Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Annual auction totals: Dreweatts retains top spot as market readjusts after the pandemic impact
20 February 2023In the first test of the post-Covid era many of the UK’s top salerooms posted strong figures for art, antiques and luxury items across the calendar year.
Pick of the week: Bidders battle for Naples Nelson porcelain
20 February 2023Elements of an important Naples porcelain service made after the Battle of the Nile have resurfaced at auction in the US.
A rare 16th century livery cupboard is among five lots to watch
20 February 2023With estimates from £800, here are five previews of items coming up at auction this week.
A world coming into focus thanks to Negretti & Zambra
20 February 2023Early stereoscopic images featured in the collection of a dealer curious about how technology transformed life in Victorian times
Fine body of work from a French anatomist and naturalist
20 February 2023The French anatomist and naturalist Louis Thomas Jérôme Auzoux (1797-1880) set up a workshop making very accurate human and veterinary anatomical models.
Weather forecast all in one
20 February 2023Dreweatts in Newbury has for sale this fine Victorian ‘weather station’ with a full provenance and a portrait of its former owner.
Previews: issue 2581
20 February 2023A selection of 13 upcoming lots available at UK and Irish auctions.
White Star Line cup and saucer star in our pick of six auction highlights
17 February 2023ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a Spode cup and saucer with a Titanic connection that made six times estimate at Richard Winterton.
Spink tops coins and medals table
13 February 2023The record business enjoyed by London’s coin auction houses during Covid lockdowns largely continued last year.
Pick of the week: Family archive shines light on abolition movement
13 February 2023A cache of material from descendants of the Starbuck family, a Quaker whaling family influential in both the abolitionist movement and the founding of Nantucket as a whaling centre, was the highlight of Catherine Southon’s sale on February 8.
A postcard from poet Philip Larkin is among five lots to watch
13 February 2023With estimates from £300, here are five previews of items coming up at auction this week.
‘Queen Victoria post box’ at £14,500 is something to write home about
13 February 2023The sale at Hansons (25% buyer’s premium) in Teddington on January 28 included what was marketed as ‘Queen Victoria’s post box’.
Hook a Moser fish vase
13 February 2023The sale at Clark’s Auction Company in California on February 19 includes this Moser enamelled glass fish vase.
Tales of Timbuktu-born prince and a 116-year-old historian
13 February 2023This single-page letter offered on January 19 by Mellors & Kirk (24% buyer’s premium) tells the remarkable story of Abdul Rahman Ibrahima Sori (1762-1829).
‘Official’s hat’ type Qing armchairs for sale
13 February 2023The Asian art sale at John McInnis in Massachusetts on February 25 includes this pair of Qing ‘official’s hat’ type huanghuali armchairs.
Chinese blue and white dishes blow away the estimate
13 February 2023Two Chinese blue and white dishes, recognised by bidders as examples of the bleu de Huế porcelain, flew to £20,500 at a sale in Dorset on January 26.
Three days of Krehbiel sales include fine English antiques
13 February 2023Hindman is conducting a series of auctions featuring property from the collection of the late Fred A Krehbiel and his wife Kay Krehbiel.
Coins and medals: Upwards and onwards as market rises with inflation
13 February 2023The unexpected but very welcome increase in demand that the market experienced amid Covid lockdowns continued in 2022 as restrictions eased – and auction houses are optimistic about another strong performance this year
How to receive phone calls from the afterlife
13 February 2023It is thought that Thomas Edison invented the first PsychoPhone in an effort to record messages from the subconscious or the afterlife.
Edwardian elegance emerges in New York auction
13 February 2023The sale of Fine Jewellery and Luxury Handbags at Doyle New York on February 22 includes this Edwardian diamond, platinum and gold bow brooch.