Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze seals a sensational price
08 July 2024Concept Art Gallery (22% buyer’s premium) in Pittsburgh enjoyed a sensational result on June 8.
Torpedo bottle hits £5000 hammer
08 July 2024Storing a bottle of carbonised mineral water upright often caused the cork to dry out, the gas to escape and the drink to go flat. Persuading a chemist or grocer to store them horizontally proved difficult until the adoption of William Hamilton’s egg-shaped or torpedo bottle.
Archer family provenance points the way to debut sale success
08 July 2024Father and son collection stars as centrepiece of 150-lot inaugural Islamic and Indian art offering
Join the club for tribal art fans
08 July 2024Late last year auctioneer and valuer Mark Huddleston received three images of a chief’s staff or pole club along with an ‘is this worth anything’ enquiry. The vendor had inherited it from his family who (by repute) had done Presbyterian missionary work in Polynesia in the 19th century.
Titian work helps Christie’s record “strongest Old Masters evening in over a decade”
04 July 2024The ‘Longleat’ Titian and the rediscovered primary version of Metsys’ Madonna of the Cherries provided what Christie’s deemed its “strongest Old Masters Evening sales at in over a decade” on July 2.
Largest collection of Louis Vuitton trunks come to auction
02 July 2024Christie's is offering the largest and most extensive private collection of Louis Vuitton trunks ever to come to auction.
‘California’ era Hockney viewed as a £320,000 discovery
01 July 2024Detail of signature and labels on the back also shown.
Cartier brooches come with Courtauld appeal
01 July 2024The Dreweatts (26% buyer’s premium) sale on June 18 included two Cartier brooches commissioned by Sir Stephen Courtauld to designs inspired by Eltham Palace.
‘G’ marks jug as a Gorham production
01 July 2024Although the designer and silversmith are unknown, this silver snake jug forms part of the group of trompe l’oeil objects produced during the 1870s-80s by the Gorham factory in Providence, Rhode Island.
Defaced coins tell their own story at election time
01 July 2024BADA dealer Timothy Millett, a specialist in historical medals and related works of art, says today’s election debates have nothing on an 18th century hustings.
Harry Davis Royal Worcester polar bears on the prowl in the US
01 July 2024Three Royal Worcester vases on offer were all painted by the versatile decorator
Georgian ring flagged up and locket with mourning glory
01 July 2024The Fine Jewellery sale at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury on July 10-11 features many fine antique items such as these two documentary pieces.
Innovative Earth design ready for assembly
01 July 2024Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was one of 20th century USA’s most prominent architects, inventors and designers.
Marx makes a dedication in Das Kapital
01 July 2024The Rare Books sale at Ketterer Kunst (25/20/19% buyer’s premium) in Hamburg on May 27 included this first edition dedication copy of Das Kapital (1867).
Artist who was blown away by hot air balloons
01 July 2024With very few exceptions, the French artist Victor Philippe Lemoine-Benoit (active 1831-50) devoted almost all of his painting career to one subject: hot-air balloons of the type made famous by the Montgolfier brothers in the late 18th century.
Toxicologist with style and substances when it came to life and collecting
01 July 2024Estimated at $15,000-20,000 but hammering for $135,000 (£107,000), the highlight of the Asian works of art sale at Tenmoku (28/25/20% buyer’s premium) was a Chinese white-glazed incised dragon vase.
Two Bulgari Serpenti jewels slither into salerooms
01 July 2024Serpenti jewels, which followed the launch of Bulgari’s signature gold Tubogas bracelets in the late 1940s, were featured in Vogue and other fashion magazines on countless occasions in the Sixties.
Buyers connect with an assortment of Arts & Crafts belt buckles sold recently at auction
01 July 2024A collection of close to 100 Arts & Crafts belt buckles formed just part of the remarkable Anthony Gardner collection sold by Bellmans (25% buyer’s premium) in Wisborough Green, West Sussex, on April 16.