Collectables

Bram van der Stok MBE was not only the most decorated aviator in Dutch history and one of just three men to successfully flee POW Camp Stalag Luft III in the ‘Great Escape’, but also a proud member of the Caterpillar Club.

A toy engine offered at North Yorkshire saleroom Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) sold for what is thought to be a new world record for a Hornby Dublo locomotive.

This very rare bear shown below made a very high price for such a small fellow – just 14cm (5½in) high.

Written just a year before his death in 1955, a famous two-page letter in which Albert Einstein put down his thoughts on religion, his Jewish identity and his own search for the meaning of life sold for $2.4m (£1.89m) in a New York auction on December 4.

Literary high spots of a Bonhams (25/10/12% buyer’s premium) sale of November 27 included a three-volume, 1813 first of Jane Austen’s 'Pride and Prejudice'.

Illustrated here are some of the oldest lots ever auctioned – three in the Evolution Sale at on November 20 at Summers Place Auctions (25/20% buyer’s premium) of Billingshurst, West Sussex, and the other from Fonsie Mealy (23% buyer’s premium inc VAT) of Castlecomer, Ireland, in a sale held on the same day.

Originally given as presents to infants, early dolls, rocking horses and even board games can now inspire passions among collectors far surpassing the delight of children on Christmas morning and far exceeding most doting parents’ budgets.

A rare rocking horse by one of the top 19th-early 20th century makers, FH Ayres of London, left quite a lot to be desired but raced away at Adam Partridge’s (15% buyer’s premium) Macclesfield sale on November 23.

Musicians from different generations provided sound results at Suffolk saleroom Bishop & Miller (19% buyer’s premium).

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from December 11-20, 2018.

Despite some condition issues, such as composite body, right hand thumb missing and slight damage to fingers and feet, this bisque head Kämmer & Reinhardt 109 doll sold for £3900 at Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) on November 23.

Arthur Saul’s Famous Game of Chesse-Play…, the first published book on the game written by an Englishman, came out in 1614.

Along with Pallas’ 'Flora Russica', the 'Icones Plantarum novarum… floram Rossicam' of the German-Estonian botanist Carl Friedrich von Ledebour is recognised as one of the great works on Russian flora.

Dated 1536 and printed in Antwerp, a defective copy of what is known as the ‘mole’ edition of Tyndale’s Newe Testament – so called from the mole (or perhaps hedgehog) depicted on a stone on which St Paul’s foot is resting in one of the many woodcut illustrations – made £30,000 in a recent London sale.

A Glasgow bidder in the room secured a Scottish Cup medal won in 1923 by a player from the green and white half of the Old Firm.

Large-scale 18th century map of the capital joins a wider global outlook at auction...

MADAM – Here is a medal whose origin I can’t figure out (above). It was found in northern Norway.