In for a Penny Red … UK’s ‘most valuable’ stamp goes up for sale at £650,000
Rare, flawed version of Victorian stamp is one of a batch destroyed in the 1860s for being defective
June 2024
On my radar
On my radar: Billy Corgan’s cultural highlights
The Smashing Pumpkins frontman on bonding with his son over Miyazaki, the genius of Mozart’s Requiem, and the world’s biggest Bozo the Clown collection
Fans call foul over England’s Euro 2024 sticker album debacle
A row between rivals Panini and Topps has meant collectors cannot fill an album with players in their kits from all 24 nations in this year’s tournament
Portrait cards that sparked a Victorian collecting craze – in pictures
Paul Frecker collects cartes de visite, photographic mementos that became a fervently followed fad
May 2024
‘This gesture made history’: watch given to Gina Lollobrigida by Fidel Castro is to go on sale
After the actor turned photojournalist interviewed the communist leader, he gave her his watch – one of many items of her memorabilia up for auction
April 2024
Top England players missing from official Euro 2024 sticker album
Phil Foden and John Stones among those reportedly absent as ex-Uefa partner Panini retains some rights
March 2024
Shadow Lines by Nicholas Royle review – buried treasure between the pages
The author’s avid hunt for notes and ephemera secreted in secondhand editions is warm-hearted and infectiously funny
Fate of precious Henry VIII stained glass in dispute as ‘haunted house’ auction halted at last minute
Intervention by conservationists halts sale of 1530s roundel from Grade-I listed manor, created to celebrate king’s union with Anne Boleyn
Experience
Experience: I own nearly 3,000 VHS tapes of Titanic
People send me tapes from all over. I have copies from Germany and Japan
February 2024
Ultra-rare Wayne Gretzky rookie cards expected to be part of $3.72m Canadian auction
The pristine unopened case of Oh-Pee-Chee brand NHL cards could contain as many as 27 much-coveted rookie cards of ‘the Great One’
‘A new find’: one of last documents Abraham Lincoln signed goes on sale
Rare letter valued at $45,000 that lay undiscovered in desk drawer for years bears president’s signature days before his death
Life, unplugged: a no-tech special
‘When you use a Walkman all the memories come back’: the people still in love with old tech
Cassette players and tapes, vintage Game Boys and boomboxes seem like relics of a bygone era. So why are they being snapped up, sometimes for eye-watering prices?
January 2024
Near-record $7.9bn in sales marks second strong year in row for Sotheby’s
Stanley cups took the world by storm. Then the backlash began
December 2023
‘I’d sell a kidney for a Jarvis Cocker Spitting Image puppet!’ The collectors who’ll do anything for a TV treasure
They trawl auctions, hunt through archives – and sometimes end up with a decomposing latex head. Meet the people who will stop at (almost) nothing to get a legendary prop
November 2023
Oysters and ice-cream: menu for dinner on Titanic sold for £83,000
Lost Doctor Who episodes found – but owner is reluctant to hand them to BBC
September 2023
Money hacks
Cash for clutter: how to make money from what’s in the attic
A different kind of pothead: the Le Creuset cookware supercollectors
August 2023
‘Oddly satisfying’: what’s behind our drive to collect useless items?
Fans say their collections of mugs, Crocs and plush toys ‘scratch an itch’. You might call it one-in-every-colour capitalism
