Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Blue is the colour, natural is the game
13 March 2023Myanmar (Burmese) sapphires, renowned for a deep blue colour, are highly prized for reasons of scarcity, quality and history
Top-selling Mouseman clock stars in our pick of five auction highlights
10 March 2023ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a Mouseman clock case carved with elephants that more than doubled its estimate in North Yorkshire.
Poole pottery charger by ‘the quiet virtuoso’ takes 30-times estimate at auction
06 March 2023The Weekly Antiques Sale at Gorringe’s on February 27 included this fine Poole Pottery charger.
Pick of the week: Pint standard measure makes stand-out price
06 March 2023Since the days of Magna Carta, it was thought the best way to avoid a fraudulent measure was to have a verified ‘standard’ against which all others could be judged.
An 18th century bureau cabinet is among five lots to watch
06 March 2023With estimates from £800, here are five previews of items coming up at auction this week.
Silver: No longer the last days of the Raj
06 March 2023A once neglected aspect of the silver market received a showpiece sale in February. ATG reports on the Stewart collection of Anglo-Indian silver from the Raj period.
Ashbee’s decanter revisited by Guild
06 March 2023The quasi-medieval silver and glass ‘claret bottle’ designed by Charles Robert Ashbee for the Guild of Handicraft is one of the great pieces of the Arts & Crafts movement. Ashbee mentions it in his 1909 book Modern English Silver, saying: “The shape is taken from an Elizabethan sack-bottle found when digging the foundations of [my home] the Magpie and Stump in Chelsea.”
Islamic brass bowl 'found to be 14th century'
06 March 2023Estimated at a mere £20-40, this Islamic brass bowl on a later associated stand sold for £11,000 at Taylors (25% buyer’s premium) in Montrose.
Christopher Dresser: ‘I propose three feet formed as to serve as handles’
06 March 2023Dr Christopher Dresser’s conical sugar bowl with three angled leg-like supports is one of the great ‘eureka’ moments in Victorian design.
Tankard has the look of the Irish
06 March 2023Size, quality and sheer Irishness made the tankard shown here the toast of the silver sold at Ipswich auction house Lockdales (19.5% buyer’s premium).
The exotic appeal of coconuts and porcelain
06 March 2023Cups with coconut bowls mounted in silver or silver-gilt were fashionable rarities in western Europe throughout the 16th and early 17th century. At the time the coconut was, like other ‘exotics’ such as nautilus shells or imported pottery and porcelain, held in high esteem.
Windowsill of opportunity provides Chinese vase
06 March 2023Spotted sitting among modern pottery on the windowsill of a small cottage, a meiping porcelain vase with ‘robin’s egg’ blue glaze was the plum piece.
Rare Soviet-era vase stars in our pick of five auction highlights
03 March 2023ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a Lomonosov Porcelain Factory vase from 1929 that made over 35 times estimate in Buckinghamshire.
Florentine panel fit for an emperor takes six-figure sum at Roseberys’ auction
27 February 2023Research reveals £265,000 auction purchase is a celebrated work from Grand Ducal workshops
Not just another brick in the wall: a Babylonian memento emerges at Essex auction
27 February 2023This 13 x 13in (33 x 33cm) brick is from the walls of Babylon and dates from 604-562BC.
Pick of the week: The lighter side of mass destruction as novelty grenade lights up auction
27 February 2023While they may not appear such comfortable bedfellows today, the novel weapons of mass destruction created during the First World War were deemed a perfectly suitable subject for novelty trinkets of the day.
An Edward Burne-Jones stained glass window by Morris & Co is among five lots to watch
27 February 2023With estimates from £300, here are five previews of items coming up at auction this week.
Jaeger LeCoultre: ‘The best watchmaker in the world’ says specialist
27 February 2023“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” comments Fellows’ watch specialist Kes Crockett. “Jaeger LeCoultre is the best watchmaker in the world. Rolex is without question the most well-known manufacturer and Patek Philippe has produced some of the most collectable watches on the market. However, JLC arguably has a richer and more important horological history than both.”
Navigate your way round Breitling Navitimer dial styles
27 February 2023Over the years, the Navitimer has undergone a variety of cosmetic and mechanical changes. Pictured here are three iterations of the watch as it evolved across two decades.