Collectables

One of the most sought-after models in the jukebox world is the Wurlitzer Peacock Type 850, designed by Paul Fueller in 1941. It is generally considered the biggest, the showiest and ‘most jukeboxy’ jukebox of them all.

An unusual medals sale has led to an unusual outcome. An application is to be made to export from Canada the Victoria Cross group won by heroic Lieutenant Colonel David Currie after it was bought by a British private collector.

This original case of five silver catheters and three urethral sounds marked for the London maker J Millikan might be a strange offering as a prize outside medical circles.

A letter billed as one of the most important items of ephemera from the Titanic to be offered at auction will go under the hammer at Henry Aldridge & Son on October 21 in Devizes, Wiltshire.

The first book sale of the new season at Sotheby’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) dispersed the travel library of John and Suzanne Bonham, well-known specialist dealers in the British and international antiquarian book trade.

This film poster, below, was designed by the Czech artist Olga Poláčková-Vyleťalová for 'Une Femme Douce' (A Gentle Woman) based on a Dostoevsky short story.

Top-seller at guns specialist Southams (15% buyer’s premium) in Bedford on September 20 was acased pair of flintlock double-barrelled travelling pistols.

Bibliomania has been running for three years at the Espace Champerret in the 17th arrondissement in Paris. The biannual fair draws around 100 exhibiting dealers from across Europe (including Pablo Butcher from Oxford).

A single-owner collection relating to the English Civil War featured among the 740 lots that made up a September 6 sale held by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (21% buyer’s premium).

Early to spot the rise of interest in taxidermy, Tennants’ (18.5% buyer’s premium) latest Natural History sale on September 20 was led by a top-quality diorama with a back story adding to its appeal.

A ‘Glory of Science’ sale held by Bloomsbury Auctions (24/18/12% buyer’s premium) on September 14 included books, prints, photographs, letters, etc, and was one in which astronomy and space travel played a significant part where higher bids were concerned.

Narwhal tusks, once sold for colossal sums to Elizabethan gentleman as unicorn horns, continue to be in demand as sculptural natural history objects of contemplation.

Cameras, scientific and medical instruments specialist Flints (20% buyer’s premium) held its inaugural sale on September 21.

An exceptionally rare bird’s eye view of Chicago before the devastating fire of 1871 that destroyed so much of the old city was sold for $160,000 (£118,520) by local saleroom Leslie Hindman (20/20/12% buyer’s premium) on September 15.

Mostly sold by Woolworth’s stores at 3d each, Mighty Midgets ‘Blitz’ books helped distract children who had to spend nights in air-raid shelters or Underground stations during the Second World War.