Hello collectors. For Wednesday, April 22, 2026 we have a Titanic relic, the world’s fastest growing sports autographs, and thoughts on emotion in collecting. Sign up for free here.
Our top image shows a page from a rare book with a unique achievement, revealed below in ouranniversary section.
**Breaking News
Only Titanic lifejacket sells for £670,000
The only Titanic lifejacket ever sold has realised £670,000. Laura Mabel Francatelli wore the Fosbery & Co vest en route to her escape by lifeboat.
Titanic specialists Henry Aldridge & Son gave the item a £350,000 top estimate before Saturday’s sale. A lifeboat cushion made £390,000 (£180,000 high estimate) and a watch damaged on that chaotic night made £180,000 against an £80,000 estimate.
Today, two Titanic watches will sell. At Freeman’s Chicago, $300,000 to $500,000 is expected for magnate John Jacob Astor’s Patek Philippe. In Kent, Hanson’s has a watch awarded to a rescuer with a £100,000 high estimate.
The stories of Titanic victims and survivors still resonate and sell. The lifeboat cushion was bought by the US’s largest Titanic attraction; Belfast’s museum gets nearly 1 million annual visitors. The £1.6 million Titanic auction record was set in 2024. And now the boom has hit the 1997 movie, from which a prop door frame sold for $718,750 in 2024.
Rare Mao signature expected to make $100,000
A 1966 signature by Mao Zedong, collected by the wife of Pakistan’s ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, is selling in America with a $100,000-plus estimate.
Mao autographs are extremely rare. Recent sales in western markets include a 2019 sale of a 1948 letter at £500,000 million. This signature was last sold in 2024, when it made $250,000.
In part that’s because of its unique provenance. China’s leader signed a slip of paper at the request of the wife of the Pakistani diplomat and politician Mohammed Khan. The meeting, with its protocol-challenging signature, was all filmed.
Mao is among the most significant figures of the 20th century and for collectors who want his autograph this could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Surely someone will grab it.
**In the Know
Selling This Week
$1 million watch: Lot 110 in the Monaco Legends watch sale this weekend is a 1971 Patek Philippe Padellone with an estimate of $1.2 million.
Spitfire call: A World War II “scramble” bell of the sort used to send Spitfire pilots up into the skies is listed at Bonhams. The Air Ministry bell has a £3,000 top estimate and should sell tomorrow.
Sold Last Week
Vincent sketch: A very small pair of sketches on two sides of the same 21cm by 24cm sheet of paper have sold for $1.4 million at Christie’s in Paris. Vincent van Gogh made the drawings with their colour notes.
Ben Franklin letter: An autograph letter from Benjamin Franklin to the 2nd Earl of Shelburne from 1782 has sold at Sotheby’s for £21,760. The text concerned British/American peace talks.
Events & Exhibitions
Major music memorabilia: PropStore are exhibiting lots from their Music Live Auction. Guns N’ Roses guitars, George Michael’s jacket and lots of Queen gear are at the Cumberland Hotel, London until April 25. Free entry but must be booked online.
Reason for sale: At Christie’s New York a selling exhibition of “landmark works in science, mathematics and philosophy” includes works by Charles Darwin, Adam Smith, Alan Turing, and Galileo Galilei.
**A-Z
Art: Christie’s expect up to $2 million for a Tiffany Studios stained glass window from a Connecticut church. In 2024, another window, the Danner Memorial, set a Tiffany Studios record of $12.4 million at Sotheby’s.
Books: Original cover art by Albert Uderzo for Astérix Les Lauriers de César (Asterix and the Laurel Wreath) from 1972 has sold for $450,000 at Heritage Auctions.
Digital/Sports: Russell Young’s Pele portraits, signed by the Brazilian soccer legend, are being tokenised to enable fractional ownership. The release, through Polymath Capital, coincides with the 2026 FIFA World Cup Finals.
Film memorabilia: Bonhams will auction items from the late Diane Keaton in May and June. Costumes and scripts are included in the actor’s collection.
Gem stones: Sotheby’s have unveiled a collaboration with De Beers at their Luxury Week sales in Hong Kong. The Jwaneng 28.88 diamond has a $2.8 million high estimate.
