Collectables

Right at the top of the price lists for a London sale of a second portion of the library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Earl Fairhaven, was a lot that presented a handsomely bound collection of 15 very fine watercolour on vellum drawings of flowers.

A pair of militaria highlights related to Irish regiments that came up in recent auctions.

The auction at Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium) on December 15 included two presentation first editions by Sylvia Plath.

A rare Second World War helmet worn by members of a little-known unit of the UK home front comes for sale at Sworders on February 7.

A selection of militaria with solid Sussex interest appeared at Lewes saleroom Wallis & Wallis (22% buyer’s premium).

Specialist buyers turn out in force to bid for rusty ‘warts and all’ weapons amassed by dealer-collector

Models produced for promotional purposes usually benefit from considerable rarity value and so it proved when a Dinky toy came up for auction at Stockton-on-Tees saleroom Vectis.

Considered one of the best British movies about the Second World War, the British quad-sized poster for 'The Dam Busters' (1955) was not too bad either.

Clare Wabe of Molly and Harlequin specialises in antique maps and prints with a focus on natural history, though the stock ranges wider.

Top price at the Ewbank’s (25% buyer’s premium) poster auction on January 6 came for a design that was a work of art in itself.

An inscription bearing Winston Churchill’s signature and dated 1948 found in a single volume of his famous history of the Second World War that came to auction in Cumbria was believed to be authentic.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Easter Rising republic proclamation and Wolfe Tone’s revolutionary tract are sold on home turf.

A December 6 auction in Exeter was dominated by a lot estimated at just £40-60 but sold instead at £24,000.

Having featured prominently on television in a specially made part of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, Paddington Bear hardly needs any more publicity.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

Among the most eagerly contested lots in a sale of vintage posters was a set of three unrestored advertising posters by the Tuscany-born, Paris-based Leonetto Cappiello (1875-1942).

A collectors’ timed online sale at Mallams (25% buyer’s premium) included a group lot of early 20th century juvenalia owned by a key figure in Second World War naval intelligence.

The Star Wars collecting world has been rocked by the discovery of a cache of original action figures still packed in original Kenner factory shipping boxes.