used soft bread.
“But a chance event in England did much to pave the way to the rubbers we know today.”
Around 1770, English optician and scientific instrument maker Edward Nairne inadvertently picked up a piece of natural rubber instead of breadcrumbs - which at that time were used to erase marks - and found the rubber did the job better.
He started selling rubbers at his shop in London, for three shillings per half-inch cube, a high price back then, but this type of rubber crumbled easily, was sensitive to weather and didn’t smell very nice, so in 1839 an American chemist called Charles Goodyear invented a method of curing rubber called vulcanization, which made the commercial production of erasers viable.
“I hope we can unite this collection with a new owner who appreciates the retro style and nostalgia of the 1980s,” Charles added, “The collectors’ market is ever-changing so who knows what they may make. I
“They might just rub bidders up the right way.”
The rubbers will be offered in Hansons Auctioneers’ Antiques and Collectors Auction on September 19-24, at www.hansonsauctioneers.co.uk
