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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Eastern weapons create collections on the cutting edges

06 August 2018

Edged weapons from the East dominated the summer sale at Thomas Del Mar (24% buyer’s premium) in London on June 27 and it was an old collection of Indian dress daggers that produced the highest prices.

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Sketches and scraps make hit albums

06 August 2018

Two albums of 19th century watercolours and drawings produced unexpected results in summer sales.

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Habsburg royal memorabilia leads selection of Central European hammer highlights

06 August 2018

Imperial souvenirs, Expressionist portraits and metalware from Augsburg and Iran were among the recent highlights at sales in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

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Pistol and war hammer highlight at Bonhams

06 August 2018

A rare and early combination of a war hammer and pistol was a highlight of the Bonhams (25/12.5% buyer’s premium) sale in Knightsbridge on May 23, selling for £24,000.

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Cased Colt is top lot in San Francisco sale

06 August 2018

The top lot at Bonhams (25/12.5% buyer’s premium) in San Francisco on June 19 was an exceptional cased example of a specially engraved Colt 1851 percussion revolver with shoulder stock.

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Previews: £30,000 plus

06 August 2018

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

British and Irish book auctions: August 7-18, 2018

06 August 2018

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from August 7-18, 2018.

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Opulent but deadly from Turkestan

06 August 2018

Among the thousands of lots in Hermann Historica’s (25% buyer’s premium) May sales series in Munich, one of the highlights was this gold inlaid karud from Turkestan which sold at €29,000 (£25,665).

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New gallery kicks off with library of computing through the ages

06 August 2018

One of the earlier big attractions of the new season will be the September 18-19 auction at Sotheby’s of the Erwin Tomash library on the history of computing.

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Golfing memorabilia dealers get into the swing of things

06 August 2018

The set of flicker books published c.1930 titled 'Drive and Mashie', 'Brassie and Iron' and 'Out the Rough and Putt', were once used as teaching aids for golfers.

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Guitar played by George Harrison at last Beatles Cavern Club appearance is up at UK auction

03 August 2018

The guitar that George Harrison played during The Beatles' final appearance at Liverpool’s Cavern Club will be offered at a Wiltshire auction estimated at £300,000–£400,000.

Canterbury bible

Medieval bible bought at auction to return to Canterbury Cathedral after 500 years away

02 August 2018

Canterbury Cathedral has bought a rare illuminated bible once owned by one of the last members of Britain’s monastic community before the Reformation.

Carpathia docked in New York City

Titanic rescue medal makes £45,000 at Bourne End auction – VIDEO

01 August 2018

A prolonged bidding battle emerged today in Buckinghamshire as the gold medal awarded to the bursar on board the RMS Carpathia, the ship that famously rescued survivors from the Titanic in 1912, sold at £45,000.

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Star Wars poster auction record and James Bond and Beatles lots underline entertainment memorabilia demand

01 August 2018

A rare Star Wars concept poster printed for The Empire Strikes Back sold on July 29 for a premium-inclusive $26,400 (£20,150) at Heritage Auctions, setting a world record as the most expensive movie poster from the space opera ever sold at auction.

Cat cane

Walk this way for single owner collections of canes at auction

01 August 2018

Walking stick collectors have been in luck, with not one but two single owner collections up for grabs at auction this summer.

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Memorabilia from the year the Football League was first formed lines up at auction

31 July 2018

As the 2018-19 English football season prepares to kick off, an auction lot on offer in Derbyshire harks back to the very earliest days of the game in its organised form.

Titanic

Museums and film-maker James Cameron team-up to buy Titanic wreck artefacts

31 July 2018

A group of museums, with the backing of film-maker James Cameron, has teamed up to buy artefacts from the wreck of the 'Titanic'.

Carnegie Library

Innocent London book dealers caught up in $8m US rare books library theft

30 July 2018

High-profile London book dealers Peter Harrington and Maggs Bros have been left out of pocket after an alleged $8m rare books theft from Carnegie Library in the US.

French piron folding helix corckscrew

French corkscrew uncorks collectors to bid more than £12,000 at Wiltshire auction

30 July 2018

A French 18th century 'betrothal' corkscrew was the highlight of the first in a series to disperse a single-owner collection of corkscrews in Wiltshire.

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Suffragette hunger strike medal archive sold for Catherine Southon house record to National Museum Wales

26 July 2018

A Suffragette archive including a ‘hunger strike’ medal that sold for a house-record hammer price of £40,000 at Catherine Southon’s auction has been bought by National Museum Wales.

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