Collectables

Two impressive Battle of Britain medal groups offered a day apart at separate auctions both took six-figure sums.

A recent sale at Gildings (20% buyer’s premium) of Market Harborough included a number of medals of historical interest.

Trying to set a water-speed record is one of sport’s most hazardous competitions – with a high fatality rate as a result.

Based on a slightly earlier American original called The Landlords Game, this example of Brer Fox an’ Brer Rabbit dates to 1913.

Sold for $42,500 (£30,795) was a very appealing Einstein lot that offered a short but amusing letter dating from November 1928 and a signed photo-portrait.

The Travellers Tour through the United States of 1822 was once described as the first American board game.

Captain EF Hunter’s 'Map of Arabia and The Persian Gulf' was one of the lots fetching sums considerably in advance of what looked to be quite modest estimates in an Oxford book sale.

A combination cigarette case and lighter given to Elvis Presley by the king of Thailand sold for six times its top estimate.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

Auction house Prunier in Louviers, Normandy, has a long tradition of holding sales of Haute Epoque or early works of art.

The 'Oath of a Freeman', one of the most infamous forgeries in US history, heads to auction at Heritage this month. It comes for sale from Justin Schiller, the antiquarian bookseller who in 1985 attempted to broker its sale for $1.5m.

The Brontë museum hopes to raise funds to buy rare manuscripts from a rediscovered library collection coming up for sale at Sotheby’s.

The Royal Academy of Music has said it has no plans to sell or dispose of any of its historic instruments after national media reported it was looking into ‘decolonialising’ its collection.

Famous Kelmscott edition and copies of unpublished letters both attract strong bidding at Bonhams' books sale

Almost two decades after the first American cast-iron mechanical banks, John Harper and Company of the Albion Works in Willenhall, Staffordshire filed a patent for the Wimbledon bank on September 21, 1885.

Lyon & Turnbull’s Lalique sale had been displayed at the Mall Galleries in London with posters from the Shell Heritage Art Collection as a backdrop.

Distinctive bureau cabinet form could have been intended for presentation to the guild.

A New and Correct Plan of the Cities of London, Westminster and Borough of Southwark sold at Reeman Dansie (20% buyer’s premium) of Colchester was offered on behalf of an un-named charity.