Collectables

A memento of the last great age of transatlantic ocean travel can be found at the sale of Peter Karbstein in Düsseldorf on July 11.

Christie’s (25/20/13.5% buyer’s premium) recent sale in Paris of books and manuscripts was led at €125,000 (£113,635) by a Nobel Prize for Literature medal awarded in 1947, just four years before his death, to the essayist, critic, novelist and dramatist André Gide.

One of the few first-edition copies of 'Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone' inscribed and signed by JK Rowling has sold at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh for £100,000 (plus 25% premium).

Military uniforms reached their ornamental peak in the 19th century Western Europe – with the leaders of the day sharing in their ostentation

Devon artist’s first buy is still his most precious – but joined by tables, militaria and much more

This blue and white enamelled musical box is be offered in a sale on June 27 at Oakridge Auction Gallery in Ashburn, Virginia.

An account of travels in Indian territories in the early 19th century was one of two letters of particular North American interest sold for notably higher than expected sums by Forum (25/20/12% buyer’s premium).

Simon Beattie specialises in European cultural history, with interests in cross-cultural material and the history of decorated paper. He is also the founder of Facebook group We Love Endpapers, which has 5000 members.

The highlight of Morphy Auctions’ (23% buyer’s premium) sale of historical militaria from the independence struggle and War of 1812 era was a rare and extensively provenanced presentation pipe tomahawk.

A signed memorandum letter sent by Nelson from HMS Victory to one of his captains sold for a mid-estimate £3200 at a recent TW Gaze (18% buyer’s premium) auction in Diss in Norfolk.

A Zulu War medal awarded to a Victorian soldier severely wounded while fighting in the hospital building at Rorke’s Drift has been bought at auction – by a doctor.

The two most expensive lots in an online London books sale of just 100 lots could hardly have been more different.

This Danish silver, amber and agate brooch from c.1915 by Georg Jensen will feature in the art and design sale to be held by Freeman’s of Philadelphia on June 26.

The 80th anniversary of Operation Dynamo, aka the Dunkirk evacuation in May-June 1940, has been in the headlines recently. However, less well known is the fate of the British 51st Highland Division almost 100 miles further along the French coast.

Harry Potter first deemed too scruffy by a public library brings a spellbinding result

An American collector bought this original Second World War RAF ensign flag at a recent East Bristol Auctions (18% buyer’s premium).

Our regular listing of books and works on paper auctions the UK and Ireland.

A trading standards investigation has unearthed a ‘medal factory’ in Derbyshire, sparking the fear that thousands of fake military awards and badges could be in circulation.