Luxurious Antiques

The kind of rare stuff that gets under the auction hammer these days is pretty bizarre. This time an unusual piece of artifact, a Roman cavalry helmet, is going to be auctioned in Britain with an estimated price of $300,000.
The helmet was found by a metal detector user near the village of Crosby Garrett in Cumbria in North West England. It did not find place in museum for a single piece of bronze like this is not categorized under the Treasure Act. It is beautifully modeled as the head of a handsome young man. The detailing is awe-inspiring as the face is perfectly framed by curly hair and a Phrygian cap rests atop its head. This was reportedly adopted as the symbol of many revolutionary movements topped with a griffin.
The British museum plans to acquire it by paying compensation to the finder and land owner because of the non-applicability of Old Treasure Act.
PFU Imaging Solutions Europe Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu, have created a special edition Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 and S1300 which have sold over 1 million models worldwide in the document scanner market, to commemorate its 50th anniversary.
PFU, who are the leaders in the document imaging scanners and related services, started operations under the name Unoke Electronic Industries in 1960. They thrived in the rapidly evolving IT industry by releasing high quality products including office computers, Unix servers and ECM software. PFU originated in the Ishikawa Prefecture of Japan and they have highlighted the regions traditional Wajima lacquerware in the special edition ScanSnap models. The Japanese aesthetics and convenience and traditional Japanese crafts have been combined very well in these special models. The durable lacquer coating is applied using a special layering technique called Tenpi kurome, and the company logo of Golden Eagle is printed with pure gold powder.
These special edition Scan Snap collectors model will not be sold but 10 pieces would be given away as prizes through lottery to customers who purchase ScanSnap scanners until October 31, 2010 and register for this exceptional lottery.
Railroad hobbyist Percy Leigh had the costliest railway system in the world, designed by Lucas and Davies for him in the late 19th century. Now a six inch gauge model steam engine, which was part of this railway system, is up for auction at Bonhams. It will be part of the Bonhams Veteran Motor Cars and Related Automobilia sale that will take place on 5 November 2010.
The pre-sale estimate is an impressive $25,000 $35,000. This model has been described as an exact duplicate on a small scale of an express of the London and North Western Railway. The original cost of this exquisite piece was 320 and had taken nine months of hard work to make.
The other highlights of this auction will include a 3 inch gauge model of the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway 2-2-2 Locomotive, that is supposed to have been built in Brighton Loco Works alongside the main item in 1874 estimate $5,000 – $8,000; a 5 inch model of the Great Northern Railway Sterling Single 4-2-2 Locomotive, that comes from the estate of the Duke of Argyll estimate $5,000 – $8,000; and a 6 inch gauge model of the East India Railway 2-2-2 Well Tank Locomotive Express that was commissioned by the East Indian Railway boardroom in London estimate $15,000, $20,000.