The weird, wacky and sometimes wonderful at auction
“A disgusting object” that may be of “some whimsical interest to an obsessive collector” is how Auberon Waugh described a telescopic ear trumpet as used by his father in his later years. Disgusting he may have regarded it, but far more palatable to auctioneers and dealers are the prices of such objects that collectors are prepared to pay.
That ear trumpet’s association with the great novelist Evelyn Waugh resulted in a hammer price of £2…