WriteAntiques

Monthly auctions of “Victorian, Edwardian and later furniture and effects”, as the saleroom jargon has it, are the backbone of many auction houses. The property on offer comes from many and varied sources but the thrill is always in the chase.

[Read more →]

At the outset, let me make it clear I am not a golfer, nor do I have any desire to become one.
That said, I could become an armchair golfer, or rather a collector of the implements associated with the sport. My interest stems from watching an auction of golfing memorabilia some years ago in which […]

[Read more →]

Tzar Michael of Russia was not impressed with the fashion. In 1634, he issued a degree to the effect that anyone caught engaging in the habit of taking snuff would get a strict warning to desist. Anyone caught a second time would have his nose cut off!
The French King Louis XIV was less drastic. When […]

[Read more →]

Fourteen per cent of adult Britons who use the internet made their most recent online purchase from an auction site according to a survey by Apacs, the UK payments association. I bet I know which auction site … which is why I’m not surprised when fees for buyers and sellers keep rising. Problem is, there […]

[Read more →]

eBay scam latest: I learned something new today - eBay power sellers use bots (web robots) to post hundreds of sales offering “Buy it Now” stuff such as e-books, digital photos and Windows wallpaper for a penny (or a cent). It’s all delivered digitally, but automating the process is the only way the sellers can […]

[Read more →]

Prices for Titanic memorabilia continue to spiral. In a Christie’s sale in New York yesterday (Thursday June 1) a painted bronze flag with the insignia of the White Star line - owners of the liner - sold together with a Titanic name board from one of the lifeboats that carried passengers to safety after April […]

[Read more →]

Español | Deutsche | Français | Italiano | Português

In his heyday Cheshire’s Rushton Mac was acclaimed as the best English-bred greyhound ever. Having achieved a trio of victories in the English, Welsh and Scottish Derbies; recorded wins in 14 successive races and posted five track records, the description was beyond doubt.
Now, 50 years later, the […]

[Read more →]

Español | Deutsche | Français | Italiano | Português

As a 13-year-old schoolgirl, Lynne Peters couldn’t believe her luck when a backstage helper sneaked her and her sister into the back of the theatre to watch The Beatles play live on stage.
When he came back after the show with a photograph signed by each of […]

[Read more →]

Español | Deutsche | Français | Italiano | Português

Rare Steiff Teddy bear is star of Christmas collectors’ saleThe little boys looked forward to family trips from their home in Vienna to visit their three aunts in Düsseldorf, but not necessarily to see the matronly trio with their smothering hugs and embarrassing kisses.
Instead, the visits meant […]

[Read more →]

by Christopher Proudlove©Español | Deutsche | Français | Italiano | Português

There are two certainties in life: death and taxes. It’s an oft repeated truism, but I’d like to add a third: selling one’s possessions — as often as not the result of the other two.
But as I’m learning myself — and, I might add, to […]

[Read more →]

.flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #000000; }.flickr-frame { float: right; text-align: center; margin-left: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

Heard the one about the auctioneer and the Punk Princess? Read Artnet’s report of Phillips’ sale of contemporary art owned by this German aristocrat who married in to the wealth […]

[Read more →]

.flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #000000; }.flickr-frame { float: right; text-align: center; margin-left: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

What’s more valuable - a medal awarded to Admiral Lord Nelson, or one awarded to the captain he urged to kiss him as he lay dying from a sniper’s bullet. Read the […]

[Read more →]

.flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #000000; }.flickr-frame { float: right; text-align: center; margin-left: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }
Record-breaking Canaletto
The champagne corks popped at Christie’s when their Canaletto sold for a record-breaking £11.4 million but the celebrations moved to Bond Street when Sotheby’s Canaletto smashed that price […]

[Read more →]

.flickr-photo { border: solid 1px #000000; }.flickr-frame { float: right; text-align: center; margin-left: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }
£2 teapot
More fun than winning the Lotto. Imagine the joy of finding a Minton teapot like the one illustrated and learning it was worth all the tea in China. It […]

[Read more →]

When will auctioneers realise that anything connected to Hitler, the Nazis and the Holocaust will cause an outcry if they try to offer it for sale? Or are they such desperate money-grubbers that they don’t care? Read about the latest case here: Adolf’s sketches on the block.

[Read more →]

Fresh from his headlining Live 8 Hyde Park appearance, Paul McCartney is top billing in another gig - a charity auction to raise money to rid that other scourge of Third World countries: anti-personnel mines. Read about it here and get bidding.

[Read more →]

Bikers’ bible Motorcycle News has announced it has launched an internet site so that like-minded buyers and sellers of anything connected with motorcycles can bid for and buy or sell objects from the comfort of their homes. Click here here to read more.

[Read more →]

Budding Luke Skywalkers and Darth Vaders will no doubt do battle to own an authentic light sabre when bidding opens in this auction in Beverly Hills on June 29. Click here to learn where to place your bid but caveat emptor - batteries are not included!

[Read more →]

Imagine hearing that the antique silver cup you sold in a provincial auction for £4,000 had just sold in a London auction for £456,000. That’s what happened to one unlucky punter this week, but what would you do? Sob or sue?Click here to read all about how an exceptionally rare early 17th century globe cup […]

[Read more →]