Collectables

More than 300 objects from the personal collection of the late actor Robin Williams (1951-2014) and his wife Marsha will be offered at auction in New York.

In the race to offer increasingly collectable more modern toys such as Lego and Star Wars, a lot dating from 1896 sold at a Teesside auction shows older items are still in the running when rarity and condition are just right.

The collection of photography pioneer and medical writer Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806-80) is to be offered at auction house Lacy Scott & Knight in Bury St Edmunds in October following the success of a first sale last year.

An extraordinarily rare artwork by pre-eminent Chinese scholar Su Shi (1037-1101) will be offered at Christie’s Hong Kong later this year. The auctioneers are hoping that it could make a record for any Asian work of art.

The Ephemera Society Summer Fair will return to a June date next year, in line with next summer’s series of London book and map fairs.

Specimen marble tops, micro-mosaics, plaster intaglios and marble neoclassical sculptures – objects such as these were typical purchases for the Grand Tourists who visited the sights of classical civilization in the 18th and 19th centuries. All regularly appear at auction.

Coin collector Mike Gasvoda has bought the assets of Classical Numismatic Group from the current partnership of Victor England and Eric McFadden.

The Titanic market throws up many connections and coincidences within a relatively small but ever-popular collecting field, as an elegant gold Asprey cigarette case on offer at a Derbyshire auction demonstrates perfectly.

The guitar that set the Bee Gees on the road to Saturday Night Fever and international disco stardom is to be offered at a Wiltshire sale.