Collectables

Coin dealership Coincraft has welcomed four new members of staff and launched a new website.

Poor old Christopher Columbus. Fair enough, he ended up with a country, part of a US state name and an Ohio state capital named after him, but it is the United States of America, not to mention South and North America, that endured.

Delays and overspends on the Great Western route out of London are frustrating but letters up for auction on April 29 reveal that things didn’t always go smoothly even for the brilliant engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The appetite for collecting Titanic memorabilia remains huge judging by the latest dedicated auction in which a fur coat worn by a member of the crew was offered.

The largest gold sovereign hoard ever found has been declared treasure but mystery surrounds the identity of the rightful heirs to the trove of gold coins.

Psycho must have been a frightening enough film in its day even without a menacing poster that greeted cinema-goers.

Willem Janszoon Blaeu (c.1570-1638) of Amsterdam and his son, Joan (1596-1673), were the leading figures in the atlas and map publishing world in an age when that Dutch city was the centre of European cartographic achievement.

Aston Martins are associated with glamour and glitz. The car of James Bond. But the example coming up in a classic car auction in Essex on May 7 is more muck than mystique.

Ladybird books, or rather some of the artworks produced for the much-loved, original pocket-size books, are to be offered by Tennants of Leyburn in two auctions this year – the first on April 28 as part of a sale of books, maps, manuscripts and prints.

“Remember the Alamo!” It was the battle cry that spurred the Texans on to victory during their 1836 revolution, recalling the sacrificial last stand of a few heroic men during a brutal siege by the Mexican Army.

Boneshakers and Penny Farthings were the forerunners of the bicycle we know now but were hardly practical as everyday transport for the masses. Step (or pedal) forward the ‘safety bike’.

Two visiting books that belonged to the Duchess of Cambridge are being offered at Halls’ country house auction later this month.