Collectables

Nestlé, today a Swiss multinational corporation, was a much smaller company when this rare lithographed showcard was made.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

A mid-16th century 54-bore south German breech-loading wheel-lock holster pistol trebled its top estimate to take £75,000 at a recent sale held by Thomas Del Mar.

The linocuts produced by artists from the Grosvenor School provided an ideal medium to portray speed and movement in the inter-war machine age – and were perfect for sport subjects too. Those created by Sybil Andrews, such as her classic speedway image, are the best known on this theme.

Victor Mee Auctions’ Irish Pub Memorabilia & Collectibles sale on August 12 will offer Irish football and hurling lovers and collectors the chance to bid on three advertising figurines, estimated at €200-450 each.

While Manchester United and early FA Cup match programmes often make the big money at auction, a group on offer at a West Sussex saleroom showed that far less famous names can also make the running.

Each bearing estimates of £300-400, two lots in a summer online auction held by Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) brought substantially higher rewards.

Copy of newspaper containing what became the US national anthem makes sale appearance

Delayed for a month by the pandemic, the specialist sewing sale held as a timed online auction on thesaleroom.com at Bleasdales (20% buyer’s premium) of Warwick proved a profitable stitch in time. The sale, which covered the gamut of collectables, closed with only 16 of the 665 lots failing to get away.

One of the specialist golfing sales held by PBA Galleries (20% buyer’s premium) of San Francisco included the work of a Scottish-born designer of golf courses who is said to have laid out some 400 of them.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from August 11-30, 2020.

A legend of golf is represented at Shropshire saleroom Mullock’s Golfing Memorabilia and Antique & Modern Fishing Tackle auction on August 13-14.

With their regular photographer isolated in Somerset, it was proprietor Malcolm Phillips’ partner, Sally, who used her iPhone to produce all the catalogue images for a Comic Book Auctions (19% buyer’s premium) timed sale on thesaleroom.com.

Talk about 30 years of hurt. What about 100 years?

If you remember the American Football mania that first hit the UK in the mid-1980s when coverage started on Channel 4, then you will certainly recall ‘The Refrigerator’.

Massimo De Martini started trading as Altea Maps in 1992 and now runs the business from his Mayfair premises. He is also co-organiser of the London Map Fair.

The simple pair of leather football boots on offer at East Bristol Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) this summer was not as flash as today’s examples in all colours and emblazoned with all kinds of branding and personalised messages.

At the age of 36 most footballers have either hung their boots up or are about to. By that stage Ronnie Simpson had experienced a decent enough career: including two FA Cup wins with Newcastle.