Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Spink sells Coins of England reference book to Sovereign Rarities
22 April 2024The industry-standard reference book for British coins has been sold by Spink to fellow London numismatic dealership and auction house Sovereign Rarities.
Collectors respond to call for earliest phone bidding at Massachusetts auction
22 April 2024Relics from the dawn of the electro-magnetic telephone created a sensation when they appeared for sale in Massachusetts.
Blancpain watch bought in 1957 surfaces at auction
22 April 2024The Fifty Fathoms diving watch was born in the 1950s from the encounter between the Swiss firm Blancpain and the French Ministry of Defence.
Kidder the cookery school pioneer comes up at auction
22 April 2024Sought-after book of recipes including a puff-pastry print first was intended for the use of his pupils
Wonders produced worldwide in a west London silver sale focus
22 April 2024London auction shows the collecting appeal and opportunities for silver produced beyond Europe
Merkle's Meissen figures show strength in Paris
18 April 2024The first part of one of the finest assemblages of 18th century Meissen porcelain figures still in private hands generated a premium-inclusive €948,450 at Bonhams in Paris on April 17.
Artist Prunella Clough’s gifts to dealer Christopher Bangs emerge at Essex auction
17 April 2024A cache of original works by Prunella Clough (1919-99) came for sale at Sworders’ latest Modern and Contemporary Art sale.
Rediscovered Benjamin Franklin portrait emerges in Italy and comes to US auction
15 April 2024A previously unrecorded portrait of Benjamin Franklin comes for sale at Freeman’s Hindman with a guide of $50,000-80,000 this month.
Pick of the week: Discoverer of Franklin’s fate
15 April 2024The commercial fortunes of a 19th century map of the Arctic offered at Cheffins (25% buyer’s premium) this month were boosted greatly by its annotations.
A breakfront cabinet by George Bullock is among seven lots to watch
15 April 2024With estimates from £200, here are seven previews of items coming up at auction this week.
Rare British camera emerges from Viennese source
15 April 2024Austin Farahar, head of cameras and photography at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium), was recently contacted by a budding documentary photographer in Vienna who had received a collection of old cameras from his in-laws.
Copy of Toulouse-Lautrec's first poster emerges in US sale
15 April 2024'Moulin Rouge, La Goulue' was Henri Toulouse-Lautrec’s first commissioned poster and it launched his poster-making career overnight.
Highest price paid for not doing your duty
15 April 2024Dating from March 1-October 13, 1748, a journal for sale at London maritime specialist Charles Miller’s auction on April 23 was written by Admiral John Byng (1704-57) during the final negotiations of the failed Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and some eight years before his infamous actions off the coast of Minorca.
Science & technology: Collectors who know their type
15 April 2024Knowledgeable bidders generated high prices for early typewriters at German technology specialist’s latest sale
Giant Garrard wine cistern adds plenty of weight to Heritage Auctions' sale
15 April 2024Almost 3ft (90cm) wide and weighing a massive 710oz, this Edwardian wine cistern is marked for Garrard & Co, London, 1903.
Microscopes under bidder focus in UK and US auctions
15 April 2024This aristocratic survivor from the ‘brass and glass’ era of microscope making, a version of Powell & Lealand’s famous ‘No 1’ compound monocular and binocular microscope, is dated 1898.
Steaming ahead but in safety thanks to lanterns
15 April 2024Although easily mistaken for railway or ship lamps, this pair of brass and iron lanterns were made for a road locomotive: the steam-driven traction engines that were some of the first powered vehicles to travel on Britain’s highways.
More from the Bobins collection: Danube danger overcome by the intrepid Ludwig
15 April 2024Leading Forum’s (30/24/14.4% buyer’s premium inc VAT) March 27 auction of more books from the remarkable library of Norman Bobins was a complete copy of a German work following the course of the Danube from its source to the Black Sea.