One of the biggest collections of Isle of Man motorcycle racing memorabilia went under the hammer at the weekend.

The special sale, at the Isle of Man Motor Museum in Jurby, consisted of a massive 518 lots, many from the estate of broadcaster, commentator and TT press officer Geoff Cannell.

Mr Cannell’s daughter, Zoe, said it had been an emotional day, with some sadness to see the items going but she said it was also uplifting to see the buyers’ delight with what they had bought.

’We’ve not been able to work out a grand total yet, in terms of what it made,’ she said.

’But it was a great success, going on for more than five and a half hours from beginning to end. There were two auctioneers handling it and it was enjoyable and professionally run.

’We understand that in addition to the people actually present in the room, there was a lot of international interest as well.’

In some cases people were buying to complete an existing collection.

’People were clearly really pleased with what they bought so it makes far more sense for them to have the items than us. The post cards we sold were phenomenal, with a lot of them going for £45 each. I’d never have guessed the value,’ she added.

A further sale is planned for later in the year but no date has yet been finalised.

The sale included a large number of photographs, race programmes and autographs, all of which proved very popular, with two sets from the 1950s selling for £250 apiece and several others selling for £180-90.

One of the highest individual sellers was a lot of three photograph albums: Manx Grand Prix, 1948 to 1952, containing many autographed photographs, which went for £600. An autographed book containing 38 pages of autographs went for £420.