Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Brilliant minds Leibniz and Wotton bring brilliant price
11 December 2023Letter from German mathematician to English scholar takes £14,000 in Edinburgh saleroom
Previews: issue 2622
11 December 2023Our selection of lots from seven upcoming UK and Irish auctions
Sale day is May day for this German beaker
11 December 2023The small German beakers known as monatsbecher (‘month beakers’) were made in sets of a dozen: one for each month of the year.
Eye-witness account of Captain Cook’s death
11 December 2023Held by the same private New England family since 1792, a copy of 'A Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean' complete with its map came for sale at Bonhams Skinner (28/26/20% buyer’s premium).
Copeland dinner service stars in our pick of five auction highlights
08 December 2023ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a hand painted ornithological dinner service that featured in the famous Lowther Castle sale in 1947.
An Etruscan Revival micro-mosaic brooch is among five lots to watch
04 December 2023With estimates from £400, here are five previews of upcoming items.
Shipshape $7000 surprise
04 December 2023A group of letters sent from a clipper ship captain in Shanghai during the Second Opium War (1856-60) to his sons in the Charlestown area of Boston resounded with bidders at Merrill’s Auctioneers (21% buyer’s premium) in Williston, Vermont on November 3.
Presentation copies with a special touch
04 December 2023Pictured here are two fine 19th century presentation copies that, unexpectedly, topped sales in South Cerney and Cambridge in October.
Collection furnished a house sited a stone’s throw from the Rijksmuseum
04 December 2023Although originally trained as a goldsmith, Dirck Van Rijswijck (1596-1679) developed his own characteristic style using less rarefied material.
Bugatti’s Breguet clock races away to take £170,000
04 December 2023An exceptional silver Breguet hump-backed carriage clock commissioned by car maker Ettore Bugatti topped Bonhams’ latest Fine Clock Sale.
Dangerous not just decorative dirk
04 December 2023Decorative Highland dirks from the late 19th century, often mounted in silver and set with cairngorms, appear for sale with some frequency.
Pick of the week: Album connects ceramics collectors
04 December 2023An album of watercolour studies of Ottoman ceramics that connects two of the British collectors of the early 20th century raced away from its estimate at Dominic Winter in Gloucestershire.
Anchovy paste posts a tasty £8000 result at auction
04 December 2023Among the most desirable of all ‘Prattware’ transfer printed wares are the series of very rare and highly decorative exhibition-style advertising plaques produced for firms such as Crosse & Blackwell and Huntley & Palmers.
Hitchcock not Hancock but a quieter Hawaii scene from a member of ‘Volcano School’
04 December 2023Although this small oil sketch that surfaced at Oxio Paris (24% buyer’s premium) in Saint-Ouen on November 19 was catalogued as by ‘Howard Hancock’, the signature is clearly that of David Howard Hitchcock (1861-1943).
The highlights of Herat and Cairo, renowned workshops
04 December 2023Sixth instalment of single-owner collection on offer in west London features wonderful workshops
Yasuyuki masterpiece makes £11,000 in Shropshire
04 December 2023This silver and enamel vase by Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927), the great master of Japanese cloisonné, sold to an English collector for £11,000 at Halls (24% buyer’s premium).
Regency sofas star in our pick of five auction highlights
01 December 2023ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a pair of Regency painted and gilt sofas with a rich provenance that made over three-times estimate in Oxfordshire.
Exceptional English chairs emerge in US
27 November 2023A fine pair of 18th century English chairs sold for $120,000 (£100,000) in Asheville, North Carolina, on November 16-18.
A drawing by Elisabeth Frink from the collection of designer Mary Quant is among five lots to watch
27 November 2023With estimates from £700, here are five previews of upcoming items.