News that items belonging to the notorious Lord Lucan have come up for auction reminds me that collectors can be as fascinated by the macabre as the magnificent, just as the Chamber of Horrors was always the highlight of any visit to Madame Tussaud’s. It’s all about owning something with a direct and tangible link to the figure with which they are associated; the more personal, the better, which explains why Lucan’s silk top hat attracts a higher premium than the ice bucket that chilled his champagne.

Only last October, a document granting her sister power of attorney and signed by the infamous Lizzie Borden as she awaited trial for the murder of her parents took $13,000 at auction. So notorious was Borden that she inspired the grisly nursery rhyme: Lizzie Borden had an axe. She gave her mother 40 whacks…

So popular are the frankly talentless daubs painted by Ronnie and Reggie Kray in prison – eight works by the twins made over £12,000 at auction less than a decade ago – that fakes are not uncommon.

One of the most chilling collections came up for sale only last year and featured a cartridge from the gun Ruth Ellis used to kill her boyfriend and the door knocker from 10 Rillington Place, the home and final resting place of the victims of the serial killer Christie.

It really is a strange world we live in.

Whatever is happening in the world of motorsport and Formula One at the moment, pole position when it comes to auction records for cars rests with one marque: Ferrari. To be exact, of the top ten prices at auction for cars, seven are held by Ferrari, including the top two prices. The only other marques that make it into the top ten are Mercedez-Benz (at number three with £23.88m), a Jaguar D-Type (at number seven with £17.57m) and an Alfa Romeo (at number eight with £15.97m).

The ‘cheapest’ Ferrari among these winners, coming in at number ten with a mere £14.84m in 2014) is the 375-Plus Spider Competizione that finished second in the 1954 Mille Miglia. In fifth place, the Ferrari 275 GTB/4S NART Spider that took £22.19m in 2013 had the advantage of being owned by Steve McQueen and driven by him in The Thomas Crown Affair – pretty hard to beat really, yet four cars have done so.

In second place is the Ferrari 335 Sport Scaglietti from 1957 – also the most expensive racing car ever sold at auction – which made £28.80m in Paris in 2016, while out in front at a whopping £30.75m is another sale from 2014, the Ferrari 250 GTO from 1962. One can only dream…

PyeongChang 2018 reminds us that Olympic prowess is not just about track and field, gymnastics, cycling and swimming, wonderful sports though they all are.

Speed skating, skiing in all its forms and, to my mind the most inexplicably compelling sport to watch of all, curling, create as much excitement.

Of course, for auctioneers, dealers and collectors, the Summer and Winter Olympics provide additional excitement in the form of rare collectables, from promotional posters to medals and Olympic torches, all of which enjoy competitive markets.

Although the modern Olympics started in Athens in 1896, it wasn’t until the St Louis games of 1904 that the tradition of gold, silver and bronze medals was instituted. Designs became standardised in 1928, with one side carrying an image of the goddess of victory clutching a palm and the winner’s crown, and the other side depicting an Olympic champion being carried by the crowd. It was only at the 1972 games that a new tradition began: commissioning an artist to design to design the reverse for each games. In 2004 a new design for the goddess also featured the Olympic stadium.

The auction record for an Olympic medal? (Actually for any piece of Olympic memorabilia): the $1.46m paid in 2013 for one of the four Olympic golds won by US track and field star Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin games, an iconic victory, undermining the host nation Nazis under Adolf Hitler as it showed a black man as superior to the Aryans.

I see Valentine’s Day has come round again. (I must remember to buy the essentials…)

One of the most interesting things I read about this annual event the other day is that it generates almost $15 billion worth of retail sales each year in the United States. To put it in context, that is around a quarter of the value of the entire global art market – auctions, dealer and gallery sales, fairs, private deals and so on.

That’s quite a market for a tradition whose true commercial origins date back little more than a century. Now is the time for auction houses the length and breadth of the land to put up Valentine memorabilia for auction, from early Victorian cards and sailors’ Valentines to those sent by celebrities.

Back in 2003, a Valentine card sent by Princess Diana sold for ten times its estimate at £2000, while in 2012 one sent by Amy Winehouse made £1600.

The earliest known printed Valentine’s card dates to 1797 and was published on January 12 that year by John Fairburn of 146 Minories, London. It depicted a young woman in a landscape setting at the centre, surrounded by cupids, flowers, birds and other symbols of love, as well as messages. In 2013, that made a creditable £450 at auction.