People insure some unlikely things.
Egon Ronay, the restaurant critic, insured his palate for £250,000 in 1993, arguing that without this asset he would be like a sculptor shorn of his hands.
While playing cricket for Australia between 1985 and 1994, fats bowler Merv Hughes took out an estimated $370,000 policy on his trademark walrus moustache, which, combined with his 6’4″ physique and outstanding playing ability, made him one of the most recognized cricketers in the world.

Yet another collection of the strange and surreal from the catalogue of our local auction house. As always it is not just the wonderful variety of old toot that people sell, but the eccentric collections put together to make a lot. Enjoy this selection!

3 sweet jars full of matchboxes from around the world, and a small quantity of costume jewellery comprising 3 glitzy necklaces
A good quantity of interesting items incl. children’s toys and dolls incl. Bayko building set, cased Hotwheels Ferrari, tinplate model car with Dunlop tyres, a quantity of boxed playing cards, draughts and chess set, 1950s doll, a cased Polaroid Powerzoom camera and a Ricoh L20 camera, 3 old walking canes and a golf club, pewter chamberstick and snuffer, a small quantity of wooden items incl. fans, stands, etc., Beatrix Potter figure of Mrs Tiggywinkle and other small decorative items and pin trays, a quantity of carved items, a black and white picture of Concorde, etc.
Two decorative barbed hunting spears with metal engraved heads
Two Royal Doulton character jugs, ‘Sairie Gamp’ and ‘Simon Cellarer’, a quantity of novelty teapots incl. one in the form of a dresser and another as a desk with typewriter, a model phrenology head and a palmistry hand, a small quantity of model townhouses, an old zither, and a quantity of sheet music, etc.
A pair of mounted antlers c.1900, on a good mahogany acorn-leaf base
Two lady’s handbags, C. Valentini and Jacques Vert, a gentleman’s black shoulder bag, a handbag modelled in glass, a small quantity of blue and white plates decorated with country scenes, a few CDs and DVDs. a boxed Mesaco muse horn, two old photographs of World War II planes, a quantity of LPs incl. Boney M, a set of framed cigarette cards of planes, and a lady’s boxed watch

A pair of mounted antlers and a pair of mounted horns
A box of interesting items incl. four dolls, a kangaroo toy, an old peg doll in box, silver-plated fruit bowls, a quantity of cigarette cases and compacts, African wooden carvings, Panama hat, etc.
A Victorian taxidermy specimen of a four-legged duckling and another small bird in grassy case