A CARRIAGE enthusiast will say goodbye to his historic collection when it goes under the hammer of one of Reading's most famous auctioneers.

John Mauger is putting his collection up for sale at Thimbleby and Shorland in Great Knollys Street having left the company as a senior partner in 1993. It includes model carriages and other items.

Mr Mauger said: "I will be sad to see the collection go. We moved from a large farm house in East Anglia to a much smaller house in Dorset to be closer to our family but we didn't have as much room."

John began working at the auctioneers in 1957 and oversaw the sale of 17,000 carriages in his time with Thimbleby and Shorland.

But his love affair did not begin until 1961 when he was asked to sell a carriage collection belonging to the British Lion film studios (BLF).

A couple of years later John founded the now world famous Reading Carriage Sales department at the auctioneers from where his own collection will be sold next week.

John, also known as the Godfather of Reading Carriage Sales, said: "George Mossman from BLF introduced me to carriage sales.

"His job was to handle the commercial carriage work for BLF and had been given the opportunity to buy the carriages before the surplus ones went up for auction with us.

"It was then that I fell in love. The smell of leather, the wood finish and the beautiful carriages were just too much to resist.

"After that the Reading Carriage Sales soon became the central carriage selling house for the world. Carriages came in not just from the continent but from the USA and Australia as well with many of them being bought by other foreigners who would then take them abroad again.

"People used to say Reading was known for its biscuits but that soon became carriages as well."

Amongst the collection are two of John's personal favourites namely a 1:8 miniature of a C-Spring Brougham carriage and a 1:8 miniature of a C-Spring Victoria carriage, both dating back to the mid-19th Century.

Both were made by the renowned and highly skilled craftsman Eric Homewood who was a carriage restorer for the National Trust.

The collection also includes a 19th century Holly dog leg road whip made in memory of J W Selby, a famous coachman who set the London to Brighton return trip record in 1888, completing it just months before he died, in seven hours and fifty minutes.

John added: "People don't realise how much carriage driving there is out there.

"There are competitive and show driving events and people just enjoying carriages around country lanes. They are also very popular for weddings, funerals, TV and film."