Collectables

A ‘gambling’ sale held on May 5-6 by Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) produced what may be a record bid of $8500 (£6590) on a 1902 first of SW Erdnase’s The Expert at the Card Table.

A rare and complete set of The Scourge…, a monthly publication of the early 19th century that also described itself as the …Expositor of Imposture and Folly, brought a record bid of $9000 (£6075) in a Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of May 16.

“Artworks from Underground Comix – especially from masters such as Robert Crumb – are becoming recognised in the fine art world as cultural cornerstones.”

In our continuing series looking through the keyhole of ‘bricks and mortar’ shops in 2017, ATG talks to Jonathan Menezes, who has owned Bow Windows Bookshop in partnership with Ric Latham since 2010.

Mark Skipper of Cheltenham Rare Books talks about opening a shop, travelling as a dealer and the importance of fairs.

‘Group lots should be viewed’ was the wise recommendation in the catalogue description of this mixed bag offered at Tennants’ (18.5% buyer’s premium) sale of vintage costume, textiles and dolls at Leyburn on May 13.

Over three busy days in May Dominic Winter (19.5% buyer’s premium) mounted a three-catalogue sale that presented close on 1600 lots in all.

A lamp from a wagon that once travelled a 50-mile stretch of track linking the docks of Cardiff to the collieries of the south Wales valleys was hammered down in Bristol at £6300 (plus 18% buyer’s premium).

The general sale at Dominic Winter was followed on May 11 by one of motoring literature, automobilia and historic bicycles and accessories – a 620-lot auction held in conjunction with Transport Collector Auctions.

The autograph sale held by Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) in New York on May 4 included a musical quotation in the hand of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the theme from the finale of his Orchestral Suite No.3 in G Major (Op.55), which sold for $14,000 (£10,855).

First Professor of Cornish Studies at Exeter University and Bard of Gorseth Kernow, Charles Thomas (1928-2016) was both a prolific writer and a bibliophile.

The annual London Map Fair unites the classic and the quirky of cartographic history under one roof as a host of international dealers show up for what organisers boast is the world’s largest event of its kind.

The builders were still applying the finishing touches to book dealership Maggs Bros’ new premises in London’s Bedford Square on the morning before the shop was officially opened with a party on May 23.

A gig poster advertising as the headline act ‘Britain’s Fabulous Disc Stars!’ sold for £28,000 at the Roger Jones (20% buyer’s premium inc VAT) May 23 auction.

One of the surprises at Peter Wilson’s April 26- 27 sale was a tinplate clockwork pram pushed by a woman stamped Burnett Limited, London, Made in England.

Coming up trumps at Stamford auctioneers Batemans (20% buyer’s premium) on May 6 was a full pack of 52 Georgian playing cards.