Collectables

“A disgusting object” that may be of “some whimsical interest to an obsessive collector” is how Auberon Waugh described a telescopic ear trumpet as used by his father in his later years. Disgusting he may have regarded it, but far more palatable to auctioneers and dealers are the prices of such objects that collectors are prepared to pay.

The last known letter written on the Titanic by a victim before it sunk in the Atlantic in 1912 has set an auction record for a letter from the doomed ship.

A substantial collection of Japanese arms and armour formed by a Dutch collector will be offered at auction in Cheltenham next week.

A rare William III five-guineas has been consigned to Stride & Son just over a week before its specialist coin sale.

London is a city now thoroughly used to tunnels. Tube travel has become a normal way to get about the bustling capital and has been for many years. Meanwhile, the huge Crossrail project tunnel section heading east from Paddington is scheduled for December next year.

Apart from having one of the best moustaches you will ever see and a title almost as long as his facial decoration, De Weledg Heer P Lamaison Van Heenvliet put togather an impressive collection of military and related tribal artefacts.

When all the horrible roads are finally done for, and there’s no more petrol left in the world to burn, here to the halt from Salisbury and from Bristol, steam trains will return. So wrote John Betjeman in his 1969 in his poem in defence of the closure-threatened Dilton Marsh Halt.

From FIFA to F1, Olympics to boxing, Julien’s offers some knock out lots in its November sale

Bomb alerts disrupted two separate northern auction houses last week when the alarm was sounded over militaria items included in sales.

A Warrington auction house has moved into new premises as a first step towards expansion.