Collectables

A full-scale test model of the satellite Sputnik-1 sold at Bonhams New York yesterday for $220,000 (£167,012), outstripping a $10,000-15,000 estimate.

Warwick Antique Centre has been forced to move out of its home of more than 40 years following the expiration of its lease.

A cello by Giovanni Grancino made in Milan in c.1710 was one of a number of ‘attic finds’ that led Brompton’s latest musical instruments auction.

With the new film The BFG coming to cinemas this week, it’s a good time to revisit the words and works of its creator Roald Dahl (1916-1990).

A series of posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec headlines the upcoming Vintage Posters sale at Swann Auction Galleries in New York.

The inaugural sale held by new London saleroom Forum Auctions concluded yesterday with £1.1m raised (including premium) from 364 lots.

The Rocket Firing Boba Fett has assumed legendary status among Star Wars collectors. Modelled in grey-blue plastic in advance of mass production by the Kenner factory in Ohio, it would forever remain a prototype figure.

Dinky toys, antique dolls and a life-sized Dalek will be among the lots offered in Mitchells’ first ever ‘Vintage & Antique Toys’ auction at their Cockermouth saleroom later this month.

It may only be a few weeks until the 50th anniversary of the 1966 World Cup final but, judging by the way their team exited the Euros, England fans will have to wait a lot longer before their team ever again reaches the final a major football tournament.

A medieval chess piece produced one of the most exciting moments in Sotheby’s Treasures auction in London.

At the time, Gary Lineker’s promise to present the new season’s first Match of the Day in his underpants if Leicester City won the Premier League didn’t seem like a rash pledge to make.

The original artwork for the cover of The Mighty Thor, published by Marvel Comics in 1968, sold for £36,000 at a recent auction at Charterhouse in Sherborne, Dorset.

This late medieval repoussé medal depicting ‘The Emperor Heraclius’s Return of the True Cross to Jerusalem’ proved the highlight of the Sir Timothy Clifford collection of Renaissance and Baroque medals sold by Morton & Eden in London.

It was definitely a case of the ‘best of British’ this weekend as Aston Martin, Jaguar and Bentley went head-to-head at Bonhams classic car auction.

How times change. The British cycling roll of honour now features such illustrious names as Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy, Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome, Laura Trott and Victoria Pendleton.

Why pay £6000-12,000 for a roadworthy Austin 7 when for thousands of pounds more you can have one that’s a wreck?

A vast collection of nearly 3500 diecast models fetched £120,000 at west country auctioneers Piers Motley. The lifetime collection of John Kinchen had been “well known in the Dinky world for decades”.

Peter Harrington have announced a new exhibition to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter with a selling exhibition of her books.

One of the main attractions at Piano Auctions’ upcoming quarterly auction at the Conway Hall in London on June 23 is this Steinway with celebrity status.

The 59th London International Antiquarian Book Fair (or “book paradise” as described by author Mark Beech in an admiring Facebook post), drew more than 180 book dealers to Olympia. View ATG's exclusive photogallery from the drinks reception held at the end of the fair’s second day.