Hansons

With space and privacy at a premium on board ships, sailors used ditty boxes to store their most treasured possessions plus personal necessities and everyday items such as sewing kit.

If specialist Karl Martin was the type to take work home with him he’d be in danger of never finding it again.

It may have been catalogued as requiring restoration but a “scarce” 19th century Korean helmet still managed to sell for 82 times its low estimate at Hansons (26% buyer’s premium).

An Arctic fox fur owned and worn by a 1930s movie star dubbed Britain’s answer to Ginger Rogers turned heads at a Derby saleroom.

A 19th century Native American wolf mask, once used in religious ceremonies on the Northwest coast, emerged from the obscurity of a £50-100 estimate to bring £14,000 at auction in Hertfordshire.

A somewhat innocuous-looking lot at Hansons (26% buyer’s premium) proved to be anything but as a number of eagle-eyed bidders spotted a significant discovery contained therein.

The growth in the market for vintage football tops connected to popular players continues apace

In the early years of the HN collection in the 1920s several companies commissioned Doulton figures to advertise their products.

Fleetwood Mac are famous for the huge-selling Rumours album that propelled the band to superstardom but the original line-up and sound were very different.

Dealer Daniel Hadden is hoping for an early Christmas present with the sale of two tree decorations that once belonged to Queen Victoria.

The Tarleton helmet was named after the dashing but ruthless Sir Banastre Tarleton (1754-1833), who commanded the British Legion during the American War of Independence.

A 1556 first edition copy of Welshman Robert Recorde’s The Castle of Knowledge was estimated at £5000-10,000 and made £12,600 including buyer’s premium at Hansons’ November 1 Library auction.

A never-before-seen photo of soldiers leaving Ulster to fight in the First World War and a serviceman’s diary from the trenches have been uncovered.

An 18th century copy of Tikkunei Shabbat (an amalgam of Hebrew prayers and devotions for the Sabbath) sold for £57,000 to an international phone bidder at Hansons on September 5.