Collectables

It was with dazzling exhibition pieces that Joseph Rodgers & Sons made its reputation as Sheffield’s foremost knifemaker.

A fascinating personal collection of items relating to Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) that sold in a south London auction included what are among the last photographs ever taken of her.

She was the first female broadcaster to be heard on Radio 1 and the only journalist to accompany the Beatles during a four-day coach trip when they filmed their Magical Mystery Tour TV special.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions taking place via thesaleroom.com

The combination of a pre-eminent maker and a perfect provenance made a late 18th century pocket chronometer one of the most sought-after pieces at Dr Crott (25% buyer’s premium) in Mannheim on November 18.

Newly discovered papers show how renowned mathematician and his collaborator worked hand in hand

Mother of pearl and olivewood devotional objects were made in Jerusalem in large quantities as tourism to the Holy Land took off in the late 19th and early 20th century.

An impressive result emerged at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood on December 5 when a travel album titled The Ramblings and Adventures of an Indian Officer was knocked down at £135,000.

Astronomical manuscript for sale includes illustrations by scientist who was in fact an insurance broker

Letter from German mathematician to English scholar takes £14,000 in Edinburgh saleroom

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions taking place via thesaleroom.com

Held by the same private New England family since 1792, a copy of 'A Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean' complete with its map came for sale at Bonhams Skinner (28/26/20% buyer’s premium).

Few people can profess to know more about the 1910-12 Japanese Antarctic Expedition than the Arizona book dealer Chet Ross.

A group of letters sent from a clipper ship captain in Shanghai during the Second Opium War (1856-60) to his sons in the Charlestown area of Boston resounded with bidders at Merrill’s Auctioneers (21% buyer’s premium) in Williston, Vermont on November 3.

Pictured here are two fine 19th century presentation copies that, unexpectedly, topped sales in South Cerney and Cambridge in October.