Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
A watercolour of Iran, a fashionable chair and a patriotic longcase clock – five auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes in the last week
20 September 2019ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week includes a rare watercolour depicting of Isfahan in Iran and an early 20th century tub chair by Howard & Sons. Both were bid to 10-times estimate.
BADA dealers call for EGM over fair sale
16 September 2019Members of the British Antique Dealers’ Association (BADA) have called for an extraordinary general meeting as some dealers reacted with anger and confusion at news that the association’s flagship London fair had been sold.
Shock £1.3m bid for Yongzheng mark vase at Hampshire auction
16 September 2019Estimated at £400-600, a Chinese porcelain vase was bid to £1.3m at an auction in Hampshire last week.
Going for bust with a £96,000 bid in Essex auction
16 September 2019This Italian marble bust of an emperor, catalogued as 17th century after the antique, provided a moment of saleroom drama at Sworders’ Fine Interiors auction in Stansted on September 10.
Pick of the week: Living up to the teapot with a punchline
16 September 2019George du Maurier (1834-96) joined the staff at Punch magazine in 1865, drawing two ink cartoons a week until his eyesight deteriorated in 1891. His most common targets were the affected manners of Victorian society and Britain’s growing middle class in particular.
Fabergé sedan chair sets house record for Cirencester firm
16 September 2019A gold, jade and rock crystal model of a sedan chair by Fabergé was hammered down at £380,000 last week – a new house record for a Gloucestershire auctioneer.
Metropolitan Museum of Art sells off Irving gift at New York Asia Week auction
16 September 2019Sotheby’s opened its September Asia Week auctions in New York on September 10 with the $8.3m sale of Chinese art consigned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Five lots to watch at auction this week including Norman Parkinson photos, Royal Crown Derby porcelain and a 19th century jewelled Latin cross
16 September 2019With estimates from £5-6000, here are five previews of upcoming sales this week.
Big in America: Regional auction houses’ latest moves lead our market review
16 September 2019In the US (the world’s single biggest art market) just like in the UK (the world’s second largest), positives have been taken from the much-documented changing focus of the international auction houses.
Coinex returns for five-star treatment
16 September 2019Coinex, the British Numismatic Trade Association’s annual showpiece fair, returns on September 27-28.
Doulton Lambeth character mug, Elizabethan first edition, Lonitz majolica owls – six auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes in the last week
13 September 2019ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week includes a seemingly unrecorded Doulton Lambeth character mug and a pair of lifelike majolica owls produced at the Hugo Lonitz factory.
Miniature sedan chair by Fabergé takes £380,000 at Cotswold auction
11 September 2019A model of a sedan chair by Fabergé made of gold, jade and rock crystal was sold at an auction in Gloucestershire for £380,000 to a bidder on the phone.
Social media storm stops Maori cloak auction
09 September 2019Sussex auction house Burstow & Hewett has withdrawn a rare Maori cloak after its imminent sale was met by online threats and abuse.
Pick of the week: Museum wraps up sale of coveted coverlet
09 September 2019The National Museums of Scotland has been revealed as the buyer of the Storrar Coverlet – a rare woollen textile withdrawn at the 11th hour from a sale at Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh in August.
Glasses ‘used by Mary Lincoln’ on fateful night come to auction in Essex
09 September 2019Could these be the opera glasses used by Mary Lincoln on the night her husband was assassinated? Colchester auction house Reeman Dansie will offer them for sale on September 24-25 with a guide price of £10,000-20,000.
Five lots to watch at auction this week including a Snow White animation, medieval bowls and a gold armorial ring
09 September 2019With estimates from £200-25,000, here are four previews from upcoming sales this week.
Cartoon for ‘Punch’, novelty smoking set and leather jewellery case – six auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes in the last week
06 September 2019ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week includes a novelty smoking set that fetched 40-times estimate, a cartoon for 'Punch' that took 20-times estimate and a leather jewellery case that made over 30-times estimate.
Bonhams returns to Oxford with furniture sale
02 September 2019Bonhams’ Oxford office is to reopen as a saleroom for two auctions in the autumn season.
Martinware on offer from family patron of the potters
02 September 2019Maidenhead auction house Dawson’s is to sell a collection of Martinware on behalf of descendants of an important patron of the Southall pottery.