The seller is Angela Sampford - Nick Sampfords widow.
All I know about Nick was that he had amassed a huge collection of vintage pyro. About 10 years ago I started collecting and I bought a few things from him through Ebay.
We started to chat about vintage pyro and spoke on the phone several times. When he realised that I was just starting my collection, he sent me loads of very old Wells' labels (pre WW2) for nothing and sold me quite a few bangers and jumping jacks for virtually nothing. He was mad about British vintage pyro and was keen to help anyone start up collecting. I think he personally knew a few of the last people to work at Wells.
I never met him face to face, but form our telephone conversations and email correspondence, he was very interesting to talk to and very generous with his collection.
Unfortunately in April 2006, I received an email from Anne (his sister??) to say that Nick had died suddenly in his sleep. Apparently he suffered from obesity.
Angela has been disposing of Nicks collection through Ebay for years now.
Edited by Rip Rap, 16 December 2015 - 12:35 PM.