About

Run by husband and wife Jonathan and Sarah Torode, Excalibur Auctions is a family-owned auction house which was established in February 2016. Stemming from Jonathan being a toy and model enthusiast, he knew there wasn’t a specialist toy auction house for him to buy at locally; a gap in the market for the Home Counties and South East was found and Excalibur was born!

Here at Excalibur we try and make buying and selling as easy and transparent as possible, putting you and your special items at the heart of everything we do. We pride ourselves in our knowledge as collectables and memorabilia specialists, sticking to what we know and offering our skills and expertise to buyers and vendors alike. Our genuine passion and enthusiasm for auctioneering is not only reflected in the results we produce, but also in the saleroom both online and in-person, as we aim to create an entertaining atmosphere for you all to enjoy

Who and What are Excalibur Auctions?

Jonathan Torode is our principal auctioneer and lead valuer for all items relating to model railways (e.g. Hornby / Bachmann / Fleischmann / Wrenn / Marklin) and diecast toys and vehicles (e.g. Dinky / Matchbox / Corgi) as well as being Sarah's long suffering husband! He’s been a collector for many years of all of the above! His knowledge and love of this specialist area is evident in the saleroom and when talking to people about their collections. One of Jonathan’s favourite sayings is: ‘You have auctions of toys and models and then you have toy and model auctioneers – there’s a world of difference’.

Sarah Torode is our main administrator and lynchpin of the business, responsible for making all our auctions hang together and ensuring that all our vendors get paid on time as well as being Jonathan's long suffering wife! She also takes to the rostrum in order to give Jonathan a well earned break - an increasing worry to Jonathan as the customers don't like it when his break is over! The extensive research she undertook when cataloguing the recent autograph auctions has also created a new interest in social history. We work closely with several people whose knowledge is renowned in this field to ensure that the best possible prices are achieved at auction.

Terry is Sarah and Jonathan's long suffering comic specialist! He joined Excalibur in 2020 in a part time freelance role, becoming an employed full time comic specialist in September 2022 when the comics auctions increased to every other month.

As a keen collector of mainly Marvel comics, he's quite happy being paid to read comics all day!

He has a passion for kitkats and won't entertain the idea of flavoured crisps.

Tom is Excalibur's newest recruit as the full time pop culture, movie and music specialist. He is cultivating our collectors' cavern auctions to include more retro gaming, trading cards and other 'cool stuff' that could grace the swankiest of man (woman) caves!

He's another keen comic collector, but also loves movies having studied film at university.

He has a fondness for white chocolate, and you can usually tell where he is in the building from the loud singing!

Ange is Excalibur's (particularly Sarah's) right-hand woman. Full time office manager, her main daily chore is generally keeping all the others organised and working hard. You can usually find her clearing out a cupboard, or nose deep in a spreadsheet.

She's a keen AFOL (adult fan of lego) and has taken on coordinating the specialist lego auctions.

She has a fondness for beef crisps and a crisp sauvignon blanc - usually at the same time!

Kevin is the warehouse manager (but don't tell him!) He does a bit of everything from packing parcels, to photography (watch out for the hidden gems amongst the lot photos!), organising, sorting and tea making. He's usually the person who answers the door to visitors, and helps customers with collecting their purchases

He has an interest in all things Ancient Roman and is fond of practical jokes and winding up the rest of the team, especially Jonathan.

Ryan is Kevin's long suffering son and Excalibur's logistics manager there's nothing he can't pack to within an inch of its life! He is a freelance consultant with another business he runs along with being the company's chief of packing and posting.

With an interest in Pokemon trading cards, Star Wars, Batman and lego, he also helps with photography auction lotting

He has a fondness for cider and walking up mountains raising money for charity

Who We Are

To find out more please don’t hesitate to contact us –

we’ll be happy to talk you through the process,

answer any questions you might have and tell you a bit more about us!