Ronnie Barker's lucky coin goes under the hammer

Ronnie Barker’s lucky penny is to go under the hammer this month, with an estimate of up to £5,000.

The comic was given the coin as change from a bus ticket he brought to go to a job interview at the Oxford Playhouse which changed the course of his life.

It is being sold by East Bristol Auctions on  June 19 along with a handwritten letter which explains: ‘This is the actual penny change from the sixpence I gave to the bus conductor for a fivepenny fare to the Oxford Playhouse on the day I went for my interview to get a job.

‘From that day to this I have been lucky in my work. PS – I have had it polished, of course.’

The letter is dated April 1980, 25 years before Barker died at the age of 76, but gives no other detail.

His big break came when he was working at the theatre in the early 1950s

Auctioneer Andrew Stowe told the Guardian: ‘It’s not just an old penny – it’s a vital part of our British comedy heritage. It’s amazing that Ronnie kept this coin so long… [it] really must have meant a lot to him.’

Also going under the hammer at the sale of entertainment memorabilia is an undated letter Barker wrote to John Cleese, but containing nothing more revealing than the confirmation of a lunch date in Acton, West London. Its estimate is around £250.

And an original script for the Two Ronnies sketch High Nigh, written under Barker’s pen name of Gerald Wiley is set to fetch £200 to £300.

There are also several signed photographs and prints, including a caricature of Eddie Izzard by mentalist Derren Brown, left, who autographed it.

Published: 10 Jun 2020