Collectables

A Steinway grand piano sold for a double-estimate £95,000 on February 24 when Christie’s King Street held a £3m, 146-lot sale of items from the former Queen Anne’s Gate home of musician Sting and his wife Trudie Styler.

According to various press reports, authorities in the province of Hunan in China are offering 10,000 yuan (£1000) to anyone who can decipher the inscriptions on the back of six gold coins from ancient India.

Two of the best-known anthropomorphic creations of the celebrated Victorian taxidermist Walter Potter (1835-1918) resurfaced at Treadway Toomey in Oak Park, near Chicago, Illinois, on February 6.

A 1957 Ferrari 355 S Scaglietti sold at the Artcurial Motorcars auction for €32.1m (£24.7m) with premium to an international collector after “a tense, 11-minute bidding battle”.

A previously unknown seventh edition of the Bay Psalm Book, published in Boston, 1693, with a provenance tied to Salem witch trial judge Jonathan Corwin and descendants of John Proctor, sold for $221,000 (£151,584) at a Swann sale in New York on February 4.

A new auction high for a ski poster was established at Christie’s South Kensington’s annual Ski sale, held on January 21, when this 1934 colour lithograph advertising the attractions of the Swiss resort of Gstaad sold for £62,000 (plus premium).

Information has come to light proving that a newly-discovered flag due to sell at auction in March was not that flown from HMS Leviathan at the Battle of Trafalgar. It has since been withdrawn from sale.

A museum in Switzerland has acquired this extraordinary monkey band automaton at an online-only auction conducted by East Bristol Auctions, in Hanham, Bristol.

The Law Commission, the independent body which reviews laws in England and Wales, have recommended to the government that the term ‘antique firearm’ be defined in statute for the first time.

A Union flag, by repute flown by one of Nelson’s warships at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, carries an estimate of £30,000-50,000 at sporting gun specialists Holt’s on March 17.

An antique narwhal tusk that faced destruction following a dispute over paperwork has been returned to its owner after a judge ruled its confiscation by customs had been “unreasonable”.

Scientific, medical and natural history books from the library of the Royal Institution are to be sold at Christie’s on December 1.

Dreweatts are to offer 14 boxes from an important American collection of 18th and 19th century European gold boxes as part of a December 3 sale titled Iconic Jewels & Treasures.

An Apple-1, the technology that heralded a revolution in home computing when it was launched as Apple’s first product in 1976, is for sale via Christie’s online.

“Button who?” When Shropshire documents consultant Ben Jones was told that an American client was considering selling the clipped signature of Button Gwinnett he reached for the search engine.

Lot number one in Rogers Jones’ latest sale provided both a world record result and a house record for the Welsh auctioneers.

The 1864 Ascot Cup, an impressive Victorian silver racing trophy by Garrard, led proceedings at the three-day sale of the Felix Dennis (1947-2014) collection. It sold at £67,000.

A Grand Tour cork model of the Temple of Zeus at Paestum has sold for £44,000 at Hampstead Auctions in north London.

An embossed brass belt buckle discovered in the back garden of an old English cottage is a reminder that the very first Australian side to tour England was one made up entirely of Aborigines.

Bimbo The Giant Clown was the beaming white face of Pelham Puppets for decades.