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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Bartok work sends bidders into rhapsody

15 January 2018

Possibly the first autograph manuscript of a complete work by Bela Bartok ever seen at auction, a working manuscript for the complete score of the original version of his Second Rhapsody for Violin and Piano (BB96) was bid to £250,000 in a music sale held by Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium).

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Pushkin is toast of Russian lots

15 January 2018

A fine Pushkin collection, running to a dozen lots in all, was a major attraction in the Russian section of at a Christie’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) sale.

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Strike a light for lost world of smoke

15 January 2018

A gentleman retires to his designated smoker’s chair, picks up his meerschaum pipe and Dunhill lighter and puffs away contentedly by his hearth… a vanished scenario in the UK today but recreated in the antiques world in these three items from December auctions.

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Ski posters head north to Edinburgh sale

15 January 2018

It was around this time of year when wealthy skiers with chalets to decorate would dial in from the slopes of the world’s most prestigious resorts to take part in Christie’s South Kensington’s annual Ski Sale.

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Sizeable bids for steam loco toys in Trains Galore sale

15 January 2018

Whatever chaos faces hundreds of thousands of commuters on the railways as we enter the New Year, the better-ordered world of model trains steams on to continued success.

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Sasha dolls play their part at auction

15 January 2018

Must-have Christmas presents in the Sixties and Seventies, Sasha dolls have remarkable appeal today.

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Cabaret in Polish showcase

15 January 2018

This is Liza Minelli as you might never have seen her – in this Polish poster by Wiktor Górka for the film Kabaret, which was created in 1973 for the first year of the film’s release in Poland.

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RAF clocks add touch of colour

15 January 2018

Second World War technology starred at Tennants’ (20% buyer’s premium) militaria sale at Leyburn.

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Fab feats at Crystal Palace

15 January 2018

Illustrated here are two of the 20 hand-coloured litho plates, many showing the Crystal Palace in the background and each with a rhyming couplet below, that make up Blondin’s Marvellous Feats.

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Curiosities at BRAFA 2018

15 January 2018

Some of the works on offer at BRAFA are simply too quirky to fit into any time-honoured collecting category, but they are often responsible for creating an eyecatching draw to a particular stand.

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Sir Francis Drake’s will written as he set sail to face the Spanish Armada offered by US dealer

12 January 2018

A will bearing the signature of Sir Francis Drake as he embarked to fight the Spanish Armada is on offer for £1.2m.

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Italian Navy diver watch captured from German frogman in Second World War on offer at Fellows auction

10 January 2018

The saying ‘to the victor go the spoils’ sums up the many items appearing at auction which were ‘liberated’ by Allied troops in the Second World War, with a watch on offer at Fellows a perfect example.

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Nelson’s HMS Victory flag from Battle of Trafalgar sails into auction at Sotheby’s

09 January 2018

A collection of remarkable Nelson memorabilia from the battle of Trafalgar is on offer at Sotheby’s next week.

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John Lennon mini motorbike comes to auction

08 January 2018

What could be more rock ‘n’ roll than roaring around your own extensive estate on a motorbike, helter skelter? The H&H Classics saleroom is offering one such machine.

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Hey bulldog: Saatchi buy has less sale bite

08 January 2018

Renowned as he is for promoting – indeed, creating – markets in art, advertising mogul Charles Saatchi appears to have over-estimated the taxidermy market when bidding at the sale of the Will Fisher Collection at Christie’s South Kensington in February 2012.

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Titanic letters on the rise at two auctions

08 January 2018

Two letters sent by passengers who lost their lives when the Titanic sank in 1912 came to auction in the latter part of 2017: one of them posted before she sailed, the other recovered, along with the owner’s pocket book, when his body was pulled from the freezing Atlantic waters.

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Rare plates show the Holy Land

08 January 2018

Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Holy Places…, an elephant folio work of 1865 that sold for a treble-estimate £45,000 at Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium) on November 14, was a rare and complete proof copy of a monumental book of Palestinian views recognised as one of the scarcer colour-plate books on the Middle East.

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Niche fair in Amsterdam covers Samurai armour

08 January 2018

A selective one-day 'Samurai Armor Fair' launches next month in Amsterdam.

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Well-preserved HG Wells works show condition counts

08 January 2018

A remarkable group of 14 works by HG Wells – every one of them sporting a dust jacket – sold at strong and very often record sums in the book section of a December 15 sale held by Cuttlestones (17.5% buyer’s premium).

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The science of selling whisky

08 January 2018

The season, the spirit in question and the location of the sale put this bottle of Lagavulin whisky, below, into the spotlight.

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