Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Pick of the Week: Sampler soars to £14,000 result
29 October 2018Among the most desirable of all needlework samplers are those associated with pupils of the orphanages, asylums and charity schools of the Georgian and Victorian eras.
Hammer highlights: five lots that caught bidders’ eyes including a rare example of automobilia
26 October 2018A Banksy print, a Suffragette medal and a rare piece of British automobilia are among ATG’s selection of highlights that sold at auctions this week.
Single-owner sale of jewellery - including more than 100 Georg Jensen items - comes to auction
26 October 2018A major collection of late 19th and early 20th century jewellery amassed by a Buckinghamshire collector over half a century, comes to auction next week.
Rediscovered Iznik charger takes £4.55m at Sotheby's auction
25 October 2018The Debbane charger, a newly-discovered 15th century Iznik dish, was the toast of Sotheby’s Islamic Week offering, selling for a spectacular £4.55m (£5.4m including buyer’s premium).
Rare 19th century miners’ lamp lights up auction in Rotherham
24 October 2018A rare miners’ lamp was the unexpected highlight of Paul Beighton’s October 14 sale in Thurcroft near Rotherham.
Rediscovered Iznik masterwork headlines Islamic Week auction series
22 October 2018A newly discovered Ottoman charger, described as one of the most important pieces of Iznik pottery in private hands, will be offered at Sotheby’s Arts of the Islamic World sale this week.
‘Rodin’s’ Baptist bust rediscovered at Connecticut auction
22 October 2018Black Rock Galleries in Greenwich, Connecticut received bids up to $388,000 (plus 18% buyer’s premium) for a bronze it believes is Buste de Saint Jean-Baptiste, a previously lost lifetime cast by Rodin.
Asia on the rostrum
22 October 2018Thirteen auction houses take part in this year’s Asian Art in London, the number swollen by overseas as well as UK regional salerooms. Roland Arkell previews forthcoming highlights.
Tompion strikes a £200,000 note in Staffordshire
22 October 2018A portable table clock by Thomas Tompion sold for a top-estimate £200,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) as part of a mixed-owner sale conducted by Hansons at Bishton Hall, Staffordshire.
Pick of the Week: Audubon gun at auction is blast from the past
22 October 2018Was this the gun that John James Audubon (1785-1851) used to create the world’s most expensive natural history book?
Five choice objects up for auction in Islamic Week
19 October 2018The biannual series of Islamic and Indian art auctions held in April and October offers a wide range of art and artefacts celebrating the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the Middle East and the subcontinent. This year’s ‘Islamic Week’, running from October 22-26, includes sales from five auction houses, highlights of which are pictured below.
Hammer highlights: five lots that caught bidders’ eyes including a Japanese sleeper and an Irish stag skull
19 October 2018Sleepers and stag skulls were among ATG’s selection of highlights that sold at auctions this week.
Barnebys buys online valuation firm ValueMyStuff
18 October 2018Online valuation firm ValueMyStuff, founded in 2010 by former Sotheby’s director Patrick van der Vorst, has been sold to Swedish group Barnebys.
Benchmark prices for Horlicks’ ‘prime period’ Mouseman
15 October 2018The Horlicks collection of Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson furniture was sold at Sworders’ auction for £236,000.
Pick of the week: Pilkington’s pride of place
15 October 2018A private collection of more than 30 pieces of Pilkington’s Lancastrian lustre excelled when offered at Lyon & Turnbull (25% buyer’s premium) in Edinburgh on October 10.
Medal celebrates that sinking feeling
15 October 2018This medal documents a little-known moment in the history of the English Civil War. In 1648, following a revolt in the Parliamentary fleet, a number of ships went to Helvoetsluys in the western Netherlands and were organised as a Royalist squadron by Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619-82).
The dust settles: a special report on the Australian auction scene
15 October 2018After almost a decade of flatlining annual sales and the collapse of Mossgreen, Australia’s auctioneers are vocal about the improving market.
Kelly still standing after 20 bare-knuckle rounds
15 October 2018“If I was to select just one lot we have sold this year,” says John Albrecht, managing director at Leonard Joel, “it would be the haunting, period photo of Australia’s infamous bushranger, Ned Kelly, taken in 1874 after a boxing match.”
Webb’s independent again
15 October 2018Leading New Zealand firm Webb’s – established by Auckland gallery owner Peter Webb in 1976 – became part of Mossgreen in October 2014. Two businessmen and art collectors from the city, Ewen Mackenzie-Bowie and Bruce Qin, rescued the saleroom earlier this year following the collapse of the parent company and a regular calendar of sales is now in operation from new premises in Mount Eden.
Silver from a Melbourne founder
15 October 2018Presented to Captain William Lonsdale (1799-1864) in 1842 by the people of Melbourne in recognition of his services to the founding colony, the Lonsdale Silver Presentation has remained in his descendants’ care for 176 years.