Cardiff

The original Doctor Who script for the first-ever Doctor Who episode is something always likely to attract high demand at auction. Chuck in the fact that it was used and owned by the very first Doctor Who actor, William Hartnell, and it just gets better and better.

Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It, Day Time Wife, and perhaps even He Stayed for Breakfast may sound like certain late-night films common when Channel 5 first launched, but they are innocent titles from the 1940s cinema era.

Saturday’s last-gasp, nail-biting England victory was hailed as one of the greatest games of the Six Nations championship. Talking of rugby ‘greats’, a jersey coming up at auction on February 18 is a reminder of an earlier international player who falls into the ‘legend’ sports category.

The market for Dylan Thomas memorabilia remains strong, says the auctioneer who is hoping for Welsh, English and American bidding on one of the poet's doodle that he is offering.

An early printed copy of the laws of rugby appeared at Rogers Jones in Cardiff as part of a themed sale titled Sweat, Mud & Blood. Auctioneer Ben Rogers Jones said: ”In 25 years of our business, it is the most valuable book we have sold and probably the smallest.”

The year 1737 was something of an annus horribilis for George II.

A number of oil paintings by Sir Kyffin Williams (1918-2006) gave a major fillip to Rogers Jones’ first sale in their new Cardiff saleroom. The results included the highest price ever seen for one of his works sold at auction.

THE day after bullion prices peaked, thieves broke into an antiques centre in Cardiff and escaped with a haul of antique silver valued at thousands of pounds.

NEARLY 1300 lots were offered by Anthemion Auctions of Cardiff in an April 21 sale of sports memorabilia and among the soccer programmes, there was a bit of a shock when a 1945 programme for a Newport County v Chelsea match, valued at £30-40, was bid to £2600!

AS a one-off, the spring version of the twice-yearly Cardiff Antiques and Collectors’ Fair decamps to the nearby country town of Cowbridge. Carmarthen-based Robert and Carol Pugh, who operate as Towy Fairs, have been forced out of their regular venue, the Cardiff Bowling Club, by a rather rougher fixture than bowling, the Rugby League Cup Final which will be held at the Millennium Stadium on the same weekend – April 26 and 27.

With the recent closure of numerous manufacturing depots belonging to a Cardiff company, the time came to dispose of items from the manager’s flat. The best of these items, all of which were sold on November 20 at the Cardiff rooms of Anthemion Auctions, was this Regency mahogany secretaire bookcase.

FACING up to the decline in demand for brown furniture was the central issue taxing the National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers (NAVA) at their annual general meeting in Cardiff.