Collectables

Unusual proof example of mid-19th century work was a copy which belonged to David Roberts.

First World War ‘trench art’ – objects made by soldiers, prisoners of war and interned civilians from munitions casings – does not get much better than this brass model of a Vickers machine gun.

Two lost folios from the 'Yongle Dadian', the Ming dynasty encyclopaedia that has assumed national treasure status in China, surfaced for sale in Paris last week.

A US collector is the new owner of a 5000-year-old tablet that contains the earliest-known record of any personal name in history.

Whoever H Twyman was, his talents as a craftsman are beyond doubt.

English Civil War group The John Hampden Society has bought a lock of hair thought to be from the head of its eponymous patron.

A 19th century doll’s house sold for £8500 at North Yorkshire saleroom Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) – but its real appeal came from what was inside.

Bearing an estimate of just €100-150, a double-sided lot in a big Dutch sale attracted great international interest and ended up selling at €32,500 (£29,120).

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 14-29, 2020.

The gilt decorated blue cloth binding showed signs of age, but a copy of Rudyard Kipling’s 'Captains Courageous, A Story of the Grand Banks' offered in a Philadelphia sale bore the author’s signature on the title-page.

Rare early map of the region from three years before the Alamo has another saleroom outing

Estimated at just £60-80, a rare Ericsson telephone sold for £10,500 (plus 17% buyer’s premium) at Wessex Auction Rooms in Chippenham.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 7-23, 2020.

Dealer John Martin runs Mayfly Ephemera. Available via ebay and on the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA) website.

Presenting some 434 lots and with a total not far short of £1m, a recent sale held by Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) included a rich enough string of successes to outshine a few of the more highly valued lots left unsold.

The 252-lot Natural History and Taxidermy auction at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) on June 19 included this Victorian anthropomorphic diorama of card-playing, cigar-smoking red squirrels, c.1870-1900.