THERE is assuredly no accounting for taste.

Reggie Kray was a notorious gangster, who along with his twin brother Ronnie, was a prominent figure in the world of organised crime in the East End of London in the 1950s and 60s, responsible for armed robberies, protection rackets, arson, assaults and murder. The adjective "foul" immediately springs to mind.

That is not a word that is associated with the supremely talented footballer Jim Baxter, at least not as perpetrator. Baxter is generally regarded as one of Scotland's greatest ever players, particularly when he starred with Rangers and Scotland, earning the sobriquet "Slim Jim". His career afforded a great deal of pleasure to many thousands.

Strangely, memorabilia involving the two went under the hammer at an auction held by McTear's in Glasgow last night. Attracting keen interest were a collection of 215 letters written by Kray during incarceration at HMP Maidstone between 1998 and 1991, and the jersey worn by Baxter in Scotland's 2-0 win over England at Hampden Park in 1962.

Among the definitions of the word "memorabilia" in Chambers' Dictionary is "objects associated with a (usu famous) person or event by which the memory of that person or event is kept alive".

One sees the sense of that in the case of the latter, but not the former.