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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Ship model speeds to £135,000 record at Charles Miller auction

20 May 2015

For a huge model of what was once the world’s largest ship, a whopping price is a suitable result at auction.

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Dealers bring Scott’s ‘Golden Age’ clocks back to market

24 April 2015

What is billed as “the best collection of English clocks that has come to the market in living memory” will go on sale later this year at Winchester dealers Carter Marsh.

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Medal group of last surviving dambuster tempts Lord Ashcroft

01 April 2015

Lord Ashcroft is best known for Victoria Crosses as a collector, but the bravery of the Dambusters inspired his latest attempts to buy gallantry awards.

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Striking Russian gold in Dorset

25 March 2015

Two large 18th century gold medals depicting events from the reign of Catherine the Great sold for spectacular sums at Duke’s latest auction in Dorchester.

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Sweet music makes £120,000

17 March 2015

Bath auctioneers Gardiner Houlgate (20% buyer’s premium) set a new house record on March 12 with the sale of a guitar by the celebrated French luthier Jean-Baptiste Voboam (1658-after 1731) for £120,000.

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Space photos star in the saleroom

13 March 2015

“Most of us will never experience space, which explains why space-flown items are in such high demand. Their travels imbue them with an almost mystical aura.”

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Handel manuscript emerges at Berlin auction

11 March 2015

Only one other major George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) manuscript has come up for auction in the last 40 years, so Stargardt in Berlin can be assured of an international audience for the extensive autograph work they will offer on March 24-25.

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Online bidding now the norm for medals as CGC takes £130,000

03 March 2015

The online-only sale of a modern British gallantry award estimated at a hefty £100,000-120,000 was always going to be an interesting test of the market.

RM deal puts Sotheby’s head to head with Bonhams in competition for the future of UK car market

27 February 2015

Sotheby’s have taken a 25% stake in RM, the classic and luxury car auctioneer, renaming the company RM Sotheby’s.

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A £15,000 disturbance in the market force

13 February 2015

Nostalgia is an important part of toy collecting, one that encourages otherwise fiscally astute middle-aged men to part with large sums of money for unblemished versions of the toys they had – or wished they had – as children.

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Coin and medal sales double in a decade for UK

10 February 2015

Sales of coins and medals at UK auctions have doubled in value over the past decade to £44.7m.

The model for all electric guitars comes to auction

09 February 2015

The Black Beauty, the prototype for all Gibson Les Paul guitars, will appear at Guernsey Auctions’ February 19 sale in New York.

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Boba Fett Star Wars figure sets auction record

04 February 2015

The toy ripped open from plastic and cardboard may bring joy to a child – but it is the simple packaging that makes the big money when that child becomes a collector with an eye on pounds, not play value.

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Global sales at Spink hit £29m in strong coins and stamps market

19 January 2015

Philatelic and numismatic specialists Spink have posted annual sales figures of just under £29m.

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More Dambusters relics on offer in Dorset

16 January 2015

Sherborne auctioneers Charterhouse have been instructed to sell the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) pair awarded to a member of 617 Squadron, more commonly known as The Dambusters.

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Huge interest expected for Dambuster pieces

14 January 2015

Five truly remarkable items of British wartime history are being offered for sale at J.P. Humbert Auctioneers of Towcester.

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Record-breakers of the Tudor realm

13 January 2015

A recent sale in London saw the auction records for Tudor coins rewritten by two choice examples of a golden denomination.

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Anglo-Saxon controls may prove vital in shedding light on newfound hoard

12 January 2015

Strict rules governing the integrity of early English coinage could lead to the newly uncovered Aylesbury Hoard revising our perspective of the Anglo-Saxon period.

Huge hoard may hold key to early English coinage

12 January 2015

The discovery of Anglo-Saxon coins near Aylesbury in December is the largest find of its type in 175 years.

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Spink pin money on their silver dollar

07 January 2015

An example of the first of America’s iconic silver dollars will be on sale at Spink USA later this month.

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