Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
‘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21 February 2025Paris auction house Tajan is to sell a previously lost and unpublished work by Johann Friedrich Overbeck (1789-1869).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).
Provocative ‘Merveilleuse’ gown from the 1790s flies to 20 times estimate at Kerry Taylor Auctions
14 February 2025Vintage costume specialist Kerry Taylor has sold the private collection of Napoleonic and Regency dress formed over the last two decades by Cristina Barreto and Martin Lancaster.
Lord of the Rings full signed set makes six figures at Forum
10 February 2025Forum Auctions has set a record for a copy of JRR Tolkien’s 'The Lord of the Rings'.
Pick of the Week: On the scent of Chanel No 5 classic bottle
10 February 2025Chanel No 5 was perfected in the late summer and autumn of 1920 by the French-Russian chemist and perfumer Ernest Beaux.
Zilkha collection brings good and bad news for early English silver market
10 February 2025The collection of Selim Zilkha (1927-2022), founder of Mothercare, represented a stern test of the market for early English silver.
Coins and medals: Roma collapse hits market totals
10 February 2025The closure of Roma Numismatics and competition from overseas meant total sales across London coins and medals auctions fell to £51.7m in 2024.