Lawrences’ recent sale in Crewkerne of coins, medals, militaria and collectors’ items comprised over 1,500 lots.

Sold across two days, there was considerable interest from internet bidders and – following an equalling busy view – the auctioneers reported a very encouraging total of £450,000.

A cased pair of flintlock pistols by Smith of London (pictured below) made £3,580; two Japanese court tachi (Samurai sword) made £3,340 and £3,820; and an ornate matchlock musket of Indo-Persian origin made £1,490. Medals proved popular and the awards of Colonel H P Sykes of the Second Dragoon Guards and the Denbighshire Yeomanry exceeded expectations to take £2,500 while the medals of Colonel S Bogle-Smith (distinguished service in South Africa and Afghanistan) made £3,580. However, coins proved to be the highlights of the first day with an exceptional selection of rare and early examples encountering fiercely competitive bidding to sell for remarkable sums: a 1658 Oliver Cromwell shilling – £2,090, and Edward VI crown – £1,670; a Milan testone – £3,460, a Mantuan testone (above) – £10,630, a double ducat from c.1500 – £8,360, a Maximilian I guldiner – £9,080, a Saxony thaler – £9,200 and a Holy Roman Empire thaler – £5,250 were some of the highlights of a collection that realised over £210,000 Part of the appeal of a Collectors’ sale is the variety of lots on offer and there was an extraordinary selection for bidders on the following day. A ‘Chard Junction’ enamel railway sign (found in a shed after Beeching’s closures shut the station in 1966) made £1,490, a character doll by Simon Halbig for Kammer and Reinhardt made £3,700, a German dolls house by Christan Hacker made £4,780, an Aboriginal shield from Western Australia (collection of Captain George Clampitt) made £2,330, a cased violin by Wolff Bros made £770, a Nicole Freres musical box playing 20 tunes made £2,270, a Hardy Perfect fishing reel in a leather case made £1,610, a carved wooden Black Forest group of a bitch and pups made £1,490 and two tiger skins by Gerrard and Sons and by Van Ingen of Mysore took £2,030 and £1,670 respectively. The day’s top price was paid for an exceptional Narwhal tusk measuring 153cm (60”) which made £7,280. The obvious dissimilarity between such a fine piece of natural history and the minutely designed precision of a rare medieval coin exemplifies the curious character of these hugely popular auctions and the valuers are inviting entries for the autumn event.