Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Jewellery auction previews
03 July 2017A selection of stand-out jewellery lots from regional auctions.
Final flowering for Garden Museum
03 July 2017The collection of Tiffany jewels offered by Christie’s New York (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on June 20 was the finest at auction in recent memory.
A cluster of Nossiter results
03 July 2017Bonhams’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale in Knightsbridge on June 14 included a group of pieces attributed to the British Arts & Crafts jeweller and designer Dorrie Nossiter (1893-1977).
Telling tales from Farouk to Thatcher
03 July 2017Stealing all the headlines at Sotheby’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) Fine Jewels sale in London on June 7 was the £540,000, 26ct ’tenner’ diamond, bought by the vendor at a boot fair in the 1980s. However, among the 370 lots were items with more illustrious provenances.
Get ahead in the East with a tiara
03 July 2017Tiaras have enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years, particularly in Russia and the Baltic States where jeans and a diamond fascinator are de rigueur at informal high-society events.
Giuliano and the Indian influence
03 July 2017Indian design was a prolific influence in Carlo Giuliano’s style. Already seen at the 1851 Great Exhibition, interest in technicolour jewellery from the sub-continent rose to new levels when Victoria became Empress of India in 1876.
Love detected in the East Riding
03 July 2017This medieval gold posy ring with a Lombardic inscription is a type that was common in England and France in the 13th and early 14th centuries. After around 1350, Gothic script became popular.
Europe ‘not a haven’ for ancient loot says global trade body
26 June 2017The global trade body for antiquities dealers has insisted that Europe does not provide a ready market for looted artefacts from conflict zones.
Pick of the Week: Bidders go ape for rare Sèvres teapot
26 June 2017A Sèvres teapot from the Louis-Philippe era sold for an unexpected £13,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) at Kingham & Orme in Broadway, Worcestershire, on June 17.
Massive faience charger leads Burmantofts bonanza
26 June 2017A massive Burmantofts faience charger sold for £13,000 (plus 22% buyer’s premium) at Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury on June 22 – the highlight of a remarkable collection of more than 700 pieces by the Leeds factory.
Obituary: Samuel ‘Beau’ M. Freeman II (1936-2017)
26 June 2017Samuel Miller Freeman II – known to all as Beau – was a fixture in the Philadelphia auction scene for just shy of six decades.
Large Burmantofts charger sells at £13,000 to match auction record for Leeds factory
22 June 2017A massive Burmantofts faience charger has sold for £13,000 at Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury – the highlight of a remarkable collection of more than 700 pieces by the Leeds factory.
Royal Mint takes share in coin dealers
19 June 2017As part of a five-year plan to grow its interest in the coin collecting market, The Royal Mint has taken a share in Mayfair numismatic dealership Sovereign Rarities.
The final mile of packing and shipping
19 June 2017Delivery of art and antiques is highly competitive as suppliers vie to provide customers with a better, faster experience. But there are still complexities to iron out, not least expectations on cost.
Pick of the Week: Charles Rennie Mackintosh ‘white bedroom’ chair bid to $470,000
12 June 2017A very rare ebonised sycamore and canvas side chair designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Kate Cranston’s home sold for $470,000 (£362,000) at Sotheby’s New York last week.
Arlington Conservation stock sale reflects contraction in market
12 June 2017Surrey auctioneers Ewbank’s is to sell the stock-in-trade of furniture restorers Arlington Conservation on June 23.
CSK closure: ‘For the long-term health of the business it is right’
05 June 2017Christie’s South Kensington, a popular and influential fixture on the London auction scene for over 40 years, will hold its final sale next month.
Victorian silver snuffbox with Montefiore crest takes £40,000 at Blythe Road auction
05 June 2017A Victorian silver snuff box engraved with a view of East Cliff Lodge in Ramsgate sold for a mighty £40,000 (plus 22% buyer‘s premium) at Matthew Barton‘s sale held at 25 Blythe Road, London, on May 24.
The £13m Asian art boon for London as Silk Road begins to run dry
05 June 2017“It was one of those eureka moments,” said Rosemary Scott, Chinese ceramics specialist at Christie’s. “My colleague Jeremy Morgan was on a perfectly normal valuation visit when he walked into the drawing room and there, on the mantelpiece, he saw these vases. He couldn’t believe his eyes.”