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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Pick of the week: Hours and centuries of famous owners

16 July 2018

Estimated at £200,000-300,000, the 'Hours of Isabella d’Este' sold at £340,000 (plus buyer’s premium) at Bloomsbury Auctions’ sale of Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures on July 10.

Pietro Crescenzi

White-glove sale for agriculture library at Forum Auctions

16 July 2018

A white-glove sale of a 3000-book agriculture library reached a hammer total of £1.76m over two days at Forum Auctions last week.

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Donne with George Eliot extra

16 July 2018

A copy of the posthumously published, 1633 first edition of John Donne’s Poems in a neatly rebacked but contemporary sheep binding is a desirable volume in itself.

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Wiltshire sale will be heaven for helixophiles

16 July 2018

A collection of more than 400 corkscrews assembled over 40 years by an “old-school connoisseur” is to be auctioned at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes.

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Ornithological work that caused a big flap in Edinburgh auction

16 July 2018

One of a collection of ornithological and other natural history works from a country house library offered in an Edinburgh sale was a scarce, complete copy of a work that created a bitter fall-out between author and illustrator.

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'Hundred Acre Wood' map leads way to book illustration auction record

16 July 2018

The original drawing of the map of Winnie-the-Pooh’s 'Hundred Acre Wood' sold for £350,000 (plus 25/20/12% buyer’s premium) at Sotheby’s sale of English Literature, History, Science, Children’s Books and Illustration on July 9-10.

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Playing cards from 1830s appear at Suffolk sale

16 July 2018

Issued by ‘Hunt & Sons, Card Makers to His Majesty’, a ‘Great Mogul’ deck of playing cards of c.1830, the labels that seal the packaging still unbroken after all those years, featured in a recent Suffolk sale.

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Grand Prix car in garden shed

16 July 2018

Found in a garden shed during a house clearance, this unrestored version of a classic c.1950 pedal car, below, attracted bidders online, on the phones and in the Wolverhampton rooms of Cuttlestones (17.5% buyer’s premium) on June 22.

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How to create Harry Potter price magic

16 July 2018

There were two 1997, first-impression copies of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the June 21 sale held by Bonhams.

British and Irish book auctions: July 17-28, 2018

16 July 2018

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from July 17-28, 2018.

Shogo pen

Vintage pens from Switzerland to Japan are scripted for San Francisco auction

14 July 2018

US West Coast auction firm PBA Galleries is holding its first sale dedicated to writing instruments in its San Francisco rooms on July 19.

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Soviet spy camera disguised as fag packet sells for £29,000 house record at Dudley auction

12 July 2018

The cost of smoking is going crazy – someone has just paid £29,000 for a packet of cigarettes in the West Midlands.

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Menu signed by all four Beatles from a flight when getting high was the refreshment

12 July 2018

Reporter: “Well John, how was the trip over, did you all get bored on the flight, or did you have things to keep you entertained, that y’all were doing?” John Lennon: ‘Well, err, we all got stoned.”

Stationers Hall

Congress for rare book trade set for London in November

11 July 2018

The Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA) has released details of the 40th Annual Conference on Book Trade History.

Hundred Acre Wood

Winnie-the-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood makes auction record at Sotheby’s

11 July 2018

The original drawing of the map of Winnie-the-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood by EH Shepard has been sold for a hammer price of £350,000, setting an auction record for a book illustration.

Antiques Roadshow

Calls for Elgar score to be returned after Antiques Roadshow appearance

10 July 2018

The Elgar Foundation is calling for the return of a draft score of the Enigma Variations by Sir Edward Elgar shown on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.

Prince Harry buys first edition Winnie the Pooh christening gift from book dealer

10 July 2018

Prince Harry has bought a first edition Winnie the Pooh from antiquarian book dealer Peter Harrington for his nephew Louis.

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Pick of the Week: The £135,000 order of the day

09 July 2018

A Lesser George sash badge of The Most Noble Order of the Garter was the stand-out lot in a dedicated auction of honours that once belonged to the last Duke of Cambridge to have held that title before Prince William in the present day.

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Cynographia, or coloured canine rarities

09 July 2018

Once described as “one of the rarest dog books printed in the English language”, a copy of Cynographia Britannica: Consisting of Coloured Engravings of Various Breeds of Dogs existing in Great Britain sold at $14,000 (£10,525) at Christie’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on June 14.

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Not quite all his own work?

09 July 2018

An early 17th century work on …the Whole Practise of Artillery made a record sum in sale held by Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) of Leyburn.

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