Websites to visit

With the news of Lewis Hamilton's win in the Formula 1 drivers championship it reminded me that motor racing collectables are harder to find than for many sports. It also appears to be a very specialised group of collectors who go in for it; I found this interesting site with an article about what can be collected.

Of course there's always toy racing cars that can be collected. This late 1950s Vanwall is worth between £70 and £100.

The news that the Antiques Trade Gazette and all its ancillary businesses have been sold in a mangement buy-out reminds me to tell you all what a great web site they have.

The buy-out team consists of Anne Somers (managing director), Mark Bridge (editor-in-chief), Simon Berti (sales director) and Pablo Luppino (finance director). All existing staff will be retained in the new company – ATG Media Ltd. “We and our staff have dedicated many years not only to Antiques Trade Gazette, but to the wider art and antiques business. We are confident that we are the very best team for the job,” said managing director Anne Somers.

I agree!

The slower summer sales listings are showing sure signs of hotting up on both the US and the UK eBay sites. Earlier in the month when I looked at the UK site there were 69,887 items listed for sale as 'antiques', this morning that number stands at 76,420 – a rise of over 9%. On the US site the number of items listed as antiques has risen to 189,086 from 162,799, an increase of a little over 16%.

Today I was having a look on the second hand book web site Add All at Ian Fleming's James Bond books. I was amazed how many are for sale and especially first editions. There's a first edition of Live and Let Die for a little over £11,000, a first edition of Moonraker for £16,000 and a first edition of Casino Royale for £25,000. Of the latter title there were only 4,750 published of the first edition.

It's proof of the enduring appeal and continued collectability of Ian Fleming's books, especially those in very good condition. As with many other first editions one signed by the Ian Fleming are highly prized often adding as much as 30% to the value of the book. Adrian Harrington in London offers this first edition of Casino Royale for £18,750; it's unsigned. But don't think every copy of Casino Royale costs a fortune, if you just want a copy to read a Penguin Modern Classic from 2004 will only set you back a penny!

If you a book collector let me tell you about a great web site that a friend of mine swears by, in his search for books, not only rare and out of print books, but books of any kind. It’s called Addall and what makes it so good is the fact that it searches, what seems like every, second hand book sites on the web. My friend told me of a first edition he’d seen at the wonderful Barter Books in Alnwick, which they had for sale at £60 – it was beyond his budget. When he got home he checked on Addall and found the exact same edition for $6 plus $12 shipping from the USA to England – a saving of around £50