Features

The first Olympic gold medal won by a British woman in an individual swimming event has been bought by her home town for public display.

The John Goodwin (15% buyer’s premium) saleroom in Malvern offered what it dubbed “probably the most notorious bat in cricket history” in its June 20 auction: the infamous aluminium bat used by Dennis Lillee in the 1979-80 Ashes.

This rare oak Slazenger tennis racket press featured in the Vintage & Antique toy sale at Mitchells (20% buyer’s premimum) of Cockermouth on July 20.

The London firm founded by Frederick Henry Ayres in the mid 19th century is best known for its for high-quality rocking horses but Ayres also produced a wide range of equipment for indoor and outdoor games and sport.

Celtic legend Tommy Gemmell’s boots from the 1967 European Cup final went under the hammer at Glasgow auction house McTear’s (24% buyer’s premium) on July 19. They doubled the lower estimate, selling at £14,000.

Dealer Manfred Schotten “grew up skiing in Bavaria, started to play golf, was taken fly-fishing by friends and started noticing sporting antiques and memorabilia. This is when it really started.”

Many talented footballers had their careers interrupted or even curtailed by the world wars. Although Allenby Chilton is not exactly a household name, not many players featured in both a Manchester United title-winning side and the D-Day Normandy landings.

A group of five rare bronzes by Joseph Durham (1814- 77) from the Gould collection will be offered at The Canterbury Auction Galleries on November 26-27.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the football league in Scotland has not always been dominated by Celtic and Rangers. The last time a team outside the Old Firm won the title was Aberdeen in 1985.

Peter Dingley (1923-2018), who died last year aged 95, is a name synonymous with the best of modern British craft. David Whiting, author of 'Modern British Potters & Their Studios' (2009), described him as “a remarkable member of the small band of post-war pioneering gallerists who supported British ceramics”.

A yellow Tour de France jersey once worn in the gruelling race by the legendary Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx (b.1945) sold for a mid-estimate hammer price of £7000 at Rogers Jones (18% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on June 14.

Rugby is said to be akin to a religion in Wales and Cardiff saleroom Rogers Jones (18% buyer’s premium inc VAT) has scored impressively in recent years with related lots – such as the auction record for a shirt.

This late 9ct gold Football League medal was awarded to Billy Bassett (1869-1937), one of the best-known footballers of the late Victorian era.

Hindman Auctions will be selling a Midwestern collector’s ensemble of rare books in an 85 lot auction in Chicago on November 5.

After more than 210 years in business, Freeman’s of Philadelphia can claim a long and distinguished history in a changing US market. Its latest move – a physical one – underscores the firm’s future, chairman Alasdair Nichol tells ATG

Freeman’s enjoys a strong Scottish connection, embodied in the firm’s current chairman, Edinburgh-born Alasdair Nichol, whose accent has diluted not one jot in the 25 years he has lived and worked in the US.

A single-owner collection of 27 pieces of Martin Brothers art pottery will be included in the Design sale series to be held by Rago auctions in Lambertville, New Jersey.

Stair Galleries’ Fine Sale in Hudson New York on October 26-27 will include a major collection of English porcelain and pottery from a New York collector.

In the US (the world’s single biggest art market) just like in the UK (the world’s second largest), positives have been taken from the much-documented changing focus of the international auction houses.

Four works by the pioneering British photographer Frank Meadow Sutcliffe (1853-1941) will feature in Swann Galleries’ sale of Photographs in New York on October 17.