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.
A Rorke’s Drift in pricing for the Zulu War
21 August 2017Considering there were only 150 men defending Rorke’s Drift against the Zulus, an impressive number of medals awarded after that epic 1879 encounter have come to auction recently.
A sweetheart brooch to give you wings
21 August 2017In the days when loved ones in the armed forces would head abroad on service for up to several years, not knowing when or if they would return, ‘sweetheart’ brooches were a way of remembering them.
Sextant at Maine auction signals shipwreck rescue story
21 August 2017Thomaston Place Auction Galleries of Maine is holding its annual summer sale, a three-day offering of more than 1500 lots covering a huge variety of different categories.
Taking a pause for Passchendaele
21 August 2017The London Antique Arms Fair is usually a biannual event, but this year the organiser is rather busy – in November they are putting together the Passchendaele Salute 2017 at Fort Seclin near Lille, France.
Get it into perspective
21 August 2017A 1765 first of John L Cowley’s The theory of perspective demonstrated… sold for £17,000 by Christie’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on July 12 appears to be the only first edition recorded at auction.
Snuff box with William of Orange inscription had shipwreck provenance
21 August 2017A 19th century oak snuff box offered at Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne on July 11 was inset with copper and inscribed Made from the wreck of the Betsy Cains which brought King William to England 1688 and A.Reed Esq. Mayor 1827.
Cane collectors unite in Kensington for annual seminar
19 August 2017The Antique Cane Society’s annual seminar takes place next month.
Royal tearaway's tale revealed by auction link to London's past and ‘Antiquity Smith’
18 August 2017John Thomas Smith, reportedly born in a hackney carriage on a June evening in 1766, was an artist, writer and a Londoner.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1908 FA Cup winner medal shoots into Shropshire auction
14 August 2017One thing you can rely on every summer is the outraged stories in the press about the sums being spent by Premier League football clubs on the great, the good and the Jozy Altidores.
Rolls-Royce used by Princess Diana goes under the hammer at Auctions America
14 August 2017A 1987 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur I used in the past by Princess Diana is included in Auctions America’s upcoming sale in Auburn, Indiana (August 31-September 3).
To whom did Clare Leighton dedicate her 1933 set of wood engravings?
14 August 2017Almost 30 years ago, a proof copy of Clare Leighton’s 'The Farmer’s Year of 1933', effectively a cased set of 12 of her wood engravings, all captioned, signed and inscribed in her hand, sold for £2800 at Sotheby’s.
Going underground to celebrate the Summer of Love
14 August 2017A new book, The British Underground Press of the Sixties, marks the birth of the countercultural press and all the music, fashion and controversy it represented.
Tolkien writes early verses to get into the Hobbit
14 August 2017Three of the poems featured in A Northern Venture…, a slim collection of verses by members of the Leeds University English School Association published by the Swan Press in 1923, added considerable value to this now rare little work.
5 Questions - Gonzalo Fernandez Pontes of Pontes Maps
14 August 2017Gonzalo Fernandez Pontes became the president of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), an international body with 1800 affiliates, in 2016. He undertakes his duties alongside running his shop, Pontes Maps, which opened in Madrid in 1991.
Cornucopia of works on paper reveals early 20th French gem
14 August 2017Large numbers of lots identified only as folders, boxes and albums full of prints, watercolours, maps and so on offered in a Brightwells (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale of July 5 included one disarmingly catalogued, in full, as ‘Sketches, Watercolours, Prints of Naked Ladies, chiefly’. It sold at £500.
French 18th century magic trick book features 'blow' reading device
14 August 2017‘L’Abbé Quille’ (shown below), against whose leg a dog is seen relieving itself in the illustration, is one of 84 hand-coloured plates – 12 each of seven subjects – that make up a French magic trick book of c.1799 sold for £2900 by Dominic Winter (19.5% buyer’s premium) in a June 19-20 sale.
Pick of the Week: Shedding light on a £26,000 lantern
07 August 2017Triple lens or Triunial magic lanterns were the iPhone 8 of their day. Since the days of the Sturm lantern in the 17th century, the technology had developed from basic projectors producing small, dimly lit images, to these magnificent machines capable of spectacular technicolour lantern entertainments.
The cut and thrust of the market
07 August 2017As weapons of war, swords have an impressively long history, as demonstrated by recent auctions around the world. From two £11,000 Viking swords at Bonhams in London to General Patton’s 1945 presentation sabre at Hermann Historica (€54,000/£47,370), there were centuries of warfaring history on view, including blades from Japan, Korea and Greece.
American presentation blades mark contrasting careers
07 August 2017Two American presentation swords, marking high points in two very different military careers, made their mark in recent sales.
Cased pistols – defending the honour of the market
07 August 2017Cased pairs of pistols remain a particular favourite with collectors, being relatively compact and often in excellent condition after centuries cocooned in their brass-bound mahogany boxes.
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