Collectables
The term ‘collectables’ (or collectibles) encompasses a vast range of items in fields as diverse as arms, armour and militaria, bank notes, cameras, coins, entertainment and sporting memorabilia, stamps, taxidermy, wines and writing equipment.
Some collectables are antiques, others are classed as retro, vintage or curios but all are of value to the collector. In any of these fields, buyers seek out rarities and items with specific associations.
Bidding to go behind enemy lines
21 August 2017Operations behind enemy lines was the theme linking two special forces medals groups sold by London auction house Spink (20% buyer’s premium) on July 26.
Nimrod and the price of 17 minutes of fame for the SAS
21 August 2017Medals for service in the Falklands, Northern Ireland and long service/good conduct denote a busy 1980s career. In value terms, for a non-special forces unit, it means a price probably within £1000 at auction. But it is a single action lasting about 17 minutes from start to finish which explains why such a group on offer at Woolley & Wallis on November 22 is estimated at £20,000-30,000.
Thomas Del Mar launches new west London militaria fair
21 August 2017Thomas Del Mar, former Sotheby’s specialist and founder of the 25 Blythe Road group of auctioneers, turns fair organiser next month. The first Olympia Arms Fair takes place on September 30.
Taking a pause for Passchendaele
21 August 2017The London Antique Arms Fair is usually a biannual event, but this year the organiser is rather busy – in November they are putting together the Passchendaele Salute 2017 at Fort Seclin near Lille, France.
Canadian war hero’s Victoria Cross up at auction in London… in dollars
21 August 2017A unique Victoria Cross and other awards won by one of the greatest heroes in Canadian history is to be auctioned by Dix Noonan Webb on September 27.
Dealer makes eastern campaign in search of new markets
21 August 2017Warwick arms and armour dealer Runjeet Singh will have a representative at the new Olympia fair (see separate story) but he has a ‘fixture clash’ to cope with. The west London show coincides with his first exhibition in Asia.
Heavyweight bids for a weight saving brooch
21 August 2017Medals and orders can be heavy things. So what better way to carry around your various hard-earned gongs than a one-size-fits-all miniature version of them all?
Rare Beatles concert poster from 1963 sells at Tennants for nearly three times estimate
21 August 2017Back in December 1962, a Yorkshire show promoter booked a new Liverpool band to play at Harrogate’s Royal Hall on the strength of their first record which had charted at No 17 a couple of months earlier.
A Rorke’s Drift in pricing for the Zulu War
21 August 2017Considering there were only 150 men defending Rorke’s Drift against the Zulus, an impressive number of medals awarded after that epic 1879 encounter have come to auction recently.
Remarkable RAF fighter ace diary sells at Cambridge auction
21 August 2017Personal and unique insights into warfare score highly at auction. So it proved at Cambridge firm Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) in The Connoisseurs Sale on July 6, when a journal revealing the private thoughts of a Second World War fighter ace credited with more enemy ‘kills’ than any other British pilot doubled the top estimate to sell for £16,000.
Snuff box with William of Orange inscription had shipwreck provenance
21 August 2017A 19th century oak snuff box offered at Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne on July 11 was inset with copper and inscribed Made from the wreck of the Betsy Cains which brought King William to England 1688 and A.Reed Esq. Mayor 1827.
A sweetheart brooch to give you wings
21 August 2017In the days when loved ones in the armed forces would head abroad on service for up to several years, not knowing when or if they would return, ‘sweetheart’ brooches were a way of remembering them.
How fragments sell for fortunes
21 August 2017Over the years, any number of rare and very early manuscript fragments have been recovered from disintegrating old bindings in which they had been used as packing.
Cane collectors unite in Kensington for annual seminar
19 August 2017The Antique Cane Society’s annual seminar takes place next month.
Royal tearaway's tale revealed by auction link to London's past and ‘Antiquity Smith’
18 August 2017John Thomas Smith, reportedly born in a hackney carriage on a June evening in 1766, was an artist, writer and a Londoner.
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1908 FA Cup winner medal shoots into Shropshire auction
14 August 2017One thing you can rely on every summer is the outraged stories in the press about the sums being spent by Premier League football clubs on the great, the good and the Jozy Altidores.
Rolls-Royce used by Princess Diana goes under the hammer at Auctions America
14 August 2017A 1987 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur I used in the past by Princess Diana is included in Auctions America’s upcoming sale in Auburn, Indiana (August 31-September 3).
French 18th century magic trick book features 'blow' reading device
14 August 2017‘L’Abbé Quille’ (shown below), against whose leg a dog is seen relieving itself in the illustration, is one of 84 hand-coloured plates – 12 each of seven subjects – that make up a French magic trick book of c.1799 sold for £2900 by Dominic Winter (19.5% buyer’s premium) in a June 19-20 sale.
Cornucopia of works on paper reveals early 20th French gem
14 August 2017Large numbers of lots identified only as folders, boxes and albums full of prints, watercolours, maps and so on offered in a Brightwells (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale of July 5 included one disarmingly catalogued, in full, as ‘Sketches, Watercolours, Prints of Naked Ladies, chiefly’. It sold at £500.
To whom did Clare Leighton dedicate her 1933 set of wood engravings?
14 August 2017Almost 30 years ago, a proof copy of Clare Leighton’s 'The Farmer’s Year of 1933', effectively a cased set of 12 of her wood engravings, all captioned, signed and inscribed in her hand, sold for £2800 at Sotheby’s.
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