Collectables

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions

How much would you spend on an antique or vintage chess set? Here are three examples from different periods that sold across a wide range of prices.

In September 2020, Soulis Auctions knocked down record prices at a sale of the Richard and Valerie Tucker collection of carnival shooting gallery targets.

To say that James Bond memorabilia is hugely collectable is not a statement to cause a huge shock.

The Matchbox Superfast 74a Daimler Fleetline Bus estimated at £60-80 as Lot 214 in the Vectis (27% buyer’s premium inc VAT) sale on October 31 made £35, while the version guided at £50-70 two lots later made £120.

Dispersal of renowned collection launches with the first auctions including Aldine ‘crown jewels’

The first American Civil War playset produced by Marx came in 1958 but in 1961 a real blockbuster version appeared: the Giant Blue and Gray Battle Set.

The Barbie movie might not have been such a hit if it was called Bild-Lilli instead.

The highly imaginative post-war toys made in Japan for the US market are sought-after lots at auction

Created in the late 1920s by Spanish aeronautical engineer Juan de la Cierva (1895-1936), the autogiro entered service in the late 1930s.

For Helen Sunderland-Cohen collecting is a family business. The Sunderland Collection was launched by her father, and several years ago she came on board.

Wide-ranging items from Christopher Foyle of bookshop fame generate a white-glove sale in Gloucestershire

Spanning two sessions at Leitz Photographica in Vienna on November 24-25 are consignments from the personal collection of the late Yul Brynner (1920-1985) via his daughter Victoria.

The Antiquarian Book auction at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood includes a travel album titled The Ramblings and Adventures of an Indian Officer.

Valerie Jackson-Harris is stepping down as chair of The Ephemera Society, a position she has held since 2008.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions

The Dutch diplomat, musician, writer and sinologist Robert Hans van Gulik (1910-67), also known as Gao Luopei, was a great admirer of traditional Chinese literati culture.

Stellar English, Indian and Turkish pieces are promised at Olympia Auctions on December 6 in west London.

A childhood in Wiltshire partly spent picking up ammunition lying around as a result of the Allied preparations for D-Day helped to spark Alexander Jeremy Peckover Penrose’s (known as Jerry) interest in firearms.