With all the drama of the news at the moment, businesses have had to take some difficult decisions about staying open and carrying on as usual. Like everyone else, we have been monitoring the situation closely as the safety of staff and clients comes before everything else. Who knows how things will have developed by the time you read this.

It’s a time to reflect on the importance of human contact, even in this digital age when, for instance, more than half the people who bid at auction now do so online.

In the past ten years we have seen sales affected by snowstorms and ice, while others have been badly affected by floods several times, including in the past few weeks. However, this is the first time in my 60 years in the business that something like a pandemic has intervened.

Once this threat is lifted, it will be interesting to see what has changed for good and what will revert to the way it was before. No matter how technology progresses, in my view auctions will only flourish in the long term with some form of face-to-face contact. Other aspects of business and day-to-day life are less predictable.

As this crisis teaches us, the challenges ahead are sometimes unexpected, but we will adapt because whatever else changes, or basic values remain the same.

Every so often I like to check on the latest developments on Star Wars memorabilia. Rebels fighting in a Galaxy Far, Far Away may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but when you bear in mind that Jedi is now officially classed as a religion, you get some idea of what the whole franchise means to the truly devoted.

A bit like The Beatles when it comes to rock and pop memorabilia, Star Wars is distinct from the rest of the market it occupies because there is nothing else quite like it.

As I have mentioned before, the most avidly sought after collectables within this field are not the figures of arch heroes and villains, but more peripheral characters, especially those whose release as toys were in limited or withdrawn runs, like the Cape Vinyl Jawa.

In this market, rarity and condition are the key factors, so if you have a very rare character toy in an unopened, undamaged blister pack, you can be talking extremely serious money indeed.

How much?

An unpainted prototype of the Rocket-Firing Boba Fett, the bounty hunter hired by Darth Vader to capture Han Solo, includes a slot mechanism allowing the rocket attached to his back to fire and  was created by toymaker Kenner to promote The Empire Strikes Back.

Never released to the public, it has just sold at auction for $93,750. That’s exactly half of what another sold for in November last year.

Up for auction in Canada is a series of almost 200 photographs and negatives of Marilyn Monroe taken during the making of the 1953 film Niagara. What makes them especially attractive to bidders is that they are being sold with copyright, which means the buyer has the opportunity to exploit them commercially. Hence the estimate of $50,000.

It’s not often that photos or artworks come up for sale accompanied by copyright, but when they do they tend to be fought over enthusiastically. Remember, copyright remains active until 70 years after the year in which the artist or photographer died, and this also applies to musical compositions and other creations. The extent of copyright used to be different for different artistic forms, but it has been put on a level by the European Union over the past few years.

Even if you do manage to secure copyright to something you buy, there’s something else you mustn’t forget: moral rights. These give the artist further protection, meaning that even if you do hold the copyright to their work, you can’t use it in any way that the artist or their heirs might deem derogatory or damaging to the reputation of the artist or the work itself.

One of the reasons that rock and pop memorabilia appeals to so many people is what I refer to as the ‘musical nerd’ factor. While the top prices always come for stage-worn clothes or instruments used on seminal albums or during live shows, other influences can also come into play to make something desirable at auction.

Take, for example, a guitar consigned for sale next month. What makes this rather non-descript acoustic number worth the £15,000 estimate? The answer is that it was played by Mike Hurst of the British folk trio The Springfields – also featuring Dusty Springfield – when they were the first British group to break into the US charts, a year and a half before the Brits began their assault on American pop fans in earnest.

The Springfields broke into the US Billboard Top 20 in September 1962 with Silver Threads and Golden Needles, before disbanding in 1964 so that Dusty could continue her career as a solo artist (my own favourite of hers is a song called Spooky), with Mike becoming a music producer who worked with Cat Stevens, Shakin’ Stevens and other big names.

An added attraction here is that Jimmy Page, later of Led Zeppelin, played the guitar when he joined Hurst’s band in 1964. It cost Mike Hurst £65 in 1962. With a pedigree like this, £15,000 doesn’t sound too ambitious.