Collectables

The 1908 Olympic Games in London included duels with wax bullets, tug of war and the world’s oldest Olympic champion.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish books and works on paper sales

Naturalist produced a fish-focused work featuring nearly 3000 original watercolours across 50 copies

An FA Cup winner’s medal belonging to a Newcastle United goalkeeper who won the trophy with the Magpies 100 years ago sold for £7800 on June 27.

The original artwork for 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone' sold at Sotheby’s for $1.6m (£1.3m) plus 20% buyer’s premium in New York on June 26.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish books and works on paper auctions

Little-known work by the Yorkshire author dating from 1927 is boosted by dedication to Suffragette friend

With a rusty blade and seemingly anonymous scabbard, an ornate hilt was the key as to why an Indian tulwar sword estimated at £100-200 instead sold for a huge hammer price of £109,500 (plus 22% buyer’s premium).

Storing a bottle of carbonised mineral water upright often caused the cork to dry out, the gas to escape and the drink to go flat. Persuading a chemist or grocer to store them horizontally proved difficult until the adoption of William Hamilton’s egg-shaped or torpedo bottle.

At the risk of sounding pedantic, the coin illustrated on the Back Page (ATG No 2651) regarding Tim Millett’s book on engraved coins is a coin of William III (not George III), so some hundred years earlier than stated.