Collectables

Our regular listing of British and Irish book and works on paper sales.

Shown here is the opening spread of a special copy of an 1895 Dent edition of 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream' sold at Lyon & Turnbull (25/20% buyer’s premium).

Among the many tricks up their sleeves, magicians could use this crafty device made c.1940s by Jon Martin in London.

Petrol-themed enamel signs do not get much better than that made to promote British Dominions Empire Motor Insurance in c.1912.

A 1633 first edition of Christopher Marlowe’s 'The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Jew of Malta' was a highlight at Swann Galleries (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).

Among the successful lots in a History of Science & Technology sale held by Bonhams Los Angeles (27.5/25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) was a group of five signed and inscribed offprints from periodical publications of papers and other work by the logician, mathematician and analytic philosopher, Kurt Gödel.

A sledge and flag from the first expedition to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton have been saved for the nation.

Swann Galleries (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) held a Travel Posters sale where one of the best-sellers was a 1939 poster for Pan Am airlines.

The mixed-owner element of a recent Onslows’ sale included a William Russell Flint (1890-1969) LNER poster showing Bamburgh Castle.

This 1930s Soviet travel poster promotes Trans Siberian Express Shortest way between Europe and the Far East, for Intourist Moscow, Hotel Metropol represented by all main travel bureaus of the world.

Americana, travel and natural history were billed as the main attractions of a sale at Bonhams New York (27.5/25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium).

A notable source of ancient coins and historical jewellery appearing on the market in 2020 has been the soil. It is the success of the Portable Antiquities Scheme that finders of ‘treasure’ are now encouraged to declare discoveries and share the proceeds of sales with the landowner.

Four lots of French railway posters attracted a good deal of attention at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) on December 9-10.

Australian species pack into a Rowland Ward taxidermy tableau sold for £4000 in Guernsey auction.

Surviving records for the London instrument maker Smith & Beck state this superb microscope from the brass and glass era was purchased on September 2, 1853, by Francis Herbert Wenham (1824-1908) – the British engineer who became a key figure in the improvement of the microscope.

Selection of skiing posters focused on winter sports and travel is on offer at Edinburgh auction house Lyon & Turnbull.

In playing condition but with enough problems to be catalogued as ‘sold as seen’, a Nicole Frères brass inlaid music box was one of the unexpected stars of the first three-day sale to be held at Ripon auction house Elstob & Elstob (22% buyer’s premium).

A ‘superb connoisseur’s collection’ of classic travel posters underlined the appeal of rare works from the biggest names of this genre

Posters promoting travel to a variety of destinations round the world were among the best sellers in a recent Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) sale in Chicago.