Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Group of Diana correspondence underlines high demand for Princess of Wales material
02 September 2024More than a dozen letters and cards from Diana, Princess of Wales, to her family’s former housekeeper were sold at a recent auction at Sworders (25% buyer’s premium).
George Jones generates majolica animal magic
27 August 2024The 14in (35cm) high giraffe and stag centrepiece, designed at the peak of the majolica boom c.1875, is considered the most coveted of all George Jones models.
Lowry and reverend friend go to church together
27 August 2024A joint artwork by LS Lowry and lifelong friend Rev Geoffrey Bennett is among the 1750 lots offered in Mitchells’ three-day Antiques & Fine Art Sale from September 11-13.
Flush with cash? Splash out on a Thomas Crapper sanitary ware collection
27 August 2024A celebrated collection of 19th and early 20th century sanitary wares is to be sold.
Ancient intaglio ring sparks bidding battle and sells at four times estimate
23 August 2024An ancient Greek ring with a provenance that included Prince Stanislas Poniatowski, William Beckford and a Seagram heiress sold for $30,000 (£23,000) at an auction in the US.
Old Master flies to over 60 times estimate after 45 minute bidding battle
22 August 2024Following a contest involving hundreds of bidding increments, an early Netherlandish panel painting of ‘The Adoration of the Magi’ hammered for $332,000 (£256,000) at an auction in upstate New York this month.
Unknown Knox clock emerges and brings fierce bidding
19 August 2024An apparently unique silver and enamel clock designed by Manxman Archibald Knox (1864-1933) for London retailer Liberty & Co surfaced for sale in Scotland last week. Modestly guided at £2000-3000 at McTear’s in Glasgow on August 14, it raced away to bring £28,000.
Opportunity Knox: Previously unknown design for Liberty & Co clock emerges in Glasgow auction
19 August 2024An apparently unique silver and enamel clock designed by Manxman Archibald Knox (1864-1933) for London retailer Liberty & Co surfaced for sale in Scotland last week.
Barrie Lewis biscuit tins up for grabs in Glasgow
19 August 2024On August 28, Glasgow auction house McTear’s is conducting a single-owner, single-subject sale titled The Art of the Biscuit Tin: The Lewis Collection.
How Wedgwood attempted to achieve the ‘apex of perfection’
19 August 2024Vases tell the story of an obsession to recreate a celebrated antiquity
Puss Pushkin immortalised as pottery thanks to Agnete Hoy
19 August 2024Agnete Hoy (1914-2000) brought her own distinctive style to the ailing Doulton Lambeth factory, reviving the traditional decorative methods of earlier artists to make contemporary stonewares from 1952 until the studio closed in 1957.
Creative couple’s collecting tastes filled their home with ‘miximalism’
19 August 2024Highlights from the estate of Max Clendinning and Ralph Adron sold at Sworders
Copy of earliest printed book dedicated to golf doubles estimate in Cornwall
13 August 2024The latest Books & Works on Paper sale at Lays in Penzance included a copy of the first printed book entirely dedicated to golf: Thomas Mathison’s ‘The Goff. An Heroi-Comical Poem. In three Cantos....’
Pick of the Week: Celtic torc talked of as a Co Cork find
12 August 2024This Celtic silver ‘ribbon’ torc, or armlet was made – perhaps in Ireland – sometime in the period between c.500BC-500AD.
Bidders dig medieval jug offered in US sale
05 August 2024An outstanding example of British medieval pottery sold as part of the Stanley F Goldfein collection of ceramics drew fervent bidding at a recent US auction.
Bovine rarities generate bullish prices for Beswick
05 August 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.
Future French king portrayed by female painter ‘Madame Tott’
05 August 2024Born in Constantinople, the daughter of a French nobleman of Hungarian descent, painter Sophie-Ernestine de Tott (1758-1848) spent more than two decades in London as an amateur painter and musician.