Collecting Daily: February 14, 2026

Good morning collectors. It’s Saturday, February 14, 2026. Happy Valentine’s Day, and welcome to issue 2 of Collecting Daily, everything a collector needs to know today. Look out for our daily mail launching soon. Sign up for free here.

** Breaking News

Nazi-stolen Jewish prayer book sells for $6.4 million

The Rothschild Vienna Mahzor made $6.4 million (high estimate $7 million) at a New York auction on February 5. The illustrated collection of Jewish High Holiday prayers is from Lake Constance, where Germany, Switzerland, and Austria meet.

Solomon Rothschild bought the book for 151 gold coins in 1841. The Nazis stole it in 1938 and it remained in the Austrian National Library until 2021.

It is the second such book to sell. In 2021 a 14th-century Mahzor made $8.3 million.

Whoopi to sell bus

Whoopi Goldberg will sell her tour bus alongside a collection of movie costumes and personal items. The 1998 Prevost LeMirage Tour Bus has a $250,000 top estimate at Julien’s Whoopi Goldberg sale on March 10. It’s travelled over 1.2 million miles and hosted the likes of Barbara Streisand, Tyler Perry and Barbara Broccoli.

Goldberg is also selling film, award-ceremony and premiere costumes and personally owned art and furniture. Included are an Oscar-presentation dress from 1999 designed by Bob Mackie, and a screen-worn Sister Act costume. Pre-sale bidding is live now.

** In the Know

Selling This Week

POA for movie-linked 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spider: Selling at RM Sotheby’s, Culver City, this red classic, built by Scaglietti in 1971, was bought by Warner Bros in 1975 and likely used in A Star is Born and The Gumball Rally. Sealed bids, closing on February 18.

First edition Oscar Wilde: French-language play Salomé, 1 of 600 copies, signed and inscribed to associate and collaborator Stuart Merrill with two Wilde-related letters from Merrill. Selling at Bonhams on Wednesday, February 18 with £25,000 top estimate.

Sold Last Week

Stamp artist’s work triples estimate: Spring Sorrow is just like the Southern Riverbank by Huang Youngyu sold in Hong Kong for just under HK$700,000 ($90,000) against a HK$200,000 ($25,000) top estimate. Huang drew the monkey on the legendary 1980 Year of the Monkey China stamp.

FA Cup drawing: A design drawing for the second – and most celebrated – iteration of the FA Cup trophy has made £32,000 (£2,000 over top estimate). The Fattorini & Sons design from 1911 sold in Budds’ Romance of the Cup sale on February 11.

Events & Exhibitions

Beatles art: Four previously unshown works by Beatles member Stuart Sutcliffe (who died in 1962) are now at Liverpool Beatles Museum for nine months.

Bonhams opens new NY HQ: Including work by Francis Bacon, inaugural show at Bonhams’ 57 Street HQ, explores music and art. Open now, until March 6.

Knightly cult: Samurai at the British Museum is open to May 4. Armour, weapons, art and more take the Japanese warriors from historic reality to cultural afterlife.

** A-Z

Baseball cards: A single 1952 Mickey Mantle card is being hidden in the new issue of Topps cards in 2026. The legendary rare rookie card is too precious to risk, so look out for a Golden Ticket equivalent in your cards.

Coins: The American Numismatic Society is moving its HQ and collections to Toledo, Ohio from New York. Costs and competition for visitors in the Big Apple will make the Glass City a new pin in the coin collector’s map.

Fine Art: Monet is always money, and Sotheby’s announce the sale of Maison de jardinier, an 1884 oil with an £8.5 million top estimate, in their March 4 sale. Edwardian portraitist John Singer Sargent once owned the Italian-painted view.

Music memorabilia: The earliest known recording by Tupac Shakur was auctioned this week. The cassette of the rapper, who was murdered in 1996, was sold at Wax Poetics for $17,000.

Numismatics: The Super Bowl coin toss coin is now to be in the Smithsonian. The Seahawks’ win on Sunday began with the toss of a modern restrike of a silver Libertas Americana medal commissioned by Benjamin Franklin in 1776. Around 300 were struck for Franklin.

Pokemon: Pikachu Illustrator Watch shows no movement in the auction of the Logan Paul-owned world record-holding card at Goldin. No bids since January 15 leave the card at $5.1 million ($6.3 million with premium). Will a late surge as extended bidding opens on Monday push it even higher?

Sports Memorabilia: A medal from the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 sells in Denmark on March 1. The medal’s winner isn’t known but its exceptional condition and rarity mean the piece is expected to make up to $48,000.

Stamps/Toys: A hobbyist double lands next week with the February 19 release of Royal Mail commemorative stamps celebrating Hornby Model Railways.

TV memorabilia: There’s still time to secure a time-travelling Tardis in PropStore’s Doctor Who sale, ending Thursday. You’ll need at last £9,000 to beat the current bid in the sale that benefits the BBC Children in Need charity.

Watches: Looking for signs of Spring? The season’s watch sales aren’t too far off. Phillips have a couple of images up for their Geneva Sessions on March 5. We spy an FP Journe and a Patek Nautilus.

A Quick Dip Into…

Winter Olympics collecting

• Milan Cortina 2026 is the 25th winter games, the first was Chamonix in 1924
• You can buy posters, commemorative stamps, and souvenirs from modern games for a few dollars
• Medals and torches are the most desired collectibles
• Medals are no longer pure gold, silver and copper (for bronze) but high metal prices mean Cortina golds are worth over $2,300 as raw metal
• Just 3,500 Winter Olympics medals have been won
• Sales are rare, most winners want to keep them
• A 1924 Chamonix gold medal sold for $47,747 in 2016
• Olympic flame torches are rare and often beautifully designed – a Grenoble ’68 torch sold for $231,288 in 2019
• Yuzuru Hanyu, the Japanese double Olympic gold-winning figure skater, sold his skates for $64,000 for an earthquake relief fund
• The most valuable Winter Olympics medal is a US “Miracle on Ice” ice hockey gold that made $319,800 in 2020

** The Secret Auctioneer: Tales from the Saleroom

What do you make of extended bidding or soft closes? It’s been around for a while, and it’s lately become very visible via its introduction at eBay.

The stated rationale is this: a hard close in an online sale allows a clever (and perhaps automated) buyer to snipe in at the last second to secure an item without allowing others to finish their bidding.

The real-world “soft close” is the auctioneer’s glance round the room, the “going, going, gone”, “everyone done?”. It’s dramatic as well as fair.

Drama is nice, but not many people are following online auctions as spectators and I can tell you that there’s one reason for the spread of soft closes. They make more money for sellers and auction houses.
Whatnots

Google searches by collectors – trending this week

1. “how to start collecting Pokemon cards” +250%
2. “stamp collection valuation near me” +100%
3. “coin collection book” +50

Quirky: 2026 Chinese New Year stamps from the People’s Republic of China are out. The first, issued in 1980 and showing a Golden Monkey, can sell for as much as $1,500 for a single, with sheets going for over $100,000. Five million stamps were issued. This year 26.7 million sets of the basic Year of the Horse stamp were issued with a competition winner’s design.

Anniversary this week: On February 14, 1846 the first ever photograph of a sitting US President is created when a daguerreotype of James K Polk is taken in the White House by John Plumbe, Jr.

Want to reach the thousands of collectors who read this newsletter? Partner with us. Email info@justcollecting.com today, quoting: “Collecting Daily Partnership”

Good email? Please forward it on. It’d also be great to have your feedback: info@justcollecting.com

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up for free.