Collectables

The eye-watering sums that footballer Neymar is set to earn as part of his £200m record transfer from Barcelona to Paris St Germain are put into perspective by another contract from a different era (in so many senses).

Dating from the early to mid-18th century, the large, roughly 16 x 14in wood engraving called ‘Shone-Ap-Morgan, Shentleman of Wales’ seen below is an exceptionally rare broadside that was sold for £1200 in a Dominic Winter auction this summer.

A record for a Casablanca movie poster was made last week when an Italian example sold for a premium-inclusive $478,000 (£361,800).

When 22-carat golden eggs made by the Queen’s jeweller became available to the public for free back in 1983 it inevitably caused a stir. There was a snag, however. A big snag.

A first edition of AA Milne’s 'Now we are Six' that disappeared nearly a year ago has been returned to its dealers.

A copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone set a new record for a first edition from its initial 500-copy run at Bloomsbury Auctions’ sale of rare books last week.

Poor old Newark. A bit like Belgium and Poland over the centuries, in the English Civil War the English Midlands town ended up in the wrong place in wartime – stuck in the middle - as armies trampled back and forth across it or lay siege. The town’s misfortune is a coin collector’s gain, however, as the lozenge-shaped coins minted in Newark during the conflict have become familiar and fairly common visitors to the salerooms.

Martians land in Surrey and terrorise much of southern England in tripedal war-machines equipped with death-rays before finally succumbing to terrestrial bacteria. That, put very simply, is the story line of HG Wells’ 1898 novel, ‘The War of the Worlds’, an apocalyptic vision that retains an iconic place in the realms of science fiction.

Among the lots at Bloomsbury Auctions’ upcoming sale, The Glory of Science, is ‘the first space selfie’.

Demand for Beatles memorabilia is always high, so for rarities in this collecting field the prices will naturally be hefty.

A collection of poetry to be sold at Tennants Auctioneers in Yorkshire includes some of the early works of Hobbit author JRR Tolkien.

In an August 2016 ATG wrote that the scrimshaw market had been in the doldrums but was showing signs of a return to buoyancy. Judging by the latest results from Massachusetts auction house Eldred’s, bidders are certainly prepared to push the boat out for the best examples.