Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
NAVA launches ivory ‘amnesty’ scheme
16 October 2017Auctioneer association NAVA Propertymark is partnering with Border Force on a so-called amnesty scheme for items made from endangered species.
Fortune favours Maori art again
16 October 2017The currently vibrant market for Oceanic art was made plain to staff at John Nicholson’s (24% buyer’s premium) of Fernhurst in February this year when a Maori putorino or bugle flute, estimated at £50-100, sold to French dealer for £140,000. Surely, similar good fortune would not be repeated any time soon?
Medals for west London and South Africa
16 October 2017Originally due to be hosted by Rome, the 1906 eruption of Vesuvius meant that London was a late replacement to hold the fourth modern Olympiad in 1908.
Dreweatts set third Mallett stock sale date
16 October 2017Newly-independent Dreweatts will hold a third – and probably final – Mallett stock sale from Donnington Priory next month.
An open and shut case for rare Louis Vuitton box
16 October 2017The European decorative arts that preceded the tribal session at John Nicholson’s (24% buyer's premium) on October 10 had included a handful of notable bids, not least the £14,500 (estimate £300-500) tendered by an Italian buyer for a small early 20th century Louis Vuitton leather box measuring just 11in (27cm) across.
The career of an artistic Playboy
16 October 2017As part of a fifth anniversary auction at Farleigh Court Golf Club on November 1, Catherine Southon is offering the first part of an archive consigned by the family of the commercial artist and cartoonist Francis Wilford-Smith (1927-2009).
Riding the rising crest of the Oceanic wave
16 October 2017The designated tribal art department at Woolley & Wallis (22% buyer’s premium) in Salisbury is now in its third year – and increasingly picking up consignments and regular buyers from well beyond its immediate hinterlands.
Celebrated Singapore artists in Winchester
16 October 2017The Winchester saleroom Andrew Smith & Son (15% buyer’s premium) unearthed eight works by two of Singapore’s most celebrated 20th century artists for sale on September 13.
Rolex watch attracts 100 bidders and sells for £230,000 at Suffolk auction
13 October 2017The market for vintage ‘tool’ watches continues to burn hot. Lockdales in Martlesham Heath, near Ipswich set a new house record this week when a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner sold at £230,000 (plus premium).
Will this Chinese vase become the first million-pound lot in Scotland?
09 October 2017Glasgow saleroom Mulberry Bank will offer a late 18th century Qing famille rose bottle vase with an estimate of £1.5m-2m in its October 20-21 auction.
George Bailey back at Dreweatts as end beckons for Bloomsbury Auctions
09 October 2017Update (July 2019): auctions resumed at Bloomsbury in 2018 following Gurr Johns' purchase of Dreweatts and Bloomsbury in 2017. In February 2019 it expanded the number of sales at its London office at 16-17 Pall Mall. The original story is below.
Pick of the Week: Yongzheng dish serves £230,000
09 October 2017Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, Derbyshire sold a Yongzheng (1723-35) mark and period dish for £230,000 (plus premium) on September 29.
Chinese records fall across Hong Kong series
09 October 2017Sotheby’s Hong Kong autumn series posted benchmark sums in two Chinese works of art categories. Records were broken for both ceramics and carved jade.
Auction record for British five-pound coin at £340,000
04 October 2017Baldwin’s of St James’s set a new record for a British five pounds piece when a “good, extremely fine” example of the 1839 ‘Una and the Lion’ five pounds coin took £340,000.
Pick of the Week: Marvellous Maltese marquetry at Gloucestershire auction
02 October 2017Maltese furniture commands a premium – and not simply because it appeals to a committed group of island collectors.
Sale of ‘lifetime’s passion’ as huge collection of Channel Islands silver heads to auction
02 October 2017Martel Maides in St Peter Port, Guernsey will sell a massive collection of Channel Islands silver on October 18, writes Roland Arkell.
Italy reaches compromise on export regulations
02 October 2017Italy has approved new laws relaxing the country’s art export regulations.
Trade gears up for Chippendale anniversary
02 October 2017Dealers in English furniture are putting their weight behind events in 2018 marking the life of Britain’s most famous furniture maker, designer and entrepreneur, Thomas Chippendale (1718-79).
Dated armorial Bow mug proves £18,000 treasure
02 October 2017Documentary pieces of early English porcelain always command a premium.
Outsiders come for sale in Newcastle
02 October 2017One of the UK’s largest collections of Outsider art will to be offered for sale at Newcastle auctioneers, Anderson & Garland on October 18.