Collectables

The term ‘collectables’ (or collectibles) encompasses a vast range of items in fields as diverse as arms, armour and militaria, bank notes, cameras, coins, entertainment and sporting memorabilia, stamps, taxidermy, wines and writing equipment.

Some collectables are antiques, others are classed as retro, vintage or curios but all are of value to the collector. In any of these fields, buyers seek out rarities and items with specific associations.

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Pumped up at auction for automobilia

05 November 2018

Prices for the best British automobilia are slowly catching up with the huge sums regularly paid for advertising and promotional material in the US.

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Suffragettes stand up for rights by burning a grandstand

05 November 2018

On June 13, 1913, just five days after the infamous death of Emily Wilding Davison under the king’s horse at the Derby, two Suffragettes set fire to the Hurst Park grandstand in Surrey.

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Fifteenth century travel yarn on track for record

05 November 2018

Illustrated below is a spread from a 1488 edition of a popular account of travels to various parts of the world that is generally referred to as a compilation by Sir John Mandeville.

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Rediscovered Schumann piano masterpiece comes to auction at Bonhams

31 October 2018

Bonhams is to offer an extensive handwritten draft of Robert Schumann’s 1837 piano masterpiece Fantasiestücke Opus 12 – written in the composer’s own hand.

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Latest Titanic auction highlights include lifeboat plaques and poster of the return voyage that never happened

30 October 2018

The latest Titanic sale at Devizes saleroom Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire achieved a 93% sold rate, with the top lots including life-boat plaques and an 18ct gold pocket watch.

UK auction rooms ‘not aware’ of new laws on deactivated firearms

29 October 2018

The National Ballistics and Intelligence Service (NABIS) has warned of a rise in defectively deactivated firearms offered at auction since the law changed this summer.

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Another Stalin death mask emerges

29 October 2018

Two secular icons of pre- and post-Revolutionary Russia provided the highlights at Lockdales (18% buyer’ s premium) of Ipswich.

British and Irish book auctions: October 30-November 9, 2018

29 October 2018

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from October 30-November 9, 2018.

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Wolves pack a punch in Cotswold selection

29 October 2018

Published in 1962, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was the first book in a popular series of lupine tales by Joan Aiken (1924-2004), a prolific and prize-winning author whose specialities included the supernatural and children’s books that involved an elaborate, alternative history of Britain.

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Political propaganda with plenty of auction clout

29 October 2018

All rather slim – one in fact a single sheet broadside – the three items noted here were all part of a Bonhams New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of September 25 and, spanning some 80 years, all bear Boston imprints.

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Poignant teddy bear taken to the front features in First World War exhibition at fair

29 October 2018

One of the highlights of the upcoming International Antique Doll, Teddy Bear and Toy Fair: 200 Years of Childhood at Kensington Town Hall will be an exhibition of toys to commemorate the centenary on November 11 of the end of the First World War.

First edition of a worldly work on offer in Essex

29 October 2018

A handful of copies of Robert Morden’s 'Geography Rectified, or a Description of the World' have made a little more at auction than a 1680 copy offered in a Stacey’s (24% buyer’s premium) sale of September 10 – but all bar one of them were second or third editions of 1688 and 1693.

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Sandown Park event develops a taste for the continental

29 October 2018

The toy fair at Sandown Park in November is usually “the busiest one of the four we hold there each year”, says Barry Potter, founder in 1979 of BP Fairs, which first launched at this racecourse venue 31 years ago.

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Bonnie Prince Charlie doorstop strides into Galloway's fair at Scone Palace

29 October 2018

This large, rare Victorian doorstop depicting Charles Edward Stuart, or Bonnie Prince Charlie as it is inscribed, is offered by Malcolm Eglin Antiques for £395 at the next Galloway fair.

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God is great but mere mortals influence flag and gun sales

29 October 2018

While it was probably pleasing for a buyer at Holts (25% buyer’s premium) to know a pair of Purdey shotguns had previously been owned by ‘God’, or Eric Clapton as less passionate fans of the great guitarist know him, it did not materially affect the £160,000 winning bid.

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Fans on the crest of a wave of interest

29 October 2018

In its short nine-sale history, Kingham & Orme (22% buyer’s premium) has experienced considerable success selling fans, 55 of which were included in the October 5-6 mammoth sale attracting bids from round the world. Many were of museum quality.

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Sphinx stands out in Edinburgh

29 October 2018

Formerly in the collections of a distinguished English bibliophile, Major John Roland Abbey, a copy of Luigi Mayer’s well-known set of Views in Egypt, Palestine and the Ottoman Empire was one of the highlights of a recent Scottish sale.

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Grammar School rules get a tick in Sussex sale

29 October 2018

A 17th century manuscript grimoire that sold for £18,000 (featured on these pages in ATG No 2363) was very much the star turn of an October 2 sale in Sussex, but certainly not the only lot to catch the eye.

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Olympic football gold medal from 1908 won by later Manchester United chairman in Busby Babes era comes up at auction

27 October 2018

Harold Hardman’s journey from amateur footballer and solicitor to chairman of Manchester United in the era of the Busby Babes is a fascinating story in itself. But a medal coming up for auction in Oxford on November 14 adds even more appeal.

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Five unusual militaria lots coming up at auction

25 October 2018

Focus on five militaria items ranging from a ship's bell marking a pioneering aircraft launch to a grasshopper brooch left as a memento for loved ones.

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