Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Gobelins pietra dura panel picked out at six figures at Paris auction
15 January 2024It was in the hope of saving on the huge sums spent procuring works of art from abroad that Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV’s minister of finance, began inviting craftsmen to work at the Gobelins royal manufactory on the outskirts of Paris.
Pick of the week: Troubled treaty port revealed in photo form
15 January 2024Estimated at £3000-5000, an album containing possibly unique views in the Treaty Port of Chinkiang (Zhenjiang) sold for £8200 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at the Flints auction on January 9.
Ruskin pottery collection stars in Dreweatts’ Interiors sale
11 January 2024Pottery that came from the original Ruskin factory collection drew healthy competition at an auction in Newbury.
Chicago auction house Hindman merges with Philadelphia-based Freeman’s
10 January 2024Chicago auction house Hindman has announced a merger with Philadelphia-based Freeman’s and the opening of a saleroom in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Signed photo of The Beatles sells for £13,000 at Auctioneum
10 January 2024A c.1964 publicity photograph signed by all four members of The Beatles was the highlight of a timed online sale in Bristol.
Quentin Bell lampshade takes nearly 40-times estimate
10 January 2024A lampshade painted by Quentin Bell sold for a remarkable £4700 when Adam Partridge dispersed the residual collection of Michael Evans (Dayabandu).
Album with rare photos of China takes £8200 at Flints
10 January 2024Estimated at £3000-5000, an album containing rare - possibly unique - views in the Treaty Port of Chinkiang (Zhenjiang) was the top lot at an auction in Thatcham, Berkshire.
Rare central Asian textile takes £26,000 at Gorringe's
09 January 2024A 19th century silk weaving sold for 144 times the top-estimate in Lewes on January 8.
Third Burges brooch emerges at auction following Antiques Roadshow appearance
08 January 2024The new discovery, unveiled on the BBC show Antiques Roadshow on Christmas Eve, comes for sale in Market Harborough on March 5.
Pick of the week: Raise two pints to Guernsey mug at auction
08 January 2024The vast majority of Georgian-era Channel Islands silver baluster mugs are of a pint or half-pint capacity.
An Art Deco silver cigarette box is among five lots to watch
08 January 2024With estimates from £100, here are five previews of items coming up at auction this week.
Ephemera reveals Freddie Mercury’s band before Queen
08 January 2024Freddie Mercury mania in 2023 was not confined to Sotheby’s in London.
Virginia as the garden of Eden
08 January 2024In 1585 English colonists Thomas Hariot and John White recorded their first impressions of life on Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina.
‘What to the slave is your 4th of July?’
08 January 2024Printing of abolitionist Douglass’ famous speech on a ‘rich inheritance’ not shared takes nearly $70,000
Bidders on the alert to spot a Doulton Sentinel
08 January 2024In the early years of the HN collection in the 1920s several companies commissioned Doulton figures to advertise their products.
Rare 1930s London Underground map stars in our pick of five auction highlights
05 January 2024ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a London tube map from 1935 that emerged at a Bristol auction.
Having a blast: 18th century mortar fires up Essex auction
02 January 2024Sending the old year out with a bang, a George III brass mortar by Jan Verbruggen took £49,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Sworders.
Howzat for a marble sculpture thought to be one of the first depictions of a cricketer
02 January 2024A white marble sculpture of a young man holding what appears to be a cricket ball flew away from its estimate to bring $30,000 (£23,700) at Andrew Jones (25% buyer’s premium).
Pick of the week: Mexican nun’s badge found in Norfolk
02 January 2024The Christmas Gifts sale at TW Gaze in Diss included a rare example of 18th century Catholic colonial jewellery: a Mexican 'escudo de monja' or nun’s badge.