Collectables

Erik Weisz (1864-1926) launched his monumental career as the illusionist Harry Houdini in 1891 as a specialist in card tricks.

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Christopher Proudfoot is the president of The City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society (CLPGS).

Gambling today - particularly card playing - is a largely sanitised affair, occurring in luxurious settings under strict observation in town centre casinos.

A stand-out lot of Bellmans’ (25% buyer’s premium) biannual Fine Clocks auction on December 5 was a chronometer made for the 1874 British expedition to observe the transit of Venus.

Unless you are a golfer, the name Harry Vardon is probably not a familiar one.

The recipient of this George III period shamshir was once described by military historian Sir John Fortescue as “the bravest man to ever wear a red coat”.

An Irish presentation ormolu-mounted and enamelled sabre came for sale at a recent auction at Bonhams Knightsbridge (28/27/21/14.5% buyer’s premium).

Passed down through generations at the historic Hayes Plantation in Edenton, North Carolina, the only privately held Ratification copy of the American Constitution dating to 1787 sold for a whopping $9m (£6.94m).

The Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund was formed at a meeting of merchants and underwriters at the Lloyd’s Coffee House in London in July 1803, to reward those who had displayed significant valour in the defence of Britain. The funds came via public subscription.

A pair of pistols that were presented by Napoleon just six weeks after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo hammered at £30,000 in Thomas Del Mar’s sale of Fine Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria held at Olympia Auctions (25% buyer’s premium).

First edition of Defoe’s final novel fought over by online bidders up to a hammer price of £16,000

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