Scientific Instruments
Items relating to scientific history are a popular collecting area in which number of specialist dealers and auctioneers operate. The field overlaps into sectors such as antique tools, technology, medicine and maritime history.
Objects in this area that regularly appear on the market include microscopes, telescopes, optical devices, globes, sundials and astrolabes as well as dental, drawing and navigational instruments.
Specialist firm adopts ‘live but online’ auction selling model
06 January 2020Scientific instruments and photographica specialist Flints Auctions has opened new premises and is launching a fresh type of sale.
Pick of the week: No.1 microscope proves it’s still the best
28 October 2019The opening lot of Flints Auctions’ photographica and scientific instruments sale in Reading on October 18 was an exceptional Victorian microscope.
Fair sets sights on science
02 September 2019Dealer Peter Delehar brings an example of a pioneering protractor to the second edition of the Antique Scientific Instrument Fair.
Apollo 11 footage tops Sotheby’s space auction on 50th anniversary of moon landing
24 July 2019NASA videotape recordings of the Apollo 11 mission topped Sotheby’s Space Exploration Sale held on the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing.
Chinese Qing dynasty musical automaton clock – an amalgam of ingenuity and technical prowess – fetches over £1m at auction
24 June 2019A Chinese musical automaton clock sailed over the £1m mark when it came up for sale at the Drouot auction centre in Paris.
Nodding magician looks to cast spell at Potter & Potter
10 June 2019This c.1900 French automaton is included in the next sale held by Chicago saleroom Potter & Potter specialist auction house of magic props and memorabilia.
Thomas Mercer chronometer made in modern times doubles estimate in Gloucestershire
10 June 2019By the 1980s, Thomas Mercer of St Albans had made almost a third of all chronometers in history – including that used by Ernest Shackleton to navigate his men to Elephant Island and eventual rescue during the Trans-Arctic Expedition of 1914.
Chiswick Auctions offers chronometer with Titanic connection
10 June 2019During an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic in 1996, a marine chronometer made by JW Ray, Liverpool, was recovered and brought ashore.
The web shop window: 19th century pill-making machine
27 May 2019Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.
Antique "writing ball" typewriter designed by principal of institute for the deaf stars in German auction
21 May 2019There was not one single inventor of the typewriter.
Fine scrimshaw sells in Scarborough
18 February 2019Two fine examples of scrimshaw were eagerly contested at the David Duggleby (21% buyer’s premium inc VAT) Scarborough auction of maritime antiques and instruments.
Seven fabulous gadgets and machines to buy at auction
25 January 2019Contraptions from the past can be fascinating, whether designed to save time or entertain.
Flint strikes right technological notes
19 November 2018A c.1855-60 camera and a c.1930-40 high precision lens provided two star items at photographic and scientific auction house Flints’ (20% buyer’s premium) latest sale to attract worldwide attention.
Transit instruments measure up in Newbury sale
22 October 2018Probably a puzzle to all but experts in the field, the item shown below is a transit instrument – one of three which all went well above estimates at a cameras and scientific instruments sale held by Special Auctions Services (17.5% buyer’s premium).
From $300 to $300,000 – Apple-1 computer sells at Boston auction
29 September 2018An Apple-1 computer bought for $300 in the late 1970s has sold at an auction in Boston for $300,000 (£228,730) – $375,000 with buyer’s premium.
Swan’s first bulb sheds light on Bonhams science and technology auction
24 September 2018One of the earliest surviving incandescent light bulbs, made by the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) in the 1870s, sold for £7500 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Bonhams’ sale titled Instruments of Science and Technology.
Fair sales of art and antiques at Saatchi and LAPADA
24 September 2018The relaunched British Art Fair opened with a flurry of sales at its new London venue, the Saatchi Gallery.
Shedding light on the first incandescent bulbs
20 September 2018One of the earliest surviving incandescent light bulbs, made by the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) in the 1870s, was snapped up at auction at Bonhams.
Collection from the ‘father of forensic medicine’ and photography pioneer comes to auction in Suffolk
04 September 2018The collection of photography pioneer and medical writer Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806-80) is to be offered at auction house Lacy Scott & Knight in Bury St Edmunds in October following the success of a first sale last year.
Society lays its cards on the table to boost fair numbers
25 June 2018The long-running Antique Scientific Instrument Fair has been given a boost by the Scientific Instrument Society (SIS).
