Collectables

The front page of ATG No 2558 featured a Second World War nurse’s cape decorated with an array of cloth regimental badges that sold at Essex auction house Sworders in August last year.

A collection of correspondence penned by leading figures of the 20th century to an Oxford academic raised more than £20,000 for charity at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) on October 10.

Among recent paratrooper items that impressed at auction, this Polish badge with combat wreath doubled the top estimate at Bosleys to take £4000 from a UK online private buyer.

One of the best performers against estimate at Tennants’ (24% buyer’s premium) Militaria & Ethnographica sale on September 20 was a fascinating collection of photographs and ephemera relating to a French Second World War hero.

The ‘fine and scarce’ 1918 Sopwith Camel fighter ace’s Distinguished Flying Cross and bar awarded to Captain Solomon Clifford Joseph (previewed in ATG No 2613) sold within estimate for £20,000 in Mayfair.

Follow-up edition of a classic avian work was more or less a new publication thanks to extra research

An intriguing painted wooden British soldier doll sold for more than 10 times the top estimate when it was offered at Guernsey auction house Martel Maides (24% buyer’s premium).

A never-before-seen photo of soldiers leaving Ulster to fight in the First World War and a serviceman’s diary from the trenches have been uncovered.

Although Gallipoli in the Great War became a defining moment in Australian nationhood and identity, the second Boer War from 1899-1902 featured the first-large scale involvement of troops from Down Under.

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

A handmade model of Dorothy Gale’s Kansas home, created for the famous tornado scene in the 1939 MGM classic 'The Wizard of Oz', was competed to $445,000 (£367,000) at Studio Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Manhattan Beach, California on October 7.

The growth in toys and collectables is related to the age of buyers and the items they remember from their own childhood, auction houses say.

This colonial-era Indian silver horse racing trophy is marked for Peter Orr and Sons of Madras.

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

The art of the Samurai comes to Essex firm Sworders on November 2.

Korean businessman Dr Hahn Kwang-ho CBE (1923-2014) was a well-known philanthropist and collector

This halfpenny featuring a ‘wild man’s head’ from northern Japan actually promotes a rather less fiercesome individual: Richard Summer, a perfumer and dealer in curiosities in Cavendish Street, London.

Carvings of animals by a former Fabergé carver are to be auctioned at Bamfords next month.

All that David Bennett asks is that you don’t call him a ‘leg’ man.

This kitschy Beatles table lamp discovered in a house clearance sold for an impressive £950 (estimate £100-150) on September 14.