Collectables

Once breech-loading guns became the norm, the gun itself was only one part of the equation. Ammunition was the great variable, as demonstrated by the advertising display boards produced in large numbers for the gun shops and ironmongers of the United Kingdom.

Many weapons have to remain silent witnesses to the conflicts in which they took part, so there is always extra interest in arms which can be linked directly to a particular soldier or battle.

Sales of ski posters have long been a seasonal feature of the auction scene scheduled for those winter months when enthusiasts take to the slopes.

It was not a vintage season for armour in the salerooms, but in Thomas Del Mar’s (24% buyer’s premium) auction on December 5 this very original English or Flemish close helmet of c.1560 reached £11,000.

Eight examples of beautiful bindings feature in a selection from recent auctions held across the world.

Two suits of armour that emerged in recent auctions at Continental salerooms.

A recently released new film about the relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, one in which certain historical liberties appear to have been taken concerning the generally accepted belief that the two women never actually met, brings a topicality to a letter offered last month in London.

A two-in-one purchase, this Simon and Halbig bisque-headed doll comes with its own teddy bear in a 550-lot online-only auction of toys and past playthings.

Illustrated below is the title page of a copy of the very first book by CS Lewis to be printed, Spirits in Bondage of 1919.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from January 29-February 9, 2019.

A work once said to have “…set the course for the modern world by its effective destruction of the anthropocentric view of the universe” made a rare auction appearance.

'Across the Continent. Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way' is a well-known hand coloured litho print issued by Currier & Ives, although the publisher’s imprint has been cut off the bottom of the example shown below.