Philately can be a profitable hobby if you purchase the right items. The stamp market is complex and can be difficult to navigate.

If you are interested in collecting as a hobby but still want to ensure that your investments are sound, or are simply looking to make a profit from trading, this guide serves as a valuable first introduction. It will explain some of the terminology you may encounter in the word of philately, and help you distinguish valuable stamps worth an investment from those that are unlikely to perform well in an auction room now – or in the future.

Jonathan Ruffer donated $24 million to Auckland Castle so that the Francisco de Zurbaran portraits could continue to hang in their original places and not be sold at auction.

Otto Neuman Ltd. is offering a Rembrandt, titled Portrait of Man with Arms Akimbo, asking price £29.5 million!

Last night Sotheby's held their Impressionist and Modern sale in New York with an impressive turn out. the sale was estimated to make around $158 million but surpassed that price climbing to $170.5 million.

This Arts and Crafts music cabinet, entered into a recent sale at Robertson’s of Kinbuck, near Dunblane, without reserve, turned out to be a hitherto lost design by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

ValueMyStuff is counting down the 15 strangest items ever sold at auction, here is number 13....

Puppets of Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet are up for grabs.

The images have been purchased for around £30,000.

A collector's six 2,000-year-old artefacts were valued at £10,000 but only two sold at auction last week.

An antique painting is worth £250,000, according to art experts.

The X-rayed images are of a friend of Oscar Wilde's, it has been reported.

The tome has beaten its antiques valuation.

Those with a passion for antique paintings might be interested in details of one auction in the United States.

Russel Considine will be selling limited editions of photos taken throughout the 50s by Nelson Gilbert.

It had an antiques valuation of between $10,000 and $15,000.

It had an antiques valuation of up to £600.

A Chinese brush pot - used by a collector as a toothbrush holder - has sold for £30,000.

Kept on a staircase, a vase has attracted bids worth double the auction room's previous record.