Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Pick of the Week: Browning family archive sells in Somerset
14 September 2020A cache of material related to the influential Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61) and her family sold for close to £50,000 at Lawrences of Crewkerne.
An early television transmitter and a Mouseman cupboard are among the six lots to watch at auction this week
14 September 2020With estimates from £200-15,000 here are six previews of upcoming items this week.
Vintage Seiko watches make waves at auction
14 September 2020The Japanese battery-powered watches once viewed as cheap and lacking soul are now being taken seriously at auction despite collector snobbery
Omega Speedmaster with ‘TV’ dial sells at Richard Winterton
14 September 2020Perhaps the quirkiest of all of the many Omega Speedmaster models is this one with a cushion shape or ‘TV’ dial.
Auction previews: issue 2459
14 September 2020Thirteen upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.
On a mission to impress: collection of Omega Speedmaster chronographs emerges in Portugal
14 September 2020To mark the 40th anniversary of the Speedmaster Professional as a space exploration tool in 1997, Omega created the Missions Collection.
‘Pogue’ Seiko craved by collectors
14 September 2020The Seiko Ref 6139 or Pogue is a watch that many ‘Swiss’ collectors covet because of its good looks and space heritage.
Omega 'Ed White' Speedmaster takes £8500 in Buckinghamshire sale
14 September 2020The highlight of NASA’s 1965 Gemini IV mission was the first space walk by an American. As astronaut Ed White floated free outside the spacecraft for approximately 20 minutes in June 3 he wore an Omega Speedmaster Ref 105.003 strapped by Velcro to the outside of the left-side sleeve of his G4C space suit.
15 watches and jewellery items coming up at auction including an Art Deco butterfly brooch
14 September 2020With so many auction houses selling jewellery throughout late July and August this year, there was scarcely a summer break. However, the volume of material offered for sale will increase markedly this month. Pictured here is a brief selection of pieces available to bid for at home and abroad.
Royal clockmaker’s musical table clock stars in our pick of five auction highlights sold this week
11 September 2020ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes an 18th century musical table clock by the London royal clockmaker John Ellicott (1706-72) that drew strong demand at an auction in the Netherlands.
US tariffs on Chinese art take effect as New York auction series begins
07 September 2020This month’s Asian art series in New York could be the last sales to avoid the new trade tariffs that have been imposed by the Trump administration.
Piamontini’s ‘ravishingly detailed’ clay model discovered at Fife estate and triples estimate at Lyon & Turnbull
07 September 2020This terracotta group of Bacchus and Ariadne was once associated with the Florentine late Baroque sculptor Giambattista Foggini (1652-1725) but is now thought to be his contemporary Giuseppe Piamontini (1664-1742).
Pick of the week: Bronze reflecting blossoming of Buddhism in China makes at £50,000 at TimeLine
07 September 2020The Northern Wei dynasty (386-534 AD), founded by the nomadic Tuoba clan, was the most long-lived and most powerful of the northern dynasties prior to the reunification of China under the Sui. Most importantly for Chinese art history, the ruling royal family were converts to Buddhism.
Art Deco planters, Fabergé objects and a Steiff teddy bear are among the six lots to watch at auction this week
07 September 2020With estimates from £800-15,000 here are six previews of upcoming items this week including two pairs of Art Deco planters from a famous London building and a rare Steiff teddy bear.
Kiwi taxidermy quartet draw major interest at Windsor Auctions
07 September 2020A Victorian taxidermy case of four New Zealand birds by Rowland Ward of Piccadilly sold for an unexpected £7000 (estimate £100-200) at Windsor Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) in Berkshire.
Why the best was yet to come for Asian art
07 September 2020South London auction house decided to press pause but was rewarded with a bumper result
Archangel plaque at Swan Fine Art could be much older than catalogued
07 September 2020It was catalogued as 18th or 19th century but this 2½ x 3½in (6 x 8.5cm) ivory plaque was more probably a product of medieval Christendom.
New York's Asian art auction series aims to keep the show on the road in wake of Covid and tariffs
07 September 2020Although hampered by Covid-19 and the ongoing issues surrounding imports of Chinese works of art, the September series of Asian art auctions in New York appears – like most sales in the US – to be remarkably unscathed by recent geopolitical events.
Chinese vases display varied styles of decoration
07 September 2020Two very different Chinese vases took the limelight at a recent sale Fieldings (24% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Stourbridge.
Staffordshire history lesson comes via a postcard
07 September 2020The Staffordshire Figure Association is hoping to drum up some interest with the creation of this postcard available to buyers and sellers of Staffordshire figures.