Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Sought-after signatures include Queen star and a Saudi king
22 July 2024A landlord and tenancy agreement signed by Freddie Mercury in 1986 was among the highlights of the Autographs and Memorabilia at Chiswick Auctions (25/12% buyer’s premium).
Olympic Games posters that feature innovative design
22 July 2024The 1968 Mexico Summer Olympics were the first Games to be staged in Latin America.
Posters created as political expression in Communist-run Poland
22 July 2024Roman Cieślewicz (1930-96) and Jan Lenica (1928-2001) were both founders of the Polish School of Posters, the influential and creative artistic movement that sprang up under strict Soviet rule.
Key Mormon work was taken in the spirit intended
22 July 2024First edition of key Mormon work lists Joseph Smith as ‘author and proprietor’ of text not ‘translator’
Tiny Chinese porcelain incense box sells at over 400 times estimate
19 July 2024The latest biannual offering of Chinese, Japanese, and Indian works of art at Tremont Auctions (22% buyer’s premium) was dominated by the multi-estimate performance of a single lot.
‘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.