- Aldridges
- Fine Art & Antiques (live online only)
- 31 Mar 2020 - 10:00 AM
- Chiswick Auctions
- Books & Works on Paper Including Autographs (live online only)
- 31 Mar 2020 - 11:00 AM
- Bloomsbury Auctions
- Works on Paper Islamic & Near Eastern Worlds
- 31 Mar 2020 - 14:00 PM
- Boldon Auction Galleries
- Antiques & Interiors
- 01 Apr 2020 - 10:00 AM
- British Bespoke Auctions
- Antiques, Collectables & Jewellery (live online only)
- 01 Apr 2020 - 10:00 AM
- Lyon & Turnbull
- Decorative Arts: Design since 1860 (live online only)
- 01 Apr 2020 - 11:00 AM
Categories
-
- Arms, Armour & Militaria
- Bank notes
- Books & Periodicals
- Cameras & Camera Equipment
- Classic Cars, Motorcycles & Automobilia
- Coins
- Collectables
- Entertainment Memorabilia
- Kitchenalia
- Maps
- Models, Toys, Dolls & Games
- Musical Instruments & Memorabilia
- Scientific Instruments
- Sporting Memorabilia & Equipment
- Stamps
- Taxidermy & Natural History
- Tools
- Wines & Spirits
- Writing Instruments
News
-
- Art finance
- Auctions
- Brexit
- Buyer's and seller's premiums
- Coronavirus
- Education and Training
- Endangered Species
- Events and conferences
- Industry data
- Insurance
- Internet
- Law, crime and regulation
- Museum acquisitions
- Museum deaccessioning
- Obituaries
- Premises and Property
- Private Sales
- Recruitment
- Restoration
- TV shows
-
- 1818 Auctioneers
- Adam Partridge
- Adam's
- Addisons
- AderNordmann
- Aguttes
- Alcala Subastas
- Aldridges
- Amersham Auction Rooms
- Anderson & Garland
- Andrew Smith & Son
- Anthemion
- Antony Cribb
- Artcurial
- Aston's
- Auction Team Breker
- Auctionata
- Babuino
- Bainbridges
- Baldwin's
- Bamfords
- Barbara Kirk
- Barbers
- Batemans
- BBR Auctions
- Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood
- Beaussant Lefèvre
- Bellmans
- Biddle & Webb
- Bigwood
- Bishop & Miller
- Bleasdales
- Bloomsbury Auctions
- Boldon Auction Galleries
- Bonhams
- Boningtons
- Bourne End Auction Rooms
- Brighton General Auctions
- Brightwells
- Bristol Auction Rooms
- Browns
- Bruun Rasmussen
- Burstow & Hewett
- Byrnes
- C&T
- Canterbury Auction Galleries
- Capes Dunn
- Catherine Southon
- Cato Crane
- Charles Miller
- Charles Ross Auctioneers
- Charterhouse
- Cheffins
- Chilcotts
- Chippenham Auction Rooms
- Chiswick Auctions
- Chorley's
- Christie's
- Clars Auction Gallery
- Clevedon Salerooms
- Comic Book Auctions
- Cotswold Auction Company
- Cottees
- Cowans
- Criterion
- Crow’s Auctions Gallery
- Cuttlestones
- Czerny
- David Duggleby
- David Lay
- Dawson's
- Denhams
- Dix Noonan Webb
- Dominic Winter
- Dorotheum
- Doyle New York
- Dreweatts
- Duke's
- Durrants
- East Bristol Auctions
- Eastbourne Auctions
- Elstob & Elstob
- Ewbank's
- Fellows
- Fieldings
- Fine Art Auction Group
- Fine Art Bourse
- Flints Auctioneers
- Fonsie Mealy
- Forum Auctions
- Frank Marshall
- Freeman's
- Gardiner Houlgate
- Gary Don
- George Kidner
- Gildings
- Golding Young & Mawer
- Gorringes
- Graham Budd
- Grand Auctions
- Greenslade Taylor Hunt
- Gros & Delettrez
- H&H Classics
- Halls Fine Art
- Hampstead Auctions
- Hannam’s
- Hansons
- Hartleys
- Henry Adams
- Henry Aldridge & Son
- Heritage Auctions
- Hermann Historica
- High Road Auctions
- Hindman
- Holloways
- Holt's
- Hôtel Drouot
- Humbert & Ellis
- Hutchinson Scott
- Jacobs & Hunt
- John Nicholson
- John Pye Auctions
- JS Auctions
- Jubilee Auction Rooms
- Juliens
- Kerry Taylor
- KettererKunst
- Keys
- Kidson-Trigg
- Kingham & Orme
- Knights Auctions
- Knowle Auction Rooms
- Lacy Scott & Knight
- Laidlaw
- Lawrences of Bletchingley
