Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Interior motives: how old school weekly sales are giving way to new auction formats
01 April 2019Weekly clearance sales are increasingly being replaced by newly branded formats as auction houses are responding to fresh consumer trends.
A reminder the full house contents sale is alive and well
01 April 2019Three bona fide country house clearances are on the horizon – one conducted by Duke’s of Dorchester following ‘on the premises’ viewing and two others offered in quick succession by Dreweatts at Donnington Priory.
A George III mahogany clock, a Pablo Picasso dish and a Russian silver figure - six auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes in the last week
29 March 2019ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week.
Remarkable collection of ancient engraved gems come to auction at Christie’s New York
29 March 2019Christie’s is to sell a remarkable collection of engraved gems from the Classical world, formerly in the Sangiorgi collection, in New York.
March mega-sleepers: Nine items that sold for more than 100-times estimate at auction
27 March 2019The month of March produced an unusually large number of sleepers across the UK’s regional salerooms – from an Old Master drawing to a rare Marklin tinplate train.
Coke is it: Early prototype Coca-Cola bottle comes to auction with $100,000 guide price
26 March 2019A recently-discovered early Coca-Cola bottle, a 1915 prototype of the design still used today, will be offered for sale next month with an auction estimate of $100,000-$150,000.
Lord Braybrooke’s model locomotive collection steams into auction
26 March 2019Nine scratch-built scale model steam locomotives from the collection of the late Lord Braybrooke, pioneer of large-scale garden railways, sold for more than £200,000 in Berkshire.
Antiques Roadshow garage sale find brings $1.7m during New York Asia Week auctions
25 March 2019A 9th century gilt bronze figure bought at a Missouri garage sale and later appraised on PBS’ Antiques Roadshow was the toast of the New York Asia Week auctions.
Pick of the week: The time to take a stand with vintage Rolex accessories
25 March 2019Surprise bid highlights demand for vintage Rolex accessories at auction.
LMS railway posters rescued from cellar prove ‘flavour of the month’ at Mallams
25 March 2019A group of railway posters, found in a cellar and almost discarded by their owner, sold for more than £5000 at the House and Garden sale at Mallams in Abingdon.
A £6800 judgment for Simeon Solomon drawing at Essex auction
25 March 2019London Judaica dealer Joseph Landau travelled to Sworders in Stansted Moutfitchet on March 13 with the sole purpose of buying a pencil, charcoal and white chalk drawing Carrying the Torah by Simeon Solomon (1840-1905).
Drinking the profits – a brief history of wine antiques
25 March 2019Pouring wine at the table from a standardised machine-made bottle is a relatively new custom. For centuries before the Victorian era, wine was typically bought and stored in the barrel and decanted into bottles or jugs only before use at the table.
The right time to pull the cork
25 March 2019Wiltshire auction house Henry Aldridge & Son is offering, across a series of sales, a collection of more than 450 corkscrews. The vendor, buying for more than 40 years and particularly acquisitive at the peak of the market in the 1990s, owned some great rarities with several early models already topping five figures.
What lots caught bidders’ eyes in the last week? Six auction highlights including a World Cup medal, George Formby’s ukulele, and a Lucie Rie bowl
22 March 2019ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week across the UK.
Online record for Sotheby’s as economist Friedrich von Hayek’s Nobel prize medal brings major bidding
22 March 2019A new record for any item sold in an online-only sale at Sotheby’s was set when the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Science awarded to Friedrich von Hayek (1899-1982) sold for £950,000.
Motoring memorabilia originally owned by Bentley’s founder to be exhibited at Bonhams in London
21 March 2019For just one day in April, Bonhams New Bond Street saleroom will host an exhibition in celebration of the centenary of the legendary car marque Bentley.
Pick of the week: Rarities point to the mystery Compass factory
18 March 2019Three models from an English porcelain factory about which almost nothing is known surfaced for sale in East Sussex last week.
The £14,000 folk art shop display certainly worth a butcher’s
18 March 2019The exact function of carved and painted wood butcher’s shop dioramas is uncertain.
Ice pick carried by geologist on Captain Scott's South Pole expedition sells for £22,000 at Cambridge auction
18 March 2019The ice pick carried by geologist Frank Debenham (1883-1965) during the doomed Terra Nova British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-13 sold for £22,000 (plus buyer’s premium) at Cheffins earlier this month. The estimate was just £200-400.
Viscountess Astor’s aquamarine jewel sparkles in Newbury
18 March 2019An impressive Edwardian aquamarine and diamond brooch with a provenance to the first lady to take her seat as an MP in the UK sold for £54,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at auction this month.