Features

If you wanted to keep the strings of a tennis racket taut, you could do with a tennis racket press – a device consisting of a frame closed by a spring mechanism.

Before match programmes grew into the glossy mini-magazines of today they were relatively simple affairs – most just a single sheet printed on both sides.

Stan Anderson (1934-2018) was a north-eastern football stalwart playing as captain for a hat-trick of local clubs.

A group of “rare and interesting” 20th century cycling ephemera relating primarily to the Olympic Games offered by Catherine Southon (20% buyer’s premium) came from the collection of cycling journalist David Taylor (1937-2020).

A humble table tennis bat bought at a car boot sale in Surrey for £3.50 served up a surprise at Hansons’ (25% buyer’s premium) London monthly auction on September 25.

A silver tea service presented to Sir Stanley Matthews (1915-2000) to mark his record England cap has been sold by a Hampshire dealer.

Derbyshire auction house Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) sold memorabilia this summer worn by two Manchester United favourites of different eras: George Best and David Beckham.

An England blue velvet and silver braid cap awarded to Sir Alfred Ramsey sold for a mid-estimate £3400 at Lacy Scott & Knight (22.5% buyer’s premium) in Bury St Edmunds.

Maurice Setters (1936-2020) is perhaps best known to many football fans as the assistant to Jack Charlton as Republic of Ireland enjoyed success in the 1980s-90s.

A painting of a pugilist will now be researched by the dealer who bought it at auction thanks to his collecting fascination with the early days of the sport

A pair of early 19th century Staffordshire pearlware figures modelled after bare-knuckle boxers Tom Cribb and Tom Molineaux who fought for a ‘world title’ of sorts is estimated at £3000-5000 in Tennants’ Autumn Fine Sale on November 13 in Leyburn.

Not all football memorabilia has to be Manchester United or early FA Cup, say, to catch the eye of buyers.

The highlight of an impressive range of football memorabilia offered by specialist Graham Budd (20.5% buyer’s premium) was the earliest Manchester United medal sold at auction.

The hare, one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, is associated symbolically with longevity and the moon.

This bronze head of Buddha, formerly in a private Belgium collection since the 1970s, is priced at £75,000 from Antwerp gallery Marcel Nies Oriental Art.

This 7½in (19cm) Japanese wood netsuke shows the standing figure of Ashinaga with his arms outstretched.

This pair of yellow-ground famille rose ‘medallion’ bowls from the Daoguang period (1830-50) have marks for Shendetang Zhi (Hall of Prudent Virtue).

A Paula Rego (b.1935) print was among the works bringing interest at a charity sale held by Dorchester saleroom Duke’s to support a disability centre.

This 3ft 7in x 24in (1.08m x 60cm) ink and colour on paper of mandarin ducks swimming amid lotus blooms is by Chen Zhifo (1896-1962).

This pair of small qingbai foliate dishes from the Northern Song (960-1127) period comes with a receipt showing they were purchased by the Oxfordshire vendor for HK$16,000 from KY Fine Art in Hong Kong on June 7, 2003.