Collect Call: On the louche...

Shockin'! Victorian Brits considered the Continentals to be very naughty indeed. It was not just the louche Parisians, who hardly batted an eyelid at undraped chorus girls on street posters for the Scala nightclub - even the Belgians had their own version of soft porn. These small "decorative panels" of "Petits Nus" by Paul Berthon of 1899 were bought as pin-ups in Belgian homes.

Correctness was a long time coming to the Continent. A 1955 poster by Jean-Gabriel Domergue, showing two bulimic maidens in swimsuits (left) is captioned: "The most beautiful women in the world are at Monte Carlo in the summer". Estimate: pounds 600-pounds 800.

The two splendid carved double-seater tigers from the Tussauds collection of fairground art are pounding round a distantly-remembered Continental ride of 1900 that was probably burned for its gold leaf. They are pounds 6,000-pounds 8,000 in what could be the last big sale of fairground art, at Wookey Hole Caves, Wells, Somerset, on Monday (11am).

Some Continental carved animals have lower estimates, for example pounds 400- pounds 500 for a bear - but bidding is expected to be fierce.

Just as sexy: some of the treasure-trove of jeweller's stock from the steam packet The General Abbatucci, which sank in 1869 after a collision while on its way from Marseilles to Civitavecchia in Italy.

It is newly salvaged, looks like new, and is highly wearable. The design of this set of gold hollow-ware brooch and earrings has a modern industrial- architectural feel about it, in keeping with the commercial bustle of the three decades 1860-90.

This is day wear. The brooch would have been pinned to a high collar. Estimate pounds 1,200-pounds 1,500 at South Ken next Tuesday (10.30am).

There are cheaper things in the sale, such as three lots of 15 rings, estimated at pounds 200-pounds 300 each.

Still bright: a yellow robe of about 1760 in South Ken's costume sale, Tuesday (2pm).

It's very much a collectors' piece at pounds 3,000-pounds 5,000, but what about a gentleman's waistcoat of 1780 embroidered in coloured silks with floral sprigs and ears of corn at pounds 150-pounds 200?