Latest News Articles by Tom Derbyshire
Photos show Maria Callas on and off stage
26 May 2025Stelios Galatopoulos (1932-2022) was a respected Greek music critic (Cypriot-born) who was based in London.
Casas creates a Catalan classic poster
26 May 2025Like Toulouse Lautrec, Ramon Casas y Carbo (1866-1932) was not only an avant-garde artist but a master poster maker and graphic designer.
Knife was wielded by an SAS founder who played billiards with ‘Paddy’ Mayne amid battle carnage
26 May 2025Shown here is a 1st Pattern Fairbairn Sykes fighting knife by Wilkinson, London that belonged to Major Charles George Gibson ‘Pat’ Riley DCM (1915-99), one of the founding members of ‘L’ Detachment, SAS Brigade in 1941.
Special medals of special forces leader
26 May 2025Woolley & Wallis is offering what it hails as a collection of military medals given to “one of Britain’s most distinguished soldiers of the 20th century”.
The 1932 Battle of Britain: Newcastle Utd v Rangers football programme nets £6500
26 May 2025One-off football ‘super cup’ style ties are nothing new, as a very much in demand programme offered at Telford saleroom Mullock Jones (20.5% buyer’s premium) demonstrated.
It just gets better for Spurs – Euro trophy win and success scored with auction bid
26 May 2025Now celebrating on-the-field success thanks to a 1-0 victory against Manchester United in the Europa League final on May 21, Spurs also came top in the saleroom seven days earlier.
Manchester football derby plays out in the saleroom
26 May 2025The fierce football rivalry between the Sky Blues and Red Devils led to a competition not on the pitch but on the rostrum thanks to the Graham Budd (24% buyer’s premium) two-day sale dubbed An Auction of Two Halves.
Excitement builds as Norman Wilkinson railway poster comes to auction
26 May 2025Terence Cuneo’s 'Giants Refreshed' poster for the LNER showing Pacific steam locomotives 'In the Doncaster Locomotive Works' is a well-known work.
Pick of the Week: Vulliamy’s public clocks
19 May 2025Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (1780-1854) was clockmaker to George III and also to The Prince Regent, later George IV.
US library purchases include letters on 17th century British Atlantic slave trade originally sold at UK auction
19 May 2025An American library has announced the purchase of six “exceptional collections” including letters shedding light on the early British Atlantic slave trade that were originally sold at a UK auction.
Witness to Napoleon’s death: fascinating letters emerge from a family archive
19 May 2025Letters found in family archive include first-hand accounts from St Helena in 1821
007 gold-plated 2CV model motors its way up to £2600
19 May 2025A Citroën 2CV toy car is not quite as glamorous as a Lotus Esprit, even when the full-size version helps to save James Bond in an epic chase.
Minerva with Medusa shield stands tall after £20,000 bid
19 May 2025Matthew Boulton’s inventory of stock in 1782 lists “1 small figure of Minerva”, according to Nicholas Goodison’s Ormolu: the Work of Matthew Boulton, 1974.
Right on cue: billiards and snooker books in demand
19 May 2025By the time H Turner’s book on billiards came out in 1849 (Northampton, printed for the author by JT Burgess) the game was hundreds of years old – with roots back to the 15th century.
‘Gargantuan’ ironclad rules the waves as super toy collection comes to auction in the US and UK
19 May 2025Ship models ruled the waves but railway toys were certainly on track too as two sales held either side of the Pond offered the collection of the late Tony Cuff.
David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Mick Rock and even Nasty Nick from EastEnders make for a highly entertaining Surrey auction
15 May 2025When three teenagers helped Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd’s roadies to lug their gear into Central Hall, Chatham, on December 1, 1967, they found themselves locked in with the stars.
Brave RAF Lancaster bomber pilot flew nine times in the 'Battle of Berlin'
05 May 2025Noonans’ Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria sale on April 9 included a rare group of medals awarded to Lancaster Bomber pilot, Warrant Officer, later Flight Lieutenant, Edward Sydney Ellis of 625 Squadron of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.