Cabinet of curiosities

Brian Howes unearths some nostalgic collectables that might be discarded as worthless junk but actually have a value to today’s collectors. Can you estimate what each object might be worth and pick ou

We ended last month looking at the soldier’s pocket books of the 19th century. Sadly very few of these documents survive. They are NOT included in any Army papers that have been stored over the years.

On a frosty New Year’s Day in 1944, a young soldier from Newcastle married the love of his life with barely four hours to spare. My father, Corporal George Bell, a conscript with the Royal Electrical

I have been fascinated by automata for as long as I can remember. Especially so since my first viewing of the 1972 film Sleuth (a perennial favourite), starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. The

You find yourself in a room. It is a bedroom, in fact, in Cheshire in the year 1966. Sitting in front of you are two teenaged boys. It is the year of England’s World Cup victory, and the two friends a

deVOL’s venture into the world of bathrooms continues, and its latest design is the delectable Twin Victorian washstand (from £5,750), a perfect set-up for two. It takes its inspiration from elegant 1