Guinness World Record lawnmower collection by Sheffield man and friend includes Trump golf course machine

Andrew Hall, 65, and Michael Duck, 74, have spent years amassing historic mowers including the world’s first motor mower and the third oldest push mower - 'which set the design for all the lawnmowers today’.

The pair even have a vintage lawnmower from President Trump’s golf course in Scotland and an early motor mower purchased by King Edward VII for Balmoral Castle in the early 1900s.

Andrew and Michael set a Guinness World Record in 2000 for the largest collection of vintage mowers at 790.

But that has since doubled and their world-beating collection now stands at over 1,500.

The pair often travel to exhibitions and shows across the country with rare selections from their collection - showing the evolution of the lawn and motor mowers over the decades.

Michael loves mowers because his interest is putting the "'Great' back into Britain", and Andrew, a born collector, said: "I spent all my life within horticulture and love the history of it.

"I was always taught if you have a problem, then go back to the beginning and follow it through!

"My journey has taken me through the untold history of the development of the lawn mower, it is just fascinating!

“We’ve got something we know people want to see!”

Andrew admits the standout favourite for him amidst the significant collection is the 1858 Budding Improved lawnmower - the third oldest in the world.

He explained: “This mower is an icon because of what it represents. It’s the most important mower in design that exists in the world.

“It is the improvement of the original invention. The one we’ve got is the whole history and it really changed the whole goal post.

“The vital improvement made to the design is placing the roller in front of the cutting cylinder, meaning it can ride a hill.

''That is the design for all of the lawnmowers now today, even the modern mowers.

“The problem with the original was Edwin Budding had put the roller behind the cutting cylinder blade - which meant when there was a hill, it would gauge it out instead of roll smoothly over it, and that was its main problem.”

The invention required two people to move it: one guiding it from the behind and another pulling the handle from the front.

Andrew said: “It took the improvement to really send the invention astronomical.”

Michael added: “It’s Andrew’s pride and joy.”

Andrew, who was born in Sheffield and moved to Somerset around 20 years ago, said it only cost him £50 to purchase the unique mower last year - but it cost “a lot more” in shipping costs.

He explained: “I couldn’t believe it! When this one was new, it was around seven pounds, eight shillings and so many pence.

“If you do the inflation on that, I bet it comes out around £15,000 to £16,000.”

They explained how back in the day, the method in which the devices’ cost was calculated was by its weight.

“A lot of the old mowers were made such raw materials such as cast iron - so the price of the machine would be the price of the material times by the weight of the machine", explained Andrew.

However, steel was used to replace cast iron in the 1930s because it was easier to cut and was less likely to break upon impact, followed by plastic.

He said generally the mowers got “smaller and more compact” as the decades went on.

Michael and Andrew also have a Series 1 Ransomes, Sims & Jeffries Patent Motor mower - which is the oldest pedestrian motor mower known and is the only one in existence outside of the museum circuit in the world.

Not only is it “bl**dy heavy”, says Andrew, but it is "extremely rare" and was made in 1905 - when it was worth £125.

Andrew said: “Houses back then were only about £60 or £70! It was astronomical!”

Owning the invention has put the pair ‘on the map’ since they met in the early 1980s.

They now have 1,500 mowers between then - but Andrew admitted “when my wife is around we don’t count!”

One mower is called a President was made in the States in the 1890s and came from Trump's Golf Course in Scotland which is at Turnberry.

The pair, who go by The Hall & Duck Trust, house lawn mowers from the 1830s to the 1940s as well as other period turf care equipment, and they are listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Both were independent collectors and enthusiasts as teenagers before they crossed paths, with Michael attending Barrington Court for Sir Ian Lyle as an apprentice gardener, and Andrew studying at Sheffield Botanical Gardens and then lecturing later on as a trained horticulturalist.

Andrew said: “We all need to collect things, it’s good for us.

“We all work for a living, you need time to go out into your own world.

“People who stop working after 40 or 50 years, if they don’t have anything to go to, they drop dead!

“Where some people see with, for example, vinyl covers and colours - which are fantastic - it is the same for us, but we see chains and gears.

“It’s exactly the same. It’s a spectrum.”

Michael is responsible for the restoring of the lawn mowers, which includes repairing and sometimes replacing their parts, as well as repainting them. He taught himself how to do this.

Andrew added: “We do everything here, if a part is missing we find it, if it needs resorting - we do them up. It’s all part of the fun.”

Other mowers they have in their collection range from the deemed ‘Ladies Machine’, made by Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies in the 1900s to 1930s, a replica of the world’s first lawnmower 'the Budding Patent' produced in 1832, and the 1902 world’s first motorised mower - which had a seat fitted.

When it comes to acquiring their “prized possessions”, the pair say they use a numerous amount of sources - but they were a lot cheaper to source decades ago.

Michael said: “In the past it was all about people you know just giving you devices.

“Someone would say ‘oh we’ve got an old mower, why don’t you take a look?’ and it went from there.

“In those days people would give you anything, but now days it is rare.

“It is often about the money and how much you’re willing to pay.”

Andrew and Michael both use other mower enthusiasts, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and their shows and exhibitions to find their lawn mowers and parts.

They are also members of AIM, the Association of Independent Museums.

Andrew runs the vintage horticulture section at Gloucestershire Annual Vintage and Country Extravaganza, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and the Malvern Autumn Show.