Heritage Auctions

An unopened copy of the classic video game Super Mario Bros set a new auction record when it recently sold in Dallas, Texas for $80,000 (£62,000). The game is the only known sealed example from a test market release in 1985.

New joiners and promotions across the world of auctioneers.

Following on from new-found nostalgia for toys and games of their youth, collectors tempted by fond memories for often Star Wars and Lego are now moving on to vintage video games.

The first week of the new year means we are back in the saleroom and here are three previews from upcoming auctions over the next few days.

In 1903 the Wright Brothers put into the air the first successful aeroplane. Sixty-six years later Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon – carrying with his mission a piece of the propeller and section of the wing fabric from that pioneering aircraft.

If eyes really are the windows into the soul then two photographs taken nearly 120 years apart give the viewer plenty to ponder.

The silver eight-Reales coins struck in Mexico City in the 1530s are sometimes referred to as the ‘first dollar of the New World’.

In a rare cartoon depicting the Boston Tea Party the Goddess of Liberty says: “Behold the Ardor of my sons and let not their brave Actions be buried in Oblivion.”

A couple emigrating to the US from Russia in the early 20th century was not exactly headline news, but sadly for university graduates Miriam and Sinai Kantor they became part of one of the biggest stories of the day.

Frank Frazetta’s painting Escape on Venus does not feature any of the pirates, zombies or ugly communists that appear in the story it accompanies. Still, the picture easily attracted enough attention to make it the top lot at a recent Heritage Auctions sale.