Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Fit for an emperor at £355,000
13 June 2014The most highly regarded piece of Chinese porcelain offered during the recent round of Asian sales was seen in Edinburgh where Lyon & Turnbull sold this blue and white dragon charger for £355,000.
Russian auctions shrug off politics
09 June 2014Despite the unhelpful backdrop of Ukraine politics and the threat of economic sanctions, the Russian art market continued on its mercurial journey in the first week of June. The characteristic patchy selling rates for the ‘Londongrad’ sales were accompanied by moments of remarkable competition.
The British camera that helped get pictures moving
06 June 2014It may not look much today, but this camera was the latest cutting-edge piece of technology when it was first released for sale in 1899 – and it helped lay the foundations for the future of film and moving pictures. Then it retailed for £30, now it has just sold at auction in Surrey by Lawrences of Bletchingley for £7800.
On the £7500 scent of James Giles
03 June 2014Trading from the Arts Museum in Cockspur Street, the famous James Giles (1718-80) china and glass decorating atelier produced an enormous diversity of bijouterie for the London luxury trade.
Rivals hoping to fill void left by Ivey-Selkirk in St Louis
03 June 2014Following the implosion of auction house Ivey-Selkirk earlier this year, more than one firm is hoping to plug the void left by the troubled St Louis institution.
Roadshow discovery heads to Christie’s
02 June 2014This portrait by Sir Anthony van Dyck, a spectacular discovery for the BBC’s ‘Antiques Roadshow’, will carry an estimate of £300,000-500,000 at Christie’s Old Master sale on July 8.
V&A launch a Rapid Response to contemporary collecting
30 May 2014A pair of Primark jeans, a 3D-printed gun and Katy Perry branded fake eyelashes are just a few of the objects that will go on display in a new gallery at the Victoria & Albert Museum this summer.
Art Deco classics ring a bell
09 May 2014Designed and manufactured by the Siemens factory in Woolwich from 1929, the 200 Series dial telephone (aka the Neophone) is today considered an Art Deco design classic and the first truly modern telephone.
Winning the Beswick trials
09 May 2014A trial model of a champion dog led the way among a group of Beswick figures sold at a recent auction in Stoke-on-Trent.
Horst’s perfect storm hits Philadelphia
09 May 2014Alasdair Nichol, picture specialist and vice chairman at Freeman’s of Philadelphia, called the Horst collection “an auctioneer’s perfect storm” – the sale of a previously unknown cache of untouched European and American art exposed to market for the first time in close to a century.
Auction record for natural saltwater pearls shows strength of gems market
02 May 2014The run on pearls continues with two spectacular prices paid for exceptional natural saltwater gems at auctions on either side of the Atlantic this week.
The £150,000 doorstop with an Imperial past
02 May 2014The latest Asian art sale at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet was led by this massive 9½in (24.5cm) high Chinese calligrapher’s brush pot dating to the late 18th or early 19th century.
Somerset’s £43,000 cabinet of delights
28 April 2014This 21in (54cm) wide ‘Indo-Portuguese’ ivory inlaid hardwood fall front cabinet sold for an extraordinary £43,000 at Lawrences of Crewkerne.
Live the Mackintosh dream
28 April 2014Located in the village of Kimacolm, close to the Firth of Clyde and 20 miles west of Glasgow, is Windyhill, one of only three houses built by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Tougher sentences for thefts that hit heritage
24 April 2014Thieves who target cultural property or items of great sentimental value could be hit with tougher sentences under official new proposals.
Archibald Knox on top form as silver cup takes £42,000 at Hampstead auction
23 April 2014This silver cup and cover designed by Archibald Knox for Liberty and Co and hallmarked for Birmingham 1901 sold for £42,000 at north London’s Hampstead Auctions.
A love of rich colour – two windows on Harry Clarke
22 April 2014Irishman Harry Clarke (1889-1931) made his reputation as a book illustrator whose work straddled the passing Art Nouveau and the coming Art Deco movements.
Auctionata secure funding
22 April 2014The Berlin-based online art and auction house Auctionata has secured €21.5 million in new equity capital and funding following a second funding round from the existing investors.
Chinese wig stand sells for £360,000 in Cambridge
08 April 2014This Qianlong mark and period hat or wig stand sold for a massive £360,000 at a recent Cheffins sale in Cambridge.
Hungary buys half Sevso hoard
04 April 2014€15m deal sets seal on more than three decades of dispute