Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Estimate-buster: Roman marble sells at three times the top guide
13 January 2025A Roman marble portrait bust of an Antonine prince emerged Sworders’ (25% buyer’s premium) sale in Stansted Mountfitchet.
Grendey style shines through as English walnut chairs bring demand
13 January 2025A pair of English walnut chairs sailed above expectations to bring £17,000 at HRD Auction Rooms (20% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Brading on the Isle of Wight.
Suffragette scarf rarity motors to £7500
13 January 2025A Books, Manuscripts and Historical Photographs sale that ran online at Bonhams Knightsbridge (28/27/21/14.5% buyer’s premium) included a fine group of Suffragette textiles. A particular rarity is the Votes for Women ‘motoring’ scarf.
Early football memorabilia hits the spot
13 January 2025A cornerstone in any early football library is 'Association Football & The Men Who Made It', the history of the modern game in its first half-a-century as written by Alfred Gibson and William Pickford and published by Caxton in 1905.
Extraordinary English bird book tops estimate in Ireland
13 January 2025Over 300 watercolours were produced for each one of the 60 copies of a remarkable ornithological work
Frankenstein comes to the stage
13 January 2025Based on Mary Shelley’s novel published in 1818, the play 'Frankenstein; or the Man and the Monster, A Romantic Melo-Drama, in Two Acts' debuted at the Royal Coburg Theatre in July 1826.
Ban on selling antique scrimshaw to come into effect this month
08 January 2025The UK’s ban on the trade in antique scrimshaw and narwhal tusks will come into force on January 28.
EBay introduces buyer’s fees on all sales
07 January 2025EBay has effectively placed a buyer’s premium on sales from private vendors with the introduction of its Buyer Protection scheme.
Della Robbia sets auction record in Salisbury sale
06 January 2025Some strong bids were achieved in 2024 for the best of the Della Robbia Pottery but none higher than the £14,000 tendered at Woolley & Wallis (plus 26% buyer’s premium) for a large plaque by Cassandra Annie Walker.
London Art Week festival calls it a day after 10 years
06 January 2025After 10 years, London Art Week (LAW) has folded. Citing changes in the UK capital’s art market and financial shortfalls, the board said the December showing of the twice-yearly festival of traditional art will be the last
Pick of the Week: St Patrick’s relic rings out in electrotype
06 January 2025During the 1860s the South Kensington Museum in London (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) campaigned to have electrotypes made of important historic artefacts.
Rare memoir of ‘a man of color’ makes 10 times estimate in Gloucestershire sale
06 January 2025A scarce lifetime biography of the renowned pan-Africanist Paul Cuffee, found plenty of competition at a recent auction at Dominic Winter.
Harry Houdini King of Cards poster had been collected by Yorkshireman spellbound by magic
06 January 2025Erik Weisz (1864-1926) launched his monumental career as the illusionist Harry Houdini in 1891 as a specialist in card tricks.
Moore bronze comes out of Manhattan
06 January 2025A late but textbook bronze by Henry Moore (1898-1986) sold for $75,000 (£59,000) at a 145-lot sale held in New York by Auctions at Showplace (25% buyer’s premium).
Different time and place can deliver a different result in this fickle world of auctions
06 January 2025The auction market can be a fickle beast, as results for the same items offered on separate occasions sometimes show.
Birth tablets underline Lowestoft’s sense of belonging
06 January 2025Porcelain birth tablets with their roots in Suffolk are unique to the factory
Lowestoft Cannon Ball beaker and cover blasts away estimate
06 January 2025A recent weekly sale at Gorringe’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Lewes included an English porcelain rarity: a blue and white Cannon Ball pattern beaker and cover.