Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
18th century dentist's delftware ointment jar gives added bite to auction
13 July 2020This rare 2in (5cm) English delftware ointment pot, c.1775, carries the inscription in manganese 'The Queen’s Dentifrice'.
Auction previews: issue 2451
13 July 2020Sixteen upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.
Chinese elephants with Rothschild provenance star in our pick of five auction highlights this week
10 July 2020ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a rare pair of 19th century lapiz lazuli models of elephants that came from the home of Lionel and Edmund de Rothschild and made over double estimate in Salisbury.
Pick of the week: New peak for Wainwright as sketch of the fells climbs to £10,200 record
06 July 2020A record price of £10,200 was paid last month for a pen and ink sketch by fell-walking legend Alfred Wainwright at 1818 Auctioneers of Milnthorpe, Cumbria.
A copy of the first published comic and an Arts & Crafts crucifix are among six lots to watch at auction this week
06 July 2020With estimates from £400-8000 here are six previews of upcoming items this week.
Squirrels taxidermy diorama is a big deal
06 July 2020The 252-lot Natural History and Taxidermy auction at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) on June 19 included this Victorian anthropomorphic diorama of card-playing, cigar-smoking red squirrels, c.1870-1900.
Box ‘made for the Siamese market’ makes 17-times estimate Dreweatts
06 July 2020A highpoint of the Dreweatts (25% buyer’s premium) ‘lockdown’ sale of Asian art in Newbury was provided by this 19th century Chinese export silver gilt and enamelled box.
De Morgan sets house record in Fife
06 July 2020This 12½in (31cm) ruby lustre jar and cover, a textbook piece from William De Morgan’s Sands End Pottery (1888-1907), was the star at a recent sale at Bowler & Binnie (16% buyer’s premium) in Dunfermline.
British craftsman Peter Collingwood weaves his magic at auction
06 July 2020Topping the Mid-Century Design sale held by Sworders (25% buyer’s premium) in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, was a trademark work by Peter Collingwood (1922-2008) – the British craftsman at the forefront of weaving for 50 years.
Silver: Examples from across the world lead to choice selection at auctions
06 July 2020Silver made in both Britain and the Continent provides a wide variety for buyers via auctions and dealers across the globe. Here ATG picks out a selection of 13 recent sales and upcoming lots.
Watch sounds the alarm for the first time
06 July 2020Not to be confused with the modern reissues, the original Vulcain Cricket was marketed in 1947 as the world’s first wristwatch with an alarm.
Auction previews: issue 2450
06 July 2020Sixteen upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.
Portobello dealer’s collection of kitchenalia and more proves a sell-out at Newbury auction
06 July 2020Joan Dunk (1930-2019) was a Portobello Road market stalwart. Her stall, for decades an outside pitch on the corner of Westbourne Grove, was affectionately known as IDA – the trade name of an early 20th century German kitchen equipment manufacturer which she adapted to mean ‘Interesting Domestic Appliances’.
Sought-after Airfix set stars in our pick of five auction highlights this week
03 July 2020ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes an Airfix scale model Attack Force battle set complete in its original packaging that made over 30-times estimate in Suffolk.
‘Yongzheng’ lotus mouth vase passes £1m at Skinner
29 June 2020The latest sale of Asian Works of Art held online by Skinner of Marlborough, Massachusetts included this blue and white bottle vase with a Yongzheng (1722-36) mark.
Art Nouveau jewellery shines across the globe
29 June 2020The medium of jewellery provided perhaps the greatest canvas for the new international style that flowed through the decorative arts around the turn of the 20th century.
A new benchmark for Vietnamese ceramics
29 June 2020Christie’s claimed a new record for Vietnamese ceramics when a large 15th century blue and white storage jar sold for a surprise €380,000 (£339,300) as part of the Art d'Asie sale in Paris.
Jewellery: Designs evoking the new expression of the early 20th century
29 June 2020Jewellery provided one of the great expressions of the Art Nouveau style. Here ATG reports on four exceptional items made in four different countries in the early years of the 20th century
Sarah Bernhardt: jewels from the first global celebrity, quand même
29 June 2020Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) – the first actress to achieve worldwide celebrity – continues to command attention as her work on stage and screen fades into the distant past.
A Constable sketch, a Hornby locomotive and The Wind in the Willows first-edition are among the five lots to watch at auction this week
29 June 2020With estimates from £700-20,000 here are five previews of upcoming items this week.