Collectables

The organisers of the Bamberger Kunst-und Antiquitätenwochen (art and antiques weeks), which run until August 22, thought long and hard about whether to hold this year’s event in light of the pandemic.

An update from Jeremy Carson, organiser of PBFA’s Brighton Book Fair which will run at Brighton Racecourse (assuming it is not being used as a vaccination centre then…) on Saturday, October 30 – the first in Brighton for more than 20 years.

Edition marked the first time a person of African descent had work published

A small fragment of a significant airship comes up for auction at Spicers in Old Goole, East Yorkshire, to mark a tragic centenary.

Illustrated with 76 hand-coloured flags, a 1794 Signal Book for the Ships of the Line sold to an online bidder for £11,000 in a Shrewsbury sale.

This 15th century copy of the Life of St Radegund is an illuminated biography of the canonised sixth-century Frankish queen Radegund.

The Galloways were a distinguished Victorian military family, as a number of items sold at Bishop & Miller (22% buyer’s premium) revealed.

Cheffins’ auction in Cambridge on August 26 includes a silver presentation salver given to Air Vice Marshal James Edgar ‘Johnnie’ Johnson (1915-2001), the highest-scoring Western Allied pilot against the Luftwaffe and the RAF’s officially recognised top-scoring fighter pilot of the Second World War.

An intriguing condition report that mentions ‘water and smoke damage’ gives a clue as to what happened to this battered copy of the Encyclopedia Britannia sold in a Charles Miller (24% buyer’s premium) auction.

A new high for a British army Victoria Cross as 'exceptional’ example also sets a house record for a medal at Dix Noonan Webb

This impressive Baroque chess set by the Danzig amber artist Michel Redlin has returned to the city of Gdansk in Poland where it was made over 300 years ago.

Medals awarded to a recipient who served in three very collectable units sold for £14,000 at British Bespoke Auctions (22/15/12.5% buyer’s premium).

This first-hand document recording one of the most significant naval events of the Second World War was offered at Catherine Southon (20% buyer’s premium) in Surrey this summer.

As his nickname suggests, Wing Commander Sidney Baker (1918-2007) enjoyed the finer things in life.

The sale of a Military Cross group of honours at Woolley & Wallis (25/12% buyer’s premium) of Salisbury marked what is believed to be the first time that the medals of a British prime minister have been offered at auction.

The near ubiquitous ‘Dead Man’s Penny’ of the First World War becomes a rarity should the recipient be female.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

A Texas sale generated six-figure sums for two very different lots.

Letters written by Nelson to his wife make obvious his esteem for Captain Sir William Hoste KCB (1780-1828)

One of the prisoners to survive the horrors of the Changi camp in the Second World War was an art school dropout who later became a renowned illustrator.