- Lawrences of Crewkerne
- Lempertz
- Leonard Joel
- Lindsay Burns
- Lockdales
- London Auctions
- Lots Road Auctions
- Louis Taylor
- Lyon & Turnbull
- MacDougall's
- Mallams
- Martel Maides
- Maxwells
- McTear's
- Mellors & Kirk
- Michael Bowman
- Mitchells
- Moore Allen & Innocent
- Morphets
- Morton & Eden
- Mossgreen
- Mullock's
- Nagel
- Nesbits
- Netherhampton Salerooms
- Nicholas Mellors
- Noble Investments
- Olympia Auctions
- Onslows
- Osenat
- Paddle8
- Paul Beighton Saleroom
- PBA Galleries
- Peter Francis
- Peter Wilson
- Philip Serrell
- Phillips
- Piasa
- Pierre Bergé & Associes
- Piers Motley
- Plymouth Auction Rooms
- Potteries Auctions
- Rago Auctions
- Railtons
- Reeman Dansie
- Richard Winterton
- Ritchies
- Rogers Jones
- Roseberys
- Ross’s of Belfast
- Ryedale
- Semley
- Sheffield Auction Gallery
- Silverwoods
- Skinner
- Sotheby's
- Sovereign Rarities
- Special Auction Services
- Spicers
- Spink
- St Jamess Auctions
- Staceys
- Stanley Gibbons Group
- Stride & Son
- Stroud Auctions
- Summers Place Auctions
- Swann
- Sworders
- Tajan
- Tamlyns
- Tayler and Fletcher
- Taylor's Auctions
- Tennants
- The Pedestal
- Thimbleby & Shorland
- Thomas Del Mar
- Thomas R Callan
- Thomas Watson
- Thomson Roddick & Medcalf
- Thomson Roddick Scottish Auctions
- Timeline
- Toovey's
- Trevanion & Dean
- TW Gaze
- Vectis
- Veritas
- W&H Peacock
- Wellers
- Whytes
- Wilkes & Curtis
- William George & Co
- Woolley & Wallis
- Wotton Auction Rooms
- Wright Marshall
-
- 1stdibs
- Advertising Standards Authority
- Antiquarian Booksellers Association
- Antique Young Guns
- Antiquities Dealers’ Association
- Art Business Conference
- Art Fund
- Art Loss Register
- Art Recovery International
- Art UK
- Arts Council England
- Assay Office
- Auction Technology Group
- BADA
- BAMF
- CADA
- CINOA
- Company of Arts Scholars
- DACS
- DEFRA
- DMG
- EBay
- Hiscox
- LAPADA
- National Trust
- NAVA
- Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association
- RICS
- Society of London Art Dealers
- SOFAA
- the saleroom
- Triple-A Auctioneers
-
- Affordable Art Fair
- Antiques Centres
- Antiques for Everyone Fair
- Ardingly Fair
- Art Antiques London
- Arthur Swallow Fairs
- Bath Decorative Antiques Fair
- Battersea Decorative Fair
- Bermondsey Market
- BRAFA
- British Art Fair
- Brussels Fairs
- CADA Fair
- Car Boot Fairs
- Clarion Events
- Continuity Fairs
- Cooper Events
- Fine Art Asia
- Fine Arts Paris
- Florida Fairs
- French Fairs
- Frieze
- Frieze Masters
- Galloway Antiques Fairs
- Harrogate Fairs
- Hatton Garden
- Haughton Fairs
- Hong Kong Fairs
- IACF
- Jaguar Fairs
- LAPADA Fair
- Lincolnshire Antiques and Home Show
- Masterpiece
- Miami Fairs
- Midcentury Modern
- Modern British Art Fair
- NEC Birmingham
- New York Fairs
- Newark Fair
- Newbury Antiques and Collectors Fair
- Olympia Fair
- PAD London
- Palm Beach Fairs
- Paris Biennale
- Paris Fairs
- Paris Parcours
- Paris Tableau
- Penman Fairs
- Philadelphia Fairs
- Regional Fairs
- Salon du Dessin
- Sandown Park Racecourse Fair
- Showground Fairs
- Swinderby Fair
- TEFAF
- The Open Art Fair
- Winter Antiques Show
- Works on Paper Fair
-
- A Lawyer Writes
- Around the Auction Houses
- Art Market
- Auction Reports
- Bid Barometer
- Books and Works on Paper
- Dealers' Diary
- Fairs & Markets (print edition)
- Features
- Front Page and News
- International (print edition)
- Letters to the Editor
- News in Brief
- Newsmaker
- Obituaries (print edition)
- Opinion
- Pick of the Week
- Precious Metals Prices
- Previews
- Soapbox
- Special Reports
- Then & Now