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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Original superman issue becomes first $1m comic

01 March 2010

ACTION Comics ushered in the age of superheroes when its first issue hit the news stands in June 1938. On its cover was a curious character dressed in skintight blue and red lifting a green Chevrolet above his head, and the course of American pop culture was changed forever.

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Mauchline: putting in the penwork

23 January 2010

WHEN St John Price bought his first sycamore and penwork box from Halcyon Days in Brook Street, London for £30 in 1966, the term Mauchline ware was yet to be invented.

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An index of murder, mayhem and other horrors

18 August 2008

AT Sotheby's on July 17, a wooden file box containing nearly 4000 index cards compiled by the father of professional forensic pathology, Sir Bernard Spilsbury, sold at £15,000 to a collector.

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Wartime treat that takes the biscuit

11 August 2008

This Carrs of Carlisle biscuit tin looks like pretty much any other Christmas biscuit tin from 1941 – except that it happens to be unopened.

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Rare toll pass at Tooveys takes £1800

04 August 2008

A REAL rarity was offered by Sussex saleroom Tooveys of Washington on July 15 when this toll pass from 1744 came up for sale. Beautifully preserved in the original shagreen slipcase, this pass would seem to apply particularly to roads that fell within royal estates or administration rather than to a wider system of turnpike and toll roads.

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Hidden gem from the Michelangelo of musical boxes makes £54,000

09 June 2008

François Nicole, the Geneva-based pioneer of the musical box, is thought to have made around 440 boxes during his working life, but only 60 are known today. Make that 61: courtesy of a local vendor another turned up at Cirencester auctioneer Moore Allen & Innocent on May 30.

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Off the rails and into history at £1800

09 January 2008

In 1963, the daring actions of a 15-strong band of small-time London criminals captivated the world’s media. In 2007, it seems the Great Train Robbery still has the capacity to seize headlines.

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Mouseman’s tail-end triumph

22 December 2007

BACK in 1936, a Mr Harry Woods decided to refurbish his home, The Gate House in Brighouse, and commissioned a fellow Yorkshireman, working some 50 miles away, to provide interior panelling, window seats and doors, as well as various items of furniture.

Thieves take Mouseman stools from pub

03 December 2007

Ten Mouseman stools were stolen from The Forresters Arms Hotel in Kilburn, North Yorkshire in the early hours of Monday, November 26.

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Card bonanza for Shepton Mallet

06 February 2007

ON Friday and Saturday, February 23 and 24, the Royal Bath and West Showground at Shepton Mallet will host the largest postcard, tradecard, postal history and ephemera fair in the UK.

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Stunning tribute to a tragic teenager

03 January 2007

Like needlework, letter writing and mastering the harpsichord, rolled paperwork or quillwork was deemed a suitable pursuit for a young lady of the 18th century.

Lawrence leads Christie’s to £220,000 auction oasis

02 October 2006

“I leave to my dear friend Taffy my Compass so that he may occasionally know where he is going/ My Watch which almost cost me my life so that he may occasionally arrive at an appointed time / With Regards from his erstwhile passenger Lawrence.”

McGills at Postcard event

22 September 2006

THE Bloomsbury Postcard and Collectors Fair is now in its 22nd year and is, say organisers IPM Promotions, the largest monthly postcard fair in the world with more than 120 tables selling all types of paper collectables.

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Polar collectors to explore Dorset

19 September 2006

WHERE polar exploration collectables are concerned, Christie’s have in recent years enjoyed, if not a monopoly, then certainly a strong grip on the auction market.

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Devon in Nottinghamshire

02 September 2006

A vast photographic postcard archive depicting Devon in the first half of the 20th century has emerged in Nottinghamshire.

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Horse race in a fish tank

15 August 2006

It’s not difficult to see how Dunhill ‘fish tank’ lighters got their name. Not only do these 1950s perspex and electroplated lighters resemble miniature aquariums, but most were decorated with aquatic subjects.

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Winston in wax and shellac

31 May 2006

Madame Tussauds added Winston Churchill to their waxwork tableaux for the first time in 1908, but had produced another half dozen portraits before his death in 1965. The last of them was put up for sale by Dominic Winter on May 18.

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Rarity sets £8000 Mills record

27 July 2005

To collectors of the so-called castle-top card cases, subject matter is everything. Pictured here is a great rarity.

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Snuff bottles spill onto market

06 May 2005

Christie's New York (10/12% Buyer's premium)SNUFF bottles vary enormously in quality and price but the J&J collection has to rank as one of the world’s foremost specialist holdings. Although these exquisitely made and highly decorative vessels have a following of strong international collectors, inevitably there are limited buyers for top-end imperial quality works.

Heroic appeal on cards

24 March 2005

Special Postcard Auctions, Cirencester, February 28, Buyer’s premium: 10 per cent THE First World War was the main attraction at the Corinium Galleries when a single silk showing a bearded Un Diable Bleu – the nickname given to France’s gallant and celebrated Chasseurs Alpin regiment – led the day at £290, and a similar portrait bust of Un Poilu (infantryman) made £230.

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