The 93-year-old daughter of Dambusters inventor Sir Barnes Wallis has found herself embroiled in a dispute over the authenticity of marbles linked to the famous bouncing bomb. Elisabeth Gaunt, who inherited the glass toys that inspired her father's wartime innovation, was told by auctioneers that her collection could fetch up to £250,000. However, she was horrified to discover two other lots advertised for sale, both claiming to be the genuine marbles. Rumours of fake Wallis marbles circulating in the market meant that Mrs Gaunt's own marbles failed to attract a single bid at auction.
Exclusive ownership claim
Mrs Gaunt informed auctioneers Harper Field that she is the sole owner of the historic marbles and that the two lots they planned to sell were not authentic. The Gloucestershire auctioneers withdrew the lots after Mrs Gaunt stated: 'They are not his marbles, as I am the sole owner of the only marbles used to develop the bouncing bomb concept.'
Origin of the idea
For the first time, Mrs Gaunt revealed that it was she, not her father, who came up with the concept in the Wallises' garden in 1942. She used a catapult to fire her marbles across a water-filled tin tub. 'I had been playing with them in the garden anyway - and it was me that was using the catapult,' she recalled. Her father then developed the idea, and tests proved that backspin enabled a spherical projectile to skip across water, leading to the creation of weapons designed to bounce over torpedo nets and hit German dams. The 83rd anniversary of the Dambusters raid is next Saturday.
Investigation into sales
Richard Morris, author of a biography of Sir Barnes Wallis, investigated sales of supposed Dambusters marbles and found lots totalling more than £70,000 over the past decade. 'They have been dribbling out in two, threes and fours,' he added. Mrs Gaunt expressed her disgust: 'I feel absolutely disgusted. I hope this action we have taken stops others trying to sell fake marbles. The ones that were going to be auctioned next week look nothing like mine.'
Auction disappointment
Auctioneer Leo Denham had told Mrs Gaunt that her 57 marbles, kept in a Fuller's Peppermint Lumps box since she was eight, could sell for up to £250,000. However, at a sale at Denhams near Horsham in Surrey, not one bid was made, even at just £15,000. This contrasts with a previous auction in Bristol last September where just two marbles fetched £15,200. That sale went through despite Mrs Gaunt's daughter, Hils McKay, ringing the auctioneers on the day to say the marbles were not genuine. Mrs McKay said: 'I think the stories of fakes have made collectors nervous. My mother never let them out of her sight and has had them for well over 80 years, since she was seven or eight. In 1942, my grandfather came home and she was using them with a catapult, pinging them across a tub of water and he said, "let's have a go".'
Stuart Maule of Harper Field commented: 'They [the marbles] were consigned to us with unknown provenance to the vendor and, after consulting with the family, we decided not to proceed with the sale.'
