Collectables

In ATG No 2380 February 23 I wrote a piece on the annual antiques fair held at Wilton House in Wiltshire from Friday to Saturday, March 8-10. It is worth noting that the Provincial Booksellers’ Association (PBFA) is running an antiquarian and out-of-print book fair at the Michael Herbert Hall in the village of Wilton on Sunday, March 10.

Heritage begins mammoth dispersal of Otto Penzler’s holdings of detective fiction.

An exceptional Victorian scratch-built model steam engine has returned home after the maker’s great-grandson bought it from UK dealer Vavasseur Antiques.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from February 19-March 3, 2019.

It’s not every day you see an auctioneer holding a 5ft 6in (1.67m) long sperm whale penis. Then again, it’s not every day that you see the sort of lots that are offered in Sworders’ Out of the Ordinary auction.

Two owners of antiques and vintage businesses who buy extensively from fairs and markets in the UK are showcased here.

It is a quarter of a century since ATG’s first overview of London’s numismatic auction market. Here we review the heads and the tails of 2018.

ATG’s selection of 11 coins and medals lots that were among the highlights sold at UK auctions in 2018.

Two examples of a celebrated Declaration of Independence copy hit new highs a month apart.

Drawn from sales held in the last days of January in the UK and US, an artistic device of framing a view with trees in the foreground is demonstrated in the two plates reproduced below.

A selection of toys and games at the Bath Decorative Antiques Fair proves that antique playthings have their place as both decorative items and collectors’ pieces.

In the latest of our occasional series of collector interviews, we talk to Musa Igrek, who won the ABA Book Collecting Prize 2018 for his assemblage of secretly funded government-sponsored works during the Cold War.

Two fine examples of scrimshaw were eagerly contested at the David Duggleby (21% buyer’s premium inc VAT) Scarborough auction of maritime antiques and instruments.

Shown below is a page from an 1897 Paris edition of Robert de Flers’ 'Ilsée, Princesse de Tripoli' in which the text is framed by 132 coloured litho illustrations, borders and other decorations by Alphonse Mucha.

As featured on the cover of ATG No 2377, more treasures associated with the ‘Tiger of Mysore’, Tipu Sultan, are scheduled for auction in March at the Antony Cribb sale.