Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Draft bill seeks further reform for French auction system
04 March 2019The French auction system could be set for more reform with a draft bill recommending further change due to be launched later this month.
How the art and antiques trade is preparing for Brexit
04 March 2019As we approach a crunch vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, a no-deal result is still a possibility – so too the prospect of an extension to the Article 50 process beyond the March 29 deadline. As the selection of comments and advice from across the trade suggests, the art and antiques sector, like businesses up and down the country, is preparing for every eventuality.
Ticket to ride from one of the UK's oldest railways draws bidders at Scarborough auction
04 March 2019A trio of tickets issued by one of the UK’s first passenger railways sold for £1050 at a recent sale held by David Duggleby (21% buyer’s premium) in Scarborough.
Pick of the week: Quilt from a life of cold comfort sells to Bowes Museum at Tennants' auction
04 March 2019The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle was among the buyers when Tennants sold 13 quilts that belonged to Durham hill farmer Hannah Hauxwell (1926-2018) on February 9.
Six lots to watch at auction this week including an Elizabethan jug, a Constable sketch and a German Expressionist painting
04 March 2019With estimates from £100-$50,000, here are six previews from upcoming sales this week.
Welsh auction house battles back from devastating deluge to achieve ‘a gratifying result’
04 March 2019Precisely four months on from a flood inundating its saleroom, Carmarthen auction house Peter Francis (20% buyer’s premium) enjoyed a literal and metaphorical day in the sunshine on February 13.
Hit and hiss: Triqueti Cleopatra in ivory takes £22,000
04 March 2019Following the fall of Louis-Philippe in the 1848 revolution, the French royal sculptor Henri Joseph Francois, Baron de Triqueti (1804-74) was obliged to cast his net further afield for new patrons.
Rare Flemish Old Master sells for more than $2m at auction in Philadelphia as Freeman's confirm premises move
01 March 2019A total of 18 phones competed for a rare devotional painting offered by a New York institution at Freeman’s in Philadelphia this week.
Renowned collector Nasser Khalili revealed as buyer of ‘lost’ monumental Meiji vase as he reunites it with original set
01 March 2019The Khalili Collections revealed it was the buyer of the ‘lost’ monumental Meiji cloisonné vase that surfaced for sale in California last month.
What lots caught bidders’ eyes in the last week? Six auction highlights including a Suffragette archive sold at Catherine Southon’s latest sale
01 March 2019ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week includes a large scrapbook of ephemera relating to Isabel Seymour, secretary for the Women’s Social Political Union (WSPU), that sold at Catherine Southon’s latest auction.
Major selection of German Expressionist works come to auction in New York
28 February 2019Swann Auction Galleries is to sell a major selection of German Expressionist works from one of the movement’s most important collections next week.
Pick of the week: 18th century pocket watch by Henry Cowper bought for £1 proves a profitable investment
25 February 2019An 18th century pocket watch by Gibraltarian goldsmith Henry Cowper emerged for sale at Rowley’s auction house in Ely. It belonged to a Lincolnshire private collector who bought it over 50 years ago for £1 from a former resident of the Rock.
Huge ‘lost’ Meiji vase goes from seafood restaurant to saleroom
25 February 2019A monumental cloisonné vase – the previously missing element to a triptych made for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago – sold for $110,000 (£85,000) in California.
VOGEL AND OLIVE COLLECTIONS: Two auctions showing the highs and the lows of traditional markets
25 February 2019The sale of two great collections at auction – one in London, the other in New York – has highlighted the ebbs and flows of the market for early British pottery and furniture.
Egyptian figures and Sèvres saucers among the five auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes in the last week
22 February 2019ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week includes a pair of Sèvres cups and saucers and Egyptian faience shabti figures.
Unopened Super Mario Bros video game sets auction record in the US
19 February 2019An unopened copy of the classic video game Super Mario Bros set a new auction record when it recently sold in Dallas, Texas for $80,000 (£62,000). The game is the only known sealed example from a test market release in 1985.
Two Meiji cloisonné masters emerge in the regions
18 February 2019Two fine examples of Meiji period cloisonné brought similar multi-estimate sums at regional auctions earlier this month.
At face value: coins and medals sales recover after 2017 dip
18 February 2019It is a quarter of a century since ATG’s first overview of London’s numismatic auction market. Here we review the heads and the tails of 2018.
Hammer highlights: 11 coins and medals that struck gold in 2018
18 February 2019ATG’s selection of 11 coins and medals lots that were among the highlights sold at UK auctions in 2018.
George II chandelier among the five auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes in the last week
15 February 2019ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week includes a George II chandelier and an architecture model of the Piazza del Duomo in Pisa.