Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Pick of the Week: Peter Rabbit second printing prized
24 February 2025Turned down by several publishers, Beatrix Potter shouldered the expense of privately printing The Tale of Peter Rabbit with Strangeways Printers in December 1901.
Cartier Courtauld jewels on display at Eltham Palace after £19,000 auction buy
24 February 2025Two Cartier brooches commissioned by Sir Stephen Courtauld for his wife have gone on display at Eltham Palace, eight months after they were sold at auction by Dreweatts in Newbury.
Heroic sea rescue recognised
24 February 2025An atypical entry to the March 4-9 sale at the Harwich antiquities specialist TimeLine is this gold medal struck in Philadelphia following the sinking of American steamship Casper, on December 23, 1928.
Go with the grain for an unusual Victorian pictorial souvenir
24 February 2025A rare visitor to the auction room came in the form of this pocket-sized Victorian sand picture book.
In defence of a British military disaster
24 February 2025Lieutenant General John Burgoyne (1722-92) was put in command of the British forces in Canada in 1777 after outlining the shortcomings of his own commanding officer.
‘It is time to declutter’ declares earl as Holkham Hall contents hit the auction block
24 February 2025Cellars and attics at famous Norfolk estate are cleared out as part of ‘housework’ to allow guided tours
Arts journal page displays pioneering print
24 February 2025Victorian arts journal was first to be illustrated with a photograph to promote Fox Talbot book
Rediscovered early Nazarene painting comes to Paris auction
21 February 2025Paris auction house Tajan is to sell a previously lost and unpublished work by Johann Friedrich Overbeck (1789-1869).
Rare surviving pieces of Newcastle silver emerge at Chiswick Auctions
20 February 2025Two rare pieces of 17th century Newcastle silver come for sale in London on February 26.
Risqué 1790s French gown causes sheer excitement
17 February 2025On February 11, vintage costume specialist Kerry Taylor Auctions sold a private collection of Napoleonic and Regency dress formed over the last two decades by Cristina Barreto and Martin Lancaster.
Buyer bids triple estimate sum to secure Batavian betel box
17 February 2025This Dutch East Indies gold mounted tortoiseshell betel box hammered at £15,000 (plus 24% buyer’s premium) on the opening day of the sale held by Mellors & Kirk in Nottingham on February 11-12.
Lot that really caught the eye
17 February 2025The fashion for eye miniatures – or lover’s eyes – is said to have begun with a politically and socially unacceptable royal affair.
Magic Mini and a magnificent ark star in US salerooms
17 February 2025Candy and Andy were just like any other children in the late 1960s, except that they lived with two pandas called Mr and Mrs Bearanda and owned a Mini called Stripey.
Royal Doulton workshop design books fly to 14 times estimate
17 February 2025Estimated at £200-300 but sold for £4200 at Charterhouse (25% buyer’s premium) in Sherborne, Dorset, were two design books from the Royal Doulton workshop floor.
Bidders chase Royal Doulton figures with EW Light signature
17 February 2025Teacher turned designer was part of the Royal Doulton team creating some of the first HN figures
Shorter Triton version rises from the sea
17 February 2025The original 1934 design for 'Le Genie de la Mer' by Carlo Sarrabezolles (1888-1971) was meant for the ocean liner Normandie and is currently on display outside the CMA CGM Tower in Marseille.
Welby wonders: Far-reaching collection of artist-decorated European porcelain dispersed in single-owner sale
17 February 2025Sir Bruno Welby (b.1928), a member of both the English Ceramic Circle and the French Porcelain Society, has bought European porcelain since the 1950s.
Spotlight on early English decorators Hamett O’Neale and Duvivier
17 February 2025The Sir Bruno Welby collection (see main story in this edition) sold at Woolley & Wallis shone the spotlight on two familiar names from the early English porcelain literature: Jefferyes Hamett O’Neale (1719/20-97) and Fidelle Duvivier (1740-after 1796).