Collectables

The term ‘collectables’ (or collectibles) encompasses a vast range of items in fields as diverse as arms, armour and militaria, bank notes, cameras, coins, entertainment and sporting memorabilia, stamps, taxidermy, wines and writing equipment.

Some collectables are antiques, others are classed as retro, vintage or curios but all are of value to the collector. In any of these fields, buyers seek out rarities and items with specific associations.

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Lights, camera, action – photographica merits special sale

09 January 2014

Cameras and photographic equipment are among the fastest growing categories for Newbury saleroom Special Auction Services.

Teeing off with golf in Scotland

06 January 2014

Bonhams are to hold golf memorabilia sales in Scotland starting in June.

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House prices are soaring...

19 December 2013

When Gloucestershire auctioneers Chorley’s were asked to sell this early Victorian dolls’ house, the consignment came with a caveat.

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Poppy from 1916 is poignant survivor

19 December 2013

Picked from a trench in 1916, a poppy which is thought to be the only surviving example from the First World War sold for £5200 at Duke’s of Dorchester earlier this month.

Sale date set for the stolen Stradivarius

13 December 2013

The Stradivarius violin which was stolen from Euston station in 2010 and recovered earlier this year will be offered at Tarisio auctioneers this month.

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Helping create the legend of the man who never was

09 December 2013

When Major William Martin of the Royal Marines left the submarine HMS Seraph in April 1943 on a top-secret mission he played the main role in one of the most successful and ingenious wartime deceptions ever attempted.

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Psalm book sets £8.1m auction record for a printed book

29 November 2013

The most expensive printed book sold at auction will go on display to the public after the buyer pledged to lend it to libraries across the US before putting it on permanent loan at one of them.

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Passover manuscript sets £210,000 record

26 November 2013

Cheshire auctioneers Adam Partridge set a house record when this newly discovered copy of the Passover Haggadah written and illuminated by the celebrated 18th century scribe Aaron Wolf Herlingen sold for £210,000.

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Who’ll give me £1 for this?

25 November 2013

The entire contents of a West Yorkshire bookshop containing over 30,000 books are to go under the hammer with the bidding opening at just £1.

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Ex-PM’s special advisor buys London’s priciest address sign

15 November 2013

This rust-tinged enamelled sheet iron sign was sold for £31,500 at Summers Place Auctions’ latest sale in Billingshurst, West Sussex.

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Estonian Olympic cycling medals strike gold

12 November 2013

It is not often that auctioneer Graham Budd finds his name splashed over the front pages of Estonian newspapers but when a particular group of cycling memorabilia came up at his November 4-5 sale it is exactly what happened.

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How sales are evolving at Summers Place

05 November 2013

This remarkable fossil of one of the largest animals ever to have walked the Earth becomes the first large dinosaur skeleton to be offered at auction in the UK at Summers Place Auctions in Billingshurst, West Sussex, on November 27.

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The birth of British newspapers comes to auction

28 October 2013

Little did “the Reverend Dr Walter Blandford Warden of Wadham Colledge” of Oxford University realise that one day his name would have such significance in the world of newspapers.

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Titanic violin sells for a record £900,000

24 October 2013

The violin played by Titanic bandmaster Wallace Hartley as the ship slid beneath the waves on the morning of April 15, 1912, was always going to a) attract massive worldwide interest and b) bring in the big bucks at auction.

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Memorabilia kingpin admits – ‘I trimmed world’s most expensive baseball card’

21 October 2013

Bill Mastro, once the biggest name in the US sports memorabilia business, has admitted to a federal judge that he doctored the world’s most valuable baseball card to make it appear in mint condition.

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Suffragettes win bidders’ votes

17 October 2013

The August 1908 issue of Votes for Women, house magazine of the Women’s Social and Political Union describes ‘the latest novelty in the Union colours – a special belt and buckle, which is being sold at half-a-crown each’.

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Coffee is served – at 140 times estimate

17 October 2013

The English porcelain highlight of the last month was undoubtedly this Worcester coffee pot sold at Tunbridge Wells & Hastings.

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War sculpture takes £46,000 at Duke’s

10 October 2013

This small sculpture conveying the raw horror of the First World War attracted serious competition at Duke’s of Dorchester.

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Matteo Sellas guitar strikes a £48,000 chord

04 October 2013

There was a great deal of international interest, particularly from institutions, when this five-course baroque guitar by Matteo Sellas of Venice, from the second quarter of the 17th century, was offered at Gardiner Houlgate’s September 19-20 sale in Bath.

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Remarkable Haggadah discovery in Manchester

23 September 2013

Cheshire auctioneers Adam Partridge have discovered a copy of the Passover Haggadah written and illuminated by the celebrated 18th century scribe Aaron Wolf Herlingen in Vienna.

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