Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
‘A lifelong labour of love’: Hensman tile collection sells at marathon sale in Stourbridge
17 July 2024Most tile collectors tend to specialise in a particular area – a favourite factory, a period, a designer or a chosen subject matter. Roger Hensman was passionate about the subject in all its forms.
Chinese brush washer makes 200 times estimate in Norfolk
16 July 2024A Chinese monochrome brush washer in one of the most prized glazes of the Song dynasty sold for an unexpected £120,000 at auction in Norfolk.
Hey Diddle Diddle – the toy bid over the moon
16 July 2024The range of nursery rhyme and sporting figures made by Phillip Segal Toys are among the most desirable of all hollowcast lead ‘civilians’.
Georgian mahogany furniture features among four lots to watch this week
15 July 2024With estimates from £5000, here are five previews of items coming up at auction this week
Mineral water bottle pops up to break record
15 July 2024A new record for any English bottle was set at specialist saleroom BBR Auctions in Elsecar, South Yorkshire.
Poetry work that awakened the genius of John Keats
15 July 2024Only 29 books from the library of John Keats are recorded - among them a 1679 printing of the collected works of the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser given to him by the artist Joseph Severn (1793-1879).
British silver pieces from renowned Texas collection on offer
15 July 2024New Orleans dealership MS Rau has acquired 222 pieces of English silver from the collection of Texan businessman Billy Joe ‘Red’ McCombs (1927-2023).
Intriguing timeline of a rediscovered Tompion clock
15 July 2024Bonhams’ Fine Clocks sale in London on July 3 included a table clock by Thomas Tompion (1639-1713) that came for sale via an unorthodox route.
Illustration done on a grand scale: fantastic fish watercolours from naturalist Sarah Bowdich Lee
15 July 2024Naturalist produced a fish-focused work featuring nearly 3000 original watercolours across 50 copies
Spoon by the famous Haslewood silversmithing family comes to sale as a rare Norwich survivor
15 July 2024A rare example of Norfolk Charles I silver – a seal-top spoon made by the patriarch of the famous Haslewood silversmithing dynasty – sold for £3600 at a recent sale of Silver and Objects of Vertu at Chiswick Auctions (26% buyer’s premium) in London.
The Japanese prints spoils of a seasoned bidder
15 July 2024Collector never seemed to give up in a battle to win more magnificent ukiyo-e works
Cows can fly: Beswick lot bid to a bullish 30 times estimate in Glasgow
12 July 2024Arthur Gredington, who was appointed chief modeller at the Beswick factory in 1939, found inspiration across the animal kingdom from cats and kittens to butterflies and leaping fish.
Prime-period Zsolnay shines in Munich auction
08 July 2024Selection of items by the Hungarian family firm date from most in-demand era of production
Iznik at the double thanks to two private collections at Olympia Auctions
08 July 2024The sale of Indian and Islamic art at Olympia Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in London on June 5 included two fine private collections of Iznik pottery.
Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze seals a sensational price
08 July 2024Concept Art Gallery (22% buyer’s premium) in Pittsburgh enjoyed a sensational result on June 8.
Torpedo bottle hits £5000 hammer
08 July 2024Storing a bottle of carbonised mineral water upright often caused the cork to dry out, the gas to escape and the drink to go flat. Persuading a chemist or grocer to store them horizontally proved difficult until the adoption of William Hamilton’s egg-shaped or torpedo bottle.
Archer family provenance points the way to debut sale success
08 July 2024Father and son collection stars as centrepiece of 150-lot inaugural Islamic and Indian art offering
Join the club for tribal art fans
08 July 2024Late last year auctioneer and valuer Mark Huddleston received three images of a chief’s staff or pole club along with an ‘is this worth anything’ enquiry. The vendor had inherited it from his family who (by repute) had done Presbyterian missionary work in Polynesia in the 19th century.