Collectables

A rare American coin from a schoolboy’s coin collection was knocked down at auction for £185,000 at Salisbury saleroom Woolley & Wallis this week.

These figures representing The Beatles were manufactured by Subbuteo, the name made famous by the series of table-top games mainly concerning football but also other types of sport.

When in 1903 the Marconi Wireless Company began a public demonstration of its systems, an unwelcome message began to appear via the Morse printer: “There was a young man from Italy, who diddled the public so prettily…”

An early photographic album which has sold for a record-breaking £290,000 came into the hands of its first owner 140 years ago as a prize – for winning a pigeon-shooting competition.

A rare Holtzapffel & Company rose engine lathe turned a few heads at Skinner’s recent Science, Technology and Clocks sale to take $190,000 (£124,185) as the top lot of the day.

Gorringes have set what is thought to be a record price for a coin in the UK provinces, taking £240,000 for a gold Queen Anne Vigo Five Guineas of 1703 at their sale in Lewes last month.

This American half-cent coin, dated 1796, will be auctioned in Woolley & Wallis’ Salisbury auction rooms on January 22 with an estimate of £25,000-30,000.

This classic red two-seater 1954 MG TF 1500 Roadster will be auctioned at Fieldings Auctioneers in Stourbridge on January 12.

Included in George Kidner’s sale in Lymington, Hampshire on January 10, is this 19th century Swiss enamelled musical bird box decorated with landscape scenes.

At first glance all looks well in this Edwardian garden party scene illustrated on the lid of a Huntley & Palmers biscuit tin. But is that a naked couple in the bushes at the back of the picture?

A gold bullion dealer who has opened a chain of outlets in shopping centres across Britain is aiming to create a whole new generation of coin collectors among Britain’s youth.

When it comes to rock and pop memorabilia, and The Beatles in particular, if the provenance is not only right but of the first magnitude, prices can soar.

Designed for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, a 1928 poster by Cassandre (1901-68) sold at Swann Auction Galleries of New York for what is believed to be a record for the sought-after poster designer at auction.

A 1928 movie poster of Mickey Mouse, thought to be the earliest surviving poster of the Walt Disney character, has fetched $85,000 (£56,000) at auction in Dallas, Texas.

The failure of wine investment funds to the tune of around £100m in the past four years has prompted the industry to set up a regulatory body to police such ventures.

Back in 1998 Lacy Scott & Knight of Bury St Edmunds were instructed by local art teacher and model enthusiast John Clibbon to sell the majority of a large collection of tinplate toys.

Leica cameras proved one of the must-have auction prizes in recent sales with record prices at Westlicht in Vienna and Bonhams Hong Kong.

A gold sword that belonged to the bodyguard of Empress Catherine II of Russia is estimated at £40,000-60,000 in Thomas Del Mar’s December 5 Antique Arms, Armour and Militaria sale in West Kensington, London.

This Nathaniel Mills presentation snuff box was given to Isambard K. Brunel and will be included in Jones & Jacob’s sale on December 5 in Watlington, Oxfordshire.

Mallett are about to celebrate their first Christmas in their lavish new home, Ely House in Dover Street, Mayfair, where they moved earlier this year when the rents and rates of nearby Bond Street became too much.