Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Previews: issue 2527
24 January 2022A selection of 15 upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.
Stand-out lots from the treen scene
24 January 2022A selection of these functional but fascinating objects that have appeared at recent sales
Distinctive William Wood miniatures emerge in Buckinghamshire sale
24 January 2022Estimated at just £60-100, a pair of Georgian portrait miniatures sold online for £2900 at Amersham Auctions (17.5% buyer’s premium) on January 6.
Tokens provide a rich seam of lots
24 January 2022Handed in by miners at the start of a shift in exchange for a Davy lamp, colliery tokens, tallies or checks provided vital information in the event of fire or explosion.
Table made from parrot coal stars in our pick of five auction highlights
21 January 2022ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a rare Victorian table carved from cannel or so-called parrot coal.
My goodness: the £27,000 Roman marble bust
17 January 2022The eclectic collection of Alison Barker (1951-2021) of London and Chichester was sold by Trevanion in Whitchurch, Shropshire on January 12.
Cotswold family connections in demand at auction
17 January 2022Lyon & Turnbull’s single-owner sale titled The Minoprio Collection: British Design in the Arts & Crafts Tradition included some very strong prices for mid-century Cotswolds School furnishings.
Banksy goes on spraycation to a model village
17 January 2022This small wood and fibre glass sculpture by Banksy (b.1974) formed part of the street artist’s 'Great British Spraycation' series that emerged at British seaside destinations over the summer.
Pick of the week: Whisky travelogue in demand at auction
17 January 2022In the early 1880s Alfred Barnard, secretary of Harper’s Weekly Gazette (the magazine that morphed into today’s Harpers Wine & Spirit), decided to visit all distilleries in Scotland, England and Ireland.
A silver owl inkwell and a set of George II walnut chairs are among five lots to watch
17 January 2022With estimates from £200-80,000 here are five previews of upcoming items.
Asian art: A new frontier as Vietnamese market opens up
17 January 2022Multi-estimate bidding is no longer just the preserve of Chinese works of art. During the recent Asian art sales, Vietnamese market objects excelled.
Chinese porcelain in demand as medallion bowls bid to 260-times estimate in Glasgow
17 January 2022Perhaps the most identifiable production of the Daoguang period (1820-50) of the Qing empire is the medallion bowl.
Soldier's scroll paintings turn out to be lucrative birthday presents
17 January 2022Leading a recent Woolley & Wallis' (25/12% buyer’s premium) sale in Salisbury were two scroll paintings by well-known 20th century Chinese artists that came by descent from Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell (1883-1950).
Eastern furniture proves no sleepy market as huanghuali bed makes £140,000
17 January 2022The market for Chinese furniture has come on leaps and bounds in 20 years.
Exceptional examples of Victorian metalwork come to the fore at David Lay
17 January 2022Christopher Dresser created a number of daring geometric designs for silver and silver-plated toast racks in the late 1870s and early 1880s, both for Hukin & Heath and for James Dixon & Son.
Previews: issue 2526
17 January 2022A selection of 12 upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.
How the Manchu dynasty tried to brush over Ming history
17 January 2022This Kangxi (1662-1722) period blue and white brush pot was offered at Sworders (25% buyer’s premium) in Stansted Mountfitchet.
Michael Collins’ gift for barman who kept his cool
17 January 2022This late 19th century walking cane with sturdy ebonised shaft and silver-plated handle comes with a letter of provenance stating that it had been a gift from Irish revolutionary soldier and politician Michael Collins (1890-1922) to Patrick Baker, head barman at the Gresham Hotel in Dublin.
Chinese work with European inspiration attracts interest in Somerset
17 January 2022Many Chinese export porcelain forms were inspired by European silver or ceramic forms.
David Hockney’s reality check as unrecorded copy of etching emerges at Bonhams
17 January 2022There are only three other known examples of this early David Hockney (b.1937) etching titled 'Self-Portrait (not in S.A.C. or Tokyo)'.