Collectables

From Pokémon trading cards to retro gaming consoles, the growing market in modern collectables is bringing new buyers and consignors to the market – and providing new business opportunities

More people than ever are getting hooked on angling, says the Angling Trust which reported that in 2023-24 as a result of participation events more than 43,000 people tried fishing for the first time.

The rise in modern collectables at auction has enabled one relative newcomer to prosper.

Fragment found in an attic with receipt for £25 now sells for £39,000 hammer price

A letter from Robert Falcon Scott – aka Scott of the Antarctic – came up for sale at Canterbury Auction Galleries (20% buyer’s premium) on April 11-14.

This rare playbill on silk printed in the Arctic in 1852 sold for £4400 at a recent sale at Keys (25% buyer’s premium) in Aylsham.

Among the more extraordinary forms of French furniture is the ‘machine pneumatique’ – a device used in the Age of Enlightenment to demonstrate the mysterious properties of the vacuum or ‘the energy of the nothingness’.

I was very sorry to read about the death of ATG's antiquarian books columnist Ian McKay (Obituary, ATG No 2689). He was a good guy and occasional visitor here.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book sales

Oxfam discoveries from a pile of donations include Chinese religious rarity, Communist manifesto and Dickens

Books dealership Peter Harrington’s latest catalogue explores how technology has shaped, controlled, and empowered the voiceless, while fuelling the flow of information and culture.