Historic documents: A letter signed by Marie Antoinette is listed at Invaluable with an opening asking price of $35,260. Stargardt Autographenhandlung of Berlin are selling the document previously auctioned at Sotheby’s.
Numismatics: A medal commemorating the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 is listed at Noonans Mayfair for sale on May 26 (£3,000 – £4,000). The deal was the first Unequal Treaty signed by China and is heavy with modern resonances that could bring in bidders.
Pokémon: Japanese sets are listed by Heritage for sale on April 30. A 1996 sealed booster box already has a $24,000 bid. Although older than the first US sets they’re not always as valuable.
Sport memorabilia: Liverpool full-back Steve Nicol’s collection, for sale soon at Julien’s, includes three FA Cup winner’s medals, four league title awards, and a European cup medal.
Stamps: Royal Mail have announced new issues on moths, pets, military jets, and pop group Duran Duran. Christmas stamps will be issued on November 3 and two other issues are scheduled but yet to be themed.
Stamps: Boston 2026 World Expo, the year’s biggest stamp show, has an app. You can download Cvent from app stores or get the app when you register to attend. Event programmes are also now live online.
Wine: Proceeds from the sale of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s wine cellar at Christie’s will benefit The Music in Secondary Schools Trust. The most valuable single item in the sale is a single bottle of Château Margaux 1900 with a potential price of £5,000 to £7,000.
For sale in June, this window is among the best Tiffany ever made. Image courtesy of Christie’s.
The Long Read
Keep your eyes peeled for these potential pitfalls with:
Some things are just difficult. And there’s no way around them.
That was my reaction when I read that Amy Winehouse’s dad Mitch had lost a case over the sale of some of his daughter’s possessions.
You can find the details easily enough. The case sounds painful for everyone involved.
Elsewhere Madonna has appealed for the return of vintage costumes from her Coachella Sabrina Carpenter cameo. “These aren’t just clothes, they are part of my history,” she wrote on Instagram.
The eye-catching gear may just be lost, but it’s certainly potentially valuable if less innocently diverted. And it means a lot to the Queen of Pop.
We collect for personal connection. For proximity to people we admire.
So, the familiar checks on legality and ownership – provenance, paperwork, evidence, documents – are the starting point for all collecting purchases.
But collecting is emotional too.
So, your collection may encounter moral, cultural, political and personal challenges too and you should know how to deal with them.
Sports on the up
Trending in Google searches for “autographed” this week are a number of sports stars – especially from the baseball diamond. Here are 10 growing names to keep an eye on.
“Hank Aaron autographed baseball”: up 70% “Joe Dimaggio autographed baseball”: up 50% “Mike Trout autographed baseball”: up 40% “Josh Allen autographed jersey”: up 40% “Jackie Robinson autographed baseball”: up 40% “Pele autographed soccer ball”: up 30% (Pele autographed jersey: up 20%) “Babe Ruth autographed baseball”: up 20% “Ted Williams autographed baseball”: up 20% “Shohei Ohtani autographed baseball”: up 8% “Mickey Mantle autographed baseball”: up 7%
Away from sports, Kpop boy band Stray Kids saw searches for their autographs up 100% this week.
Quirky: Do you know the Einstein Letter? The text that convinced President Roosevelt that the Nazis were on their way to a nuclear bomb, and which lit the fuse to the 1945 atomic attacks on Imperial Japan. Einstein signed it but didn’t write it. His friend and colleague Leo Szilard did. The 1939 Einstein Letter (fully the Einstein-Szilard Letter) sold for $1.9 million in 2002 then for $3.9 million in 2024. A 1939 letter by Szilard vital in the development of The Bomb made a relatively small $240,000 in 2012. And, if anyone asks you “what’s in a name”, there’s your answer.
Anniversary this week: On April 26, 1785 John James Audubon was born, in (what is now) Haiti. Audubon’s The Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1838, is among the most valuable and most sold historic books. The best reported price for the stunning publication is $11.6 million in 2010. Its eight $1 million-plus sales are a unique achievement.
“I may be an antique like the Stones, but antiques are valuable.”
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