Collectables

Greywacke sculpture headlines a series of high-flying results including £66,000 double bass

A handsome group of eight volumes commemorating the Great Exhibition of 1851 sold in Exeter had been presented to one of its commissioners, England’s serial Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone.

An English all-wooden doll originally presented by Queen Charlotte to her goddaughter sold for $200,000 (£148,000) at a US auction.

Described as being a little fragile but otherwise good, this Victorian transformation game was drawn on both sides of a single sheet of cut and folded paper.

A rare, early 20th century Fischer tin clown tricycle wind-up toy sold for a premium-inclusive $2300 (£1725) despite not being in working condition.

Not just Harry Potter but also Tolkien and CS Lewis works generate serious demand in US

A new American firm, LCG (Legacy Collectibles Group) Auctions, sold what it described as “the highest graded Cobra Commander GI Joe action figure in existence” in a timed sale last year.

Pedal cars are regular visitors to salerooms but rarer powered versions were also produced for children to use, partly for road safety training

Before the crash of the R101 during its maiden voyage to France in October 1930, there had been great excitement around the potential of the airship.

At the top end of the budget for ski poster enthusiasts are the Art Deco images promoting Gstaad.

Certain areas became hubs for the manufacture of toys, such as Nuremberg and Erzgebirge in Germany.

These days, marketing a doll as Sindy’s saucy sister would be problematic. And the less said about outfits titled Hockey Honey or School Days, the better.

Rare Japanese Meiji gold coin emerges at auction in West Sussex

A sword sold at Kent auction house C&T (22% buyer’s premium) belonged to a British Antarctic explorer who died in 1912 – but not with Robert Falcon Scott.

A selection of these functional but fascinating objects that have appeared at recent sales

Munich auction house Hermann Historica (25% buyer’s premium) regularly turns up showstopping lots of arms and armour and the star of the latest sales series was a weapon that was always designed to impress on every level.

Bidding on an exceptionally fine, virtually mint first edition of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone offered in the special Firsts into Film section of a December 9-10 sale opened at $75,000.

Milestone Auctions recorded some buoyant prices for rare variants of toy motorcycles in its sale last October (see ATG No 2516).

The most unusual armour lot to emerge in recent sales was the late 16th century German brass parade cuirass which made £86,000 at Thomas Del Mar (20% buyer’s premium) in London on December 8.

The surprise lot at the sale held on December 11 by Ripon auction house Elstob & Elstob (22% buyer’s premium) was this 19th century Russian hunting dagger.