Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Nantgarw dessert service is a sweet success
13 April 2015A 20-piece Nantgarw dessert service has sold for £20,000 at Campbells of Worthing. It was consigned on behalf of a titled lady.
Victorian novelty silver salts hop to £18,000
10 April 2015This 5in (12cm) high pair of Victorian salts in the form of kangaroos made by Bond Street silversmiths Hunt & Roskell sold for £18,000 at Catherine Southon’s latest sale at Farleigh Court Golf Club near East Croydon.
The signs of progress for Sheffield dealers
08 April 2015Sheffield’s antiques quarter has been put on the map with new brown signs to illustrate its cultural significance.
Connecticut considers total ivory ban
08 April 2015Antique dealers, collectors, auctioneers and museum representatives gathered in Connecticut last month to oppose a bill seeking a total and uncompromising ban on the sale of ivory.
A marvel in marquetry
02 April 2015This c.1690 marquetry cabinet on stand in the manner of the Anglo-Dutch maker Gerrit Jensen (d.1715) sold for £35,000 at the latest sale at Brightwells of Leominster.
Sotheby’s start their new eBay experiment
26 March 2015Sotheby’s have begun live streaming their sales on eBay’s new auctions platform.
Striking Russian gold in Dorset
25 March 2015Two large 18th century gold medals depicting events from the reign of Catherine the Great sold for spectacular sums at Duke’s latest auction in Dorchester.
An enigmatic £200,000 Chinese sleeper unmasked
23 March 2015Drama came at a recent sale at Taylor’s Auction Rooms in Montrose when a lot of two pieces of Chinese blue and white porcelain sold for £200,000.
Ruskin’s photo archive returns – in better focus
19 March 2015One of the most spectacular regional auction finds of the past decade returns to the limelight this week with the publication of a book documenting the history of a cache of early topographical photographs belonging to the Victorian critic, artist and social reformer John Ruskin (1819-1900).
Philadelphia flagship show shelved
18 March 2015The April staging of the ‘Philadelphia Antiques Show’, one of America’s premier antiques events, has been cancelled. The fair, faced with falling dealer and visitor numbers in recent years, hopes to return in 2016 at a new venue with a broader exhibitor base.
Sweet music makes £120,000
17 March 2015Bath auctioneers Gardiner Houlgate (20% buyer’s premium) set a new house record on March 12 with the sale of a guitar by the celebrated French luthier Jean-Baptiste Voboam (1658-after 1731) for £120,000.
£37,000 clue to another side of Chelsea
10 March 2015A Chelsea porcelain beaker with blue and white botanical decoration caused a sensation at Peter Wilson latest sale in Nantwich. Estimated at £100-200, it sold at £37,000.
Wolsey Angels – my ‘ones that got away’, says dealer
05 March 2015More information has emerged about the colourful recent history of the £5m Wolsey Angels.
Syndicate deal frees Wolsey Angels for sale
18 February 2015The parties caught in a conundrum over proper title to two of the recently rediscovered Wolsey Angels have formed an extraordinary syndicate to resolve the issue.
A £15,000 disturbance in the market force
13 February 2015Nostalgia is an important part of toy collecting, one that encourages otherwise fiscally astute middle-aged men to part with large sums of money for unblemished versions of the toys they had – or wished they had – as children.
Mahogany holds steady as oak declines
04 February 2015The Antique Collectors’ Club’s Annual Furniture Index (AFI) registered its seventh successive fall in 2014. However, only two categories depreciated substantially.
Commodes take £110,000 in Gloucestershire
04 February 2015Exceptional pieces of antique furniture play by quite different rules to the more standard items when it comes to price performance.
Art insurers cover auctions blighted by technical failure
02 February 2015Specialist fine art insurance brokers Anthony Wakefield & Co. are to offer cover for auctions cancelled or abandoned due to technical failure.
Florida auctioneer faces $1.5m and jail over illegal rhino horn
02 February 2015The owner of leading south Florida auction house Elite Decorative Arts has pleaded guilty to wildlife trafficking and agreed to a fine of $1.5m.
Mahogany commode with more than a hint of Chippendale
26 January 2015A fine quality mahogany commode with a blue-chip provenance proved the star lot at Lawrences’ latest furniture auction in Crewkerne.