The lighter that marks John Lennon’s metamorphosis
A silver cigar lighter from EUC 100C, John Lennon’s white Rolls-Royce Phantom V, came out of the car when Lennon had everything in it made white. He gave it to the head mechanic of a garage in Ascot and signed its red tag. Its story takes in Yoko Ono, a Spitfire pilot’s hire car, Georgy Girl and Allen Klein.
2026-10-06
The Shining: Stanley Kubrick, Stephen King and a legendary scene
Jack Nicholson’s “Here’s Johnny!” made the axe in The Shining one of cinema’s most recognisable props. This article traces the scene back to Stephen King’s novel and his stay at the Stanley Hotel, follows Kubrick’s production at Elstree and King’s objections to it, looks at the Bonhams sale of Kubrick’s archive, and explains why the film needed foam stunt axes.
In debt to Henry VIII: the signed warrant that gave Richard Gresham two more years
On 3 March 1513, at Greenwich, Henry VIII signed a warrant telling his treasurer John Heron to let the London mercer Richard Gresham keep £637 10s he owed the crown for two more years. This article reads the document, follows Gresham, the French campaign of 1513, the Royal Exchange his son built and the Phillipps provenance recorded on its reverse.
2026-09-23
The only spirit of St. Louis parts ever offered for sale
Paul Fraser Collectibles is offering a museum-grade collection of Charles Lindbergh artifacts for £125,000 ($168,500), marking the first and only time physical parts of the Spirit of St. Louis have been available for public sale. While nearly all surviving elements of Lindbergh’s historic 1927 nonstop transatlantic flight reside in institutional museums, this fully authenticated, three-piece collection includes:
2026-09-18
Unopened vintage card boxes & packs: the Schrödinger’s card dilemma
Sealed vintage wax packs and boxes now sell for six and seven figures without anyone knowing what is inside. This guide explains why collectors pay for that uncertainty, why genuinely old unopened product keeps getting scarcer, and how resealing and grading fraud have followed the money into one of the trading card hobby’s strangest corners.
2026-09-15
Krugerrand gold coin guide: History, value, and why collectors want it
The Krugerrand has been sold since 1967, survived a decade-long US import ban tied to apartheid-era sanctions, and still trades close to the gold price for most examples. This guide covers its design, its fractional and platinum versions, and the rare patterns, proofs and provenance pieces, such as a coin recovered near Ground Zero, that collectors pay well above bullion value to own.
2026-09-14
What coins are hidden in the Spanish galleon San José?
The San José carried colonial coinage from the Lima Mint when it sank off Colombia in 1708. New research identifies 1707 gold 8-escudos cobs, while three recovered macuquinas are now being conserved. Here is what the coins reveal, why Peru matters, and why a future auction remains highly unlikely.
2026-09-11
![Map of France, Spain, and Portugal; Switzerland in cantons [inset]; Island of Corsica (1863) by Samuel Augustus Mitchell. Original From The New York Public Library.](https://news.justcollecting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/image-from-rawpixel-id-2038926-jpeg-400x250.jpg){kind=tracking}
Latin America and Spanish coins: a guide for beginners
Spanish imperial coins connect mints in Spain with the viceroyalties of Mexico, Peru, New Granada and the Río de la Plata. This guide explains how to recognise reales, escudos, cobs and milled pieces, read mint marks and dates, judge condition, check provenance and buy with history in mind.
Selling ungraded vs. graded sports cards: what to consider?
Whether to submit a sports card for grading or sell it raw depends on more than condition. Four sales of the same 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle, from a disclosed trim job to a raw find kept for seventy years, show what a PSA or CGC holder actually adds: authentication a buyer cannot check themselves. This guide covers the cost, the wait, and when raw still wins.
2026-09-10
The 10 most valuable Magic: The Gathering cards of all time
Alpha Black Lotus leads the ten most valuable Magic: The Gathering cards ever sold at public auction, its signed PSA 10 copy making £444,408 in 2023. The rest of the list runs through the Power Nine, from Mox Jet’s record £84,918 to a rare Alpha Lord of the Pit, each verified against its own PWCC Premier Auction result, with sale dates and grades for every card.
The 10 most valuable Yu-Gi-Oh cards of all time
A one-of-a-kind Make-A-Wish card, three separate Blue-Eyes White Dragon records and a string of banned tournament prizes: these are the ten Yu-Gi-Oh cards that have sold for more than any others, each verified against the original eBay or Fanatics Collect listing. From Cyber-Stein to Tyler the Great Warrior, find out exactly what collectors have paid, and why.
The 10 most valuable American football trading cards
Which American football cards have actually made the most money under the hammer, rather than in a private deal nobody can check? We ranked the ten highest verified auction prices, from a six-figure 1958 Jim Brown rookie to a Patrick Mahomes rookie patch autograph numbered to fifteen copies, and explain why grade and scarcity matter more than the name on the card.
2026-09-09
The 10 most valuable basketball trading cards of all time
Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James dominate our countdown of the 10 most valuable basketball trading cards ever sold, led by a $12.9 million dual Logoman patch card that broke every previous sports card record. From one-of-one autographed patches to a pristine 1986 Fleer rookie, we verify every price against the auction house that handled the sale.
The 10 most valuable hockey trading cards of all time
Wayne Gretzky rookie cards hold the two highest prices any hockey card has ever fetched, one sold privately for 2.6 million pounds, but the gap beneath them tells its own story. From a Boston Bruins test print to a one-of-one Connor McDavid rookie, these ten verified sales trace how a single 1979 photograph still outprices everything the hobby has made since.
The most relevant non-sport trading card franchises
Pokémon is only the beginning. From a $16.5 million Pikachu card to record-breaking Star Wars, Magic: The Gathering, One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh! sales, non-sport trading cards are one of the fastest-growing corners of the collecting hobby. This guide ranks the five franchises setting the pace, plus honourable mentions including Garbage Pail Kids and Disney, with every price verified against the original auction listing.
