Collectables

Earlier this month, 100 years to the day since the outbreak of the First World War, Sandham Memorial Chapel near Newbury reopened to the public after restoration.

Pick up your stick and head out for ‘Canemania 2014’, the ninth international cane conference, to be held from September 10-13 in London.

The ‘piece of paper’ waved by Neville Chamberlain on his return from meeting Hitler in 1938 must count as one of the most infamous documents in history.

In the days when muzzle-loaders were the only choice for shooters, the one essential accessory was a flask for the powder. Many a battle or huntsman’s quarry has been lost through poorly kept powder.

There may have been no internet or TV in the third quarter of the 19th century, but it was possible to find out what the fashionistas of 1867 were wearing at the time.

Coins from the Late Iron Age and Republican Roman eras have been found buried together for the first time.

Selborne, Hampshire, auctioneer Hannams produced a YouTube video to promote the presence of this very early key-wind musical box by Nicole Frères in their inaugural sale.

The most historically interesting entry in Bonhams’ clock sale held in their New Bond Street rooms came from the ten-lot section devoted to marine chronometers.

The first instalment of a single-owner collection of early leather vessels was dispersed in Christie’s South Kensington’s vernacular and country-style furnishing ‘Masters and Makers’ sale.

Book dealers have been urged to be on the lookout after a second edition of the King James Bible from 1614 was stolen from a Berkshire church.

The big question at David Lay’s auctioneers in Penzance next week: Are these bonds worth a few hundred pounds or up to £3.6m each?

The story goes that Steiff black mohair bears were produced as mourning bears after the Titanic disaster in April 1912.

Wilsons Auctions of Mallusk and Portadown in Northern Ireland have sold off more than 1000 pieces of sci-fi memorabilia seized by police from a woman who stole £2.3m from her employers.

A draft of Bob Dylan’s seminal recording Like A Rolling Stone set a new auction record for a pop song manuscript when it sold for $1.7m (£1.04m) to an unnamed collector at Sotheby’s New York on June 24.

Sotheby’s set a new auction record for a stamp with the $7.9m (£4.85m) hammer taken for the 1856 British Guiana one-cent Magenta in New York last week.

The name Æthelberht and the title REX on an Anglo-Saxon penny just sold in London may provide a vital clue to a royal murder.

“They think it’s all over... it is now!”

The First World War shattered not just lives but also perceptions of the ‘natural order’ of things across Europe and how it was ruled.

It may not look much today, but this camera was the latest cutting-edge piece of technology when it was first released for sale in 1899 – and it helped lay the foundations for the future of film and moving pictures. Then it retailed for £30, now it has just sold at auction in Surrey by Lawrences of Bletchingley for £7800.

A newly established firm of numismatic auctioneers, Wilkes & Curtis, are aiming to break into the marketplace by offering a fixed buyer’s premium of 10%.