Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Parmentier’s palm brooch sells at London auction
17 August 2020Pictured here is a ‘palm’ brooch by the post-war Rue de la Paix jeweller Jean Parmentier.
Auction previews: issue 2455
17 August 2020Sixteen upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK and Ireland.
Jewellery: How keyboard bidders snapped up items during and after the lockdown
17 August 2020Large quantities of antique, vintage and second-hand jewellery have been sold at auction, both during and after the lockdown. ATG reviews some of the highlights and notes a change in buying habits
Samplers thread their way from orphanage to auction
17 August 2020Estimated at just £30-50, a late 19th century sampler sold via thesaleroom.com for £1850 at Wotton Auction Rooms (18% buyer’s premium) in Gloucestershire. A clue to the appeal is the inscription 'M Mountain, 5 Orphan House, Ashley Down, Bristol, 1879'.
Happy buyer gets the cream of the crop
17 August 2020Nestlé, today a Swiss multinational corporation, was a much smaller company when this rare lithographed showcard was made.
Necklace with Hollywood stardust features in our pick of five auction highlights this week
14 August 2020ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a gold, diamond and pearl necklace owned by the 1930s American film actress Mildred Shay.
Pick of the week: Lucie Rie world record reflects a prime period of masterpiece work
10 August 2020The market for Lucie Rie (1902-95) reached a new high on July 30 when Phillips New York sold this 5½in (14cm) diameter footed bowl for $180,000 (£136,800).
Silver cup ‘rewarded to a loyal Jacobite’ offered jointly by auction house and dealer
10 August 2020Is this the silver cup given by Bonnie Prince Charlie to a trusted aide for his role in returning Jacobite gold to France? Auction house Spink and dealer Martyn Downer believe it is and are looking for a buyer at around £150,000.
Film producer buys Seacole bust for 101 times the estimate
10 August 2020A terracotta sculpture of Mary Seacole (1805-81) sparked fierce competition at Dominic Winter.
An Art Deco figure, a rare cocktail book and a Mod Brit watercolour are among the eight lots to watch at auction this week
10 August 2020With estimates from £250-12,000 here are eight previews of upcoming items this week.
Three pieces of wonderful Worcester highlight the work of a trio of factories
10 August 2020Pictured here are three good examples of Worcester hard-paste porcelain from the early decades of the 19th century – at which time there was a trio of factories operating in the city.
Beat that: what a festival line-up
10 August 2020Although a smaller affair than the much better-known Isle of Wight festival of the same year, the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music, held on June 27-28, 1970, at the Shepton Mallet showground, boasted perhaps the greatest UK music festival line-up of all time.
Bust of British-Jamaican Crimean War heroine Mary Seacole sells for £101,000 at auction and heads to Nightingale Museum
04 August 2020A terracotta sculpture of Mary Seacole (1805-81), who nursed dying and wounded soldiers during the Crimean War, will go on display in the Florence Nightingale Museum after it was sold at auction last week.
The £260,000 joy of Qianlong’s hanging bottles
03 August 2020A pair of imperially inscribed Qianlong (1735-96) mark and period famille rose wall vases set a house record for Asian art at Roseberys.
China’s bountiful produce from a career diplomat
03 August 2020The recent Mallams (22.5% buyer’s premium) live online sale of Chinese, Japanese and Islamic art in Cheltenham included Chinese works on paper and textiles from a relative of Katherine Talati (1922-2015).
Knives out to Danish buyer
03 August 2020Two 19th century ‘prestige’ knives from southern Africa attracted unexpected levels of bidding at Grand Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Folkestone. Estimated at just £40-80 each, they made a combined £9200.
Sixties posters on a high
03 August 2020The artist John Hurford was a key figure in the British psychedelia movement of the late 1960s.
Mid-17th century sleeve vase among items bringing muscular bidding at Salisbury post-lockdown sale
03 August 2020It was during the so-called Transitional period, the era of protracted civil war that marked the transition from Ming to Qing, that the centuries-old system of court-sponsored porcelain manufacture at Jingdezhen collapsed.
Previews: salerooms ready for a bumper August
03 August 2020August is typically a fallow month for art and antiques – a time when holidays are taken in the wake of a busy June and July. However, given the exceptional circumstances, 2020 will be a little different.
Pick of the week: Lucie Rie record as footed bowl takes $180,000 at Phillips
31 July 2020The market for Lucie Rie (1902-95) reached a new high when Phillips New York sold this 5.5in (14cm) diameter footed bowl for $180,000 (£136,800) at its latest design auction.