Macclesfield

Collectors can often be as fascinating as a collection itself. Take Reginald J Cheetham, an extraordinary man who amassed a huge array of items now coming up for auction at the Adam Partridge saleroom.

How times change. The British cycling roll of honour now features such illustrious names as Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy, Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome, Laura Trott and Victoria Pendleton.

Catalogued as white metal, with no hallmarks, a snuff box included in the silver section at Adam Partridge’s recent sale at Macclesfield caused a stir. The mark it did have was that of the great Huguenot maker, David Willaume.