Yahoo News Alton Towers swan set to sell for ridiculous sum after sparking fierce eBay bidding war
Alton Towers fans have gone crazy for a swan boat that previously graced the theme park's lake - with a bidding war reaching half a million pounds. The plastic swan has attracted bids of more than £500,000 since being listed for sale n eBay.
It is one of around a dozen that used to glide across the water in front of the Towers between 1987 and 2003 before being sold off at auction.
But the current owner is now looking to part with his swan which currently graces a garden in Leek. A total of 14 bids have been submitted so far with the first made by Graham Langley, who was willing to part with £500 for a slice of theme park nostalgia.
Graham, 39, said: "I remember them being in the adverts. The swan, in my eyes, was the icon of Alton Towers and they had about a dozen of them in the lake where Mutiny Bay is now.
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"The adverts were very gloomy, and then you saw these swans, and they were amazing. I’ve been on the hunt for one for years.
"There’s one at a pub somewhere up there, but I believe they were all just sold off at a local auction."
According to the listing, the swan is five metres by two metres and could take up to six people to lift. The seller suggests it would be ideal as a planter or seating.
The seller had initially listed the swan on Facebook, with no luck. Fortunes quickly changed once the item was listed on eBay, as Graham explains: "I was outbid pretty quickly.
"Yesterday morning it was at £35,000, with about 40 watches, and now it’s at £500,000. The crazy thing is, you could have a load of them made for that, but obviously it’s an original."
Graham, from Berkshire, described himself as a 'massive fan' of the North Staffordshire theme park, saying: "I was 13 or 14 when I first went. I’ve been hooked since then.
"There’s something about Alton Towers, a certain magic and majesty about the place. There’s no other place like it."
Graham, a collector of film memorabilia, says he was close to bidding on a log from Alton Towers’ log flume last month, but the swan is the first item he has made a bid for. He said: "The stuff that sells on eBay is just ludicrous.
"They’ve just revamped Nemesis, for instance, and one bolt from Nemesis can sell for up to £800. I should imagine there were tens of thousands of bolts on it."
On who could possibly be behind a bid of £500,100 for the swan boat, Graham said: "Alton Towers is one of the world’s most famous theme parks, and I know a lot of famous people go there. Tom Cruise hired the whole park out about a decade ago.
"So, with that in mind, I think there’s probably some famous people who have their eye on it, they might want it for a lake at their home. When it was at £35k, I thought ‘do Alton Towers want one back?’. Now it’s at that kind of money, it’s obviously someone very wealthy."
Bidding closes on Saturday, with Graham theorising the price 'could double' before the time is up.
