Collectables

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

Distinguished naval officer admired by Nelson was also a talented watercolour painter

The largest ever Anglo-Saxon gold coin hoard discovered in the UK has been declared treasure after a complex inquest into the case.

A previously unknown bill for furnishings supplied by Thomas Chippendale (1718-79) has been bought at auction on behalf of The Chippendale Society (TCS).

Multi-estimate sums are not confined to Chinese works of art.

Spider-Man became the most expensive comic book superhero in a Heritage (20% buyer’s premium) sale this autumn.

Poster market thought to be the first such specialist UK event will return for a second instalment

If you wanted to keep the strings of a tennis racket taut, you could do with a tennis racket press – a device consisting of a frame closed by a spring mechanism.

Top lot in a sale held by Mallams (25% buyer’s premium) of Oxford was a 1719-20, first edition set of 'The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe…', 'The Farther Adventures…' and 'The Serious Reflections…' in later but very smart bindings of red morocco gilt by Francis Bedford of London.

Before match programmes grew into the glossy mini-magazines of today they were relatively simple affairs – most just a single sheet printed on both sides.

Stan Anderson (1934-2018) was a north-eastern football stalwart playing as captain for a hat-trick of local clubs.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

A group of “rare and interesting” 20th century cycling ephemera relating primarily to the Olympic Games offered by Catherine Southon (20% buyer’s premium) came from the collection of cycling journalist David Taylor (1937-2020).

A humble table tennis bat bought at a car boot sale in Surrey for £3.50 served up a surprise at Hansons’ (25% buyer’s premium) London monthly auction on September 25.

A silver tea service presented to Sir Stanley Matthews (1915-2000) to mark his record England cap has been sold by a Hampshire dealer.

‘I have laid aside business and gone a’fishing,’ said Izaak Walton in 'The Compleat Angler', a celebration of the art and spirit of fishing first published in 1653.

Relating to perhaps the most famous of all compositions for the lute, a version of John Dowland’s 'Lachrimae pavane' proved a major attraction in a music sale held by Sotheby’s (26/20/13.9% buyer’s premium).

Derbyshire auction house Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) sold memorabilia this summer worn by two Manchester United favourites of different eras: George Best and David Beckham.

For just a few short days in October, the white-walled contemporary space of the Saatchi Gallery was transformed into a veritable feast of rare and sought-after first-edition books, prints and posters.