Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Pick of the Week: early photographic instrument bought on BBC's Antiques Road Trip sells for £20,000 at Suffolk auction
22 May 2017A rare early photographic instrument – bought for a song by a member of the BBC’s Antiques Road Trip team – sold for £20,000 at Lacy Scott & Knight (17.5% buyer’s premium) in Bury St Edmunds on May 13.
ABA ‘Olympia’ fair will move to Battersea
22 May 2017Next month’s 'London International Antiquarian Book Fair' at the National Hall, Olympia on June 1-3 will be the last held at the West Kensington venue.
Chinese scroll painting gives Duke’s of Dorchester top regional auction price for Asian art
22 May 2017The top regional Asian art price at auction this season was reached by Duke’s of Dorchester on May 18 when Wu Guanzhong’s (1919-2010) scroll painting White Birches on Mount Chang Bai (Zhangbai) sold at £500,000 (plus buyer's premium).
Scroll down for £500,000 bid
22 May 2017Duke’s of Dorchester posted the top regional Asian art price of the season on May 18 when Wu Guanzhong’s (1919-2010) scroll painting White Birches on Mount Chang Bai (Zhangbai) sold at £500,000 (plus buyer’s premium).
eBay to introduce VAT payments to UK traders
18 May 2017Professional eBay sellers in the UK with turnover of more than £85,000 will be asked to pay VAT on their fees when the online marketplace restructures later this year.
Buyer found for Auctionata’s website and trademark in Germany
17 May 2017Berlin auction house Historia Auktionshaus has acquired the website and trademark of defunct German online firm Auctionata Paddle8 AG.
‘School of Rubens’ panel flies at Swiss Old Masters sale
15 May 2017Estimated at CHF9000-12,000, a panel painted in the manner of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) sold for CHF700,000 (£564,500) at Galartis SA in Crissier, Lausanne on May 5.
Pick of the Week: Artist studio yields a special chess set
15 May 2017“When I first visited, the hairs on the back of my neck shot up. I knew immediately this was a unique capsule – a bohemian delight where a generation of artists had been inspired, had lived, loved and socialised.”
New owner of Dreweatts plans to run auction business day-to-day
15 May 2017The new boss of Dreweatts says he sees “huge potential” for the saleroom as it reverts to owner-management focused on its headquarters in Newbury.
No regrets as Stanley Gibbons breaks up Interiors unit
15 May 2017Back in 2013 and with great fanfare, stamp dealership Stanley Gibbons revealed to the stock market that it had bought a group of art, antiques and collectables specialists.
Stanley Gibbons to ‘pursue remedies’ after Neville conviction
15 May 2017Following the sentencing of former Mallett director Henry Neville for his part in an embezzlement case in April, Stanley Gibbons says it is “pursuing remedies for recouping the losses suffered as a result of these matters”.
Dealer survey: customer focus tops ivory and Brexit as issues
08 May 2017Boosting client confidence and keeping them better informed via new technology head the list of priorities for dealers, according to the LAPADA Members Survey 2017.
Export bar for Commedia dell’arte Meissen figure
08 May 2017A very rare Meissen Böttger stoneware figure has been barred from export from the UK by the government.
Turkey appeals against stargazer sale
08 May 2017Last week’s spectacular $14.5m sale of an ancient ‘stargazer’ idol has been placed in doubt after the Turkish government challenged Christie’s right to sell it.
Antiquarian book trade loses two of its titans after deaths of Frank Herrmann and Roy Davids
08 May 2017The antiquarian book trade has lost two well-known faces with the deaths of Frank Herrmann and Roy Davids.
Pick of the Week: silver centrepiece races to Rijksmuseum
08 May 2017This 176oz Victorian presentation silver centrepiece offered for sale at Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury on April 25 has a strong Dutch connection.
Boston museum settles Nazi dispute
08 May 2017The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has settled a long-running dispute with the estate of a Jewish collector whose house contents was sold by the Graupe Auction House in Berlin in 1937.
Royal family left red-faced as ivory gong sounds wrong note
02 May 2017An ‘unworked’ ivory gong has been removed from exhibition at Sandringham House on the grounds that it was being used for commercial purposes.
Books body rebrands training scheme after employment law shift
02 May 2017The Antiquarian Bookdealers’ Association is to rebrand its young booksellers’ apprenticeship scheme as a training programme following a change in employment law.
Travelling from London to honour Trafalgar hero
02 May 2017A £100 Lloyd’s Patriotic Fund sword, one of 23 awarded to captains who fought at Trafalgar, sold for $235,000 (£173,000), plus 15% buyer’s premium, to one of six phone bidders competing at James D Julia in Fairfield, Maine, on April 11.