Collectables

Preparatory and other unused drawings relating to Roald Dahl classics come to auction

A selection of fine or unusual bindings seen at auction during the summer months will feature more prominently in a future issue, but shown here is a 1751 first of Thomas Gray’s An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard in a striking later binding that was among lots offered at Chiswick Auctions (25/12% buyer’s premium) on July 12.

Rare books and prints valued at millions of dollars remain at large in the international market in the wake of a US library theft.

It was not only in London that Eastern daggers made a big impression in UK auctions this summer.

On the day that the Bastille was stormed Louis XVI famously recorded “rien” (nothing) in his game book.

Two French corkscrews were the top lots of Henry Aldridge & Son’s auction of the first tranche of a single-owner collection of around 450 examples.

Signed in gold to the 10in (25cm) damascus barrels Manton London, the best-known name among London gunsmiths, a cased pair of 25-bore flintlock duelling pistols led the specialist arms and armour sale held by Antony Cribb (22% buyer’s premium) at Abingdon on July 24.

It has not been a vintage season for armour in the saleroom, but some of the recent highlights from London and Munich are shown here.

June and July brought a rich crop of auctions in London, around the country and overseas. A few of those sales and stand-out results have already been reported on these and the ATG news pages, but many more hammer highlights were achieved.

A famous royal regiment was remembered at the Peter Francis (20% buyer’s premium) auction in Carmarthen.

It took a bid of €60,000 (£53,100) to secure a pair of flintlock pistols of c.1730 from the armoury of the Princes of Lobkowitz at Hermann Historica (25% buyer’s premium) in Munich in May.

The classic English sporting gun is a sidelock, but for many the ‘round-action’ shotguns perfected by John Dickson of Edinburgh in the 1870s are the most elegant of all.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

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