Collectables

A set of the monumental 'Description de l’Égypte…' in its specially made case was sold last month in a US sale.

Sotheby’s believes it has found a missing piece from the Lewis chessmen hoard – the cache of 12th or 13th century walrus ivory carvings that chiefly resides in the British Museum.

By the 1980s, Thomas Mercer of St Albans had made almost a third of all chronometers in history – including that used by Ernest Shackleton to navigate his men to Elephant Island and eventual rescue during the Trans-Arctic Expedition of 1914.

A fan showcasing the opulence of 19th century European aristocracy will be auctioned at North Yorkshire saleroom Tennants on June 27.

MADAM – I have been intrigued by the correspondence begun by Peter Card regarding the correct nomenclature of bicycles.

A Forum Auctions (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of May 30 ran to well over 540 lots in all, but it was very early in proceedings that a much, much higher than predicted bid of £26,000 was made on an 1853, presentation first of 'Palm Trees of the Amazon and their uses.

Included in Weiss Auctions’ sale in Lynbrook, New York, on June 26 is this British Waterloo Medal for Henry Gronemann, who was in the 5th Line Battalion of the King’s German Legion.

During an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic in 1996, a marine chronometer made by JW Ray, Liverpool, was recovered and brought ashore.

Early printed books, among them a Bible of 1476, were a notable feature of a recent West Sussex sale.

Sporting a torn and defective but rarely seen dust jacket, a 1911, first American printing of Gaston Leroux’s 'The Phantom of the Opera' sold for $10,000 (£7750) in a recent New York sale.

This c.1900 French automaton is included in the next sale held by Chicago saleroom Potter & Potter specialist auction house of magic props and memorabilia.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from June 11-21, 2019.

This silver-gilt Doncaster Cup racing trophy has hallmarks for Daniel Smith and Robert Sharp for 1767.