Since the opening of RWB Auctions at the start of 2024, Wiltshire has seen hundreds of rare and unusual items pass through the county.
RWB Auctions, located on Royal Wootton Bassett High Street in the site of a former Co-op, first opened its doors to the public on Monday, January 15.
Since opening, the auction house has brought in thousands of rare items and attracted antique experts and buyers from around the world to see its one-of-a-kind stock.
Here are just five of the most interesting rare items which have gone under the hammer at RWB Auctions this year.
The rare items passing through Wiltshire's auction houses in 2024
Frontline nurse's World War One scrapbook
Belonging to Madeline Riva Baxter, born in 1890 in Lancashire, the scrapbook covers the years 1918 to 1919 when Madeline was volunteering with the British Committee of the French Red Cross in the Red Cross canteens of Vitry-le-Francois.
During that time, she witnessed destruction on the frontline in Vitry, and worked as a volunteer nurse for the Voluntary Aid Detachment - and documented it all.
The scrapbook includes newspaper clippings, postcards of Vitry-le-Francois, and unpublished photos of prisoners of war, African American troops and named military personnel.
Alongside these are Madeline’s own drawings and inscriptions, as well as official documents and personal correspondence.
The book went under the hammer at RWB Auctions on Thursday, January 25, and sold for £1,100.
Muhammad Ali memorabilia
In September 2024, over 200 unseen candid shots of Mohammed Ali went under the hammer at RWB Auctions, along with a signed photo, commemorative medal and a master film of an unpublished advert that Muhammad Ali featured in but was never used.
The original 35mm tape master copy of the advert recorded by Muhammad Ali in 1971 is promoting Amstel Malta, and depicts Ali in his classic boxing kit.
It was believed to have been shot only a few months after his ‘Fight of the Century’ match loss to Joe Frazier in 1971.
The unpublished photos alone went under the hammer on September 11 for £1,800.
Medals of Jewish RAF man sent to prisoner of war camp
Gerald Wilton, who was originally born Gerhard Wolkenstein in Vienna in 1924 and was the son of a Jewish businessman, later fled to London and enlisted in the Royal Air Force.
In March 1944, he boarded a Halifax BIII Bomber heading for Berlin, as part of a night mission during the Battle of Berlin.
His bomber was lost and he was one of six crew to survive, parachuting over Germany before being captured and sent to Stalag Luft, a prisoner of war camp in Germany.
Wilton received countless medals in the RAF, including a tiny gold pin engraved with his name that signified he was part of the 'Caterpillar Club'.
The medals which tell his story went under the hammer on May 8 for £1,100.
25p coin fetching £2k
The 25p coin found in one man's pocket looks like an ordinary 20p in terms of shape, but was in fact an 'experimental coin'.
It is thought to have been one of only 50 made by skilled craftsmen at the UK’s Royal Mint before the denomination was officially released into circulation in 1982.
Going under the hammer at RWB Auctions in Wiltshire, the 25p coin sold for a whopping £1,700 - which is £1,000 more than experts predicted.
The man who found the rare coin had just been given it in some change and, unaware of its value, he left it in a drawer for several years.
Captain Cook medal from second voyage of discovery
The medal will now form part of a museum collection overseas.
The coin-like medals were given to locals in more than 30 locations that Cook and his crews visited across the Pacific, including Tahiti, Easter Island, and New Zealand.
They were designed to prove to future explorers that Cook had been there first and to introduce native inhabitants to the then British monarch, King George III, whose portrait appears on the other side.
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