Collectables

A pair of militaria highlights related to Irish regiments that came up in recent auctions.

Numerous works by Henry Williamson including fascinating inscriptions and annotations were offered in Chichester saleroom

While London gun-makers featured heavily – and lucratively – at Gavin Gardiner’s (25% buyer’s premium) auction of Modern & Vintage Sporting Guns on December 14, provincial makers also got a look in.

Right at the top of the price lists for a London sale of a second portion of the library of Henry Rogers Broughton, 2nd Earl Fairhaven, was a lot that presented a handsomely bound collection of 15 very fine watercolour on vellum drawings of flowers.

A rare Second World War helmet worn by members of a little-known unit of the UK home front comes for sale at Sworders on February 7.

The auction at Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium) on December 15 included two presentation first editions by Sylvia Plath.

Published by John Newbery c.1770, 'A Little Pretty Pocket Book…' and its companion 'Little Song Book' is a very small work indeed at little more than 3in (7.5cm) tall, but the latter includes some 54 woodcut illustrations and accompanying verses related to children’s games and pastimes.

Birmingham-born Roy Elvis (1944- 2022) inherited his family interest in antiques and started collecting furniture and decorative arts from an early age.

The visit of ‘Revolutionary Wars’ hero Gilbert du Motler, the Marquis of Lafayette, to the US in 1824 spawned a large number of commemoratives.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

A remarkable collection of dollhouses, dollhouse furniture and juvenilia was sold in London towards the end of 2022.

Models produced for promotional purposes usually benefit from considerable rarity value and so it proved when a Dinky toy came up for auction at Stockton-on-Tees saleroom Vectis.

An inscription bearing Winston Churchill’s signature and dated 1948 found in a single volume of his famous history of the Second World War that came to auction in Cumbria was believed to be authentic.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

Among the most eagerly contested lots in a sale of vintage posters was a set of three unrestored advertising posters by the Tuscany-born, Paris-based Leonetto Cappiello (1875-1942).

Considered one of the best British movies about the Second World War, the British quad-sized poster for 'The Dam Busters' (1955) was not too bad either.

Top price at the Ewbank’s (25% buyer’s premium) poster auction on January 6 came for a design that was a work of art in itself.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

A collectors’ timed online sale at Mallams (25% buyer’s premium) included a group lot of early 20th century juvenalia owned by a key figure in Second World War naval intelligence.