Collectables

So-called ‘talc pictures’ or ‘metamorphoses’ were fashionable amusements in European courts in the second half of the 17th century.

Sales ranging from enamel signs to petroliana and breweriana generate a booming market

Illustrator famous for helping to bring alive the beloved bear preferred his other commissions

A first edition, first issue of the Great ‘He’ Bible sold in York for £23,000 hammer was bought by Norfolk book dealer Simon Finch, it has emerged.

Bizarrely, Ralph Fremlin – a devout Christian who founded Fremlin’s Brewery in Maidstone, Kent, in 1861 – was anti-drinking.

Our regular listing of books and works on paper sales

Security-minded German collectors were very keen to acquire pieces from a collection of historic metalwork that was offered by Van Ham (27% buyer’s premium) in Cologne.

A recent sale of Books, Documents & Ephemera at Stride & Son in Chichester included this 3½ x 2½in (9 x 6cm) brass and enamel cigarette case.

With the first hardback Philosopher’s Stone at stratospheric sums, the soft cover value is rising steadily

A Victorian full-sized lay figure owned by the sculptor James Butler (1931-2022) sold for £4000 at the Hansons (26.5% buyer’s premium) saleroom in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

Roy Raftery is a gaming cards dealer with Stanley Gibbons Baldwin’s

The Rare & Important Travel Posters sale at Swann Galleries (32/27/17% buyer’s premium) of New York on November 25 included a classic view of Piccadilly Circus, located across the Atlantic in London.

This 18th century hardwood tea caddy, boldly carved in imitation of gnarled rootwood and mounted in white metal, is an Anglo-Chinese production, made for export in Canton (modern-day Guangzhou) c.1780.

Many single-owner collections appeared in the pages of ATG this year, usually as they came up at auction. The silver collection of the late Michael Baggott and the art, books and memorabilia collection of the late Barry Humphries were among the stand-out sales.

Pocket watches owned by Horatio Nelson, Thomas Hardy and Cuthbert Collingwood and consulted throughout the Battle of Trafalgar were sold together as a single lot in London on December 9.

The Distinguished Conduct Medal awarded to Private Samuel Vickery of the Coldstream Guards who kept Florence Nightingale safe during the Crimean War is to be offered at Noonans on January 14.

With works by female artists now having a much higher profile among Old Masters than in the past it was not surprising to see a painting by the famous French portraitist Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) among the best-sellers in a September sale of works from a country house in Brittany.

Before the August 8 Historical Manuscripts sale at Heritage Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Dallas, specialist Sandra Palomino fielded many questions about one lot in particular.