Collectables

While some medal collectors stick rigidly to a narrow period or theme, others take a wider view. A broad taste is evident from a large group on offer in Salisbury.

Red jackets and white helmets looked lovely on the parade ground but in the modern world of warfare developing at the end of the 19th century they also made fine targets for accurate long-range rifles.

As expected, the copy of Great Expectations shown below proved the star turn when Sotheby’s (25/20/13.9%) offered the splendid Charles Dickens collection formed by London accountant Lawrence Drizen.

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

Billed as a ‘luminescent’ copy of one of the finer of all published florilegia, a copy of Jakob Christoph Trew’s 'Hortus nitidissimus… floribus' is estimated at £70,000-90,000 at Sotheby’s on November 12.

Sphairistike, an ancient Greek term meaning skill in playing at ball, was the name Major Walter Wingfield chose for the game he patented and first advertised early in 1874.

The earliest days of Tottenham Hotspur FC are revealed in a remarkable hand-written ledger coming up at auction in a November 4-5 London sale.

Diaries, journals and letters kept by Lady Anne Cullum (1807-95) of Hardwick House, near Bury St Edmunds, sold for a total of around £8000 in a recent East Anglian auction.

Three pieces of original artwork were the big money spinners in a Comic Book Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) timed online sale on thesaleroom.com which closed on September 1.

Bernard Quaritch marked the opening of its Bedford Row premises last week with a red velvet cake in the shape of the new shop.

Offered at a recent sale at Mullock’s in Ludlow were three early-19th century games pitched at £150-200 apiece but sold at much higher sums.

A first portion of the library of the late Eric Gerald Stanley, a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, featured in a recent auction at Mallams.

‘Grolieresque’ cover on 1527 edition of key Italian Renaissance work boosts auction value.

Renovations at hotel venue mean Etc Fairs will have a smaller space but only for a short while.

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

Albrecht Dürer’s medal dedicated to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, is among the most important medals of the Northern Renaissance. As only four are known to commerce, the appearance of one for sale is significant.