Retired fisherman sells radio-controlled boat collection for £20,000

Eccentric Pete Dixon, 75, started collecting the toy ships when he split up with his wife 30 years ago.

However, his hobby turned into an obsession, and he later spent tens of thousands of pounds on them over the years filling his privately rented home.

After they filled every room in his modest three-bedroom semi in Grimsby, he was told by the local council they present a fire hazard so he must downscale.

But Pete’s heartache turned to delight when the ships sold at auction last weekend – allowing him to buy a houseboat, which he plans to keep on Grimsby dock.

Auctioneer Carl Vince, 51, who helped sell every single one of Pete’s toys, described the day as 'absolutely unbelievable'.

A wooden haul boat called The Margaret fetched the highest price when it sold for £800 to a buyer.

Carl, of Prestige Auctions, said: “We had interest from all over the country and the rest of the world – including places like Sydney, Australia, somewhere in New Zealand and America.

“When you consider the average of each boat was £50 and above, that wasn’t too bad. We did have one boat there that made £800 and several at £400 and £500.

“Pete was oven the moon. His dream now is to go on and buy himself a boat on the dock in Grimsby, not really to take out to sea, but to live on and spend time on during the summer.

“He might just have a few quid now to spend on that.”

Carl said thousands of people had come to the auction house in Grimsby last weekend, with many simply interested to see the vast array of toy boats.

And when charismatic Pete turned up on Saturday morning (June 18), he was more than happy to give punters a guided tour of his collection.

Carl said: “Pete turned up at 8 o’clock on Saturday morning with his captain’s hat on and started giving people guided tours around the auction room of his boat collection.

“For the auction itself on Sunday, about 100 bidders were in the room and probably that and more online as well. “

The top-selling boat was The Margaret, a beautiful wooden haul ship, which went for £800, while Carl’s wife snapped up the lowest selling boat for just £10.

Carl said: “The Margaret is an extremely nice model. That was won by a gentleman in Lincolnshire. The lowest selling boat was bought by my wife, who believe it or not runs the office, and basically was so concerned that we might have one boat that didn’t sell, she bought it.

“So she ended up buying a small hover boat, which she really didn’t want, but that made sure that every single boat sold.”

Carl said 17 ships had been sold to a buyer in Ireland, while another 40 had gone to a successful bidder in Aberdeen.

But despite the huge interest, Pete said many punters who put down offers joked that buying a boat could cost them their marriage.

He said: “If we had a pound for every time we heard 'This will probably cause a divorce' then we’d probably be quite rich.”

Pete said: "I was sad to say goodbye to the collection, but it's great I've got some cash now for a new vessel."