Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Wind it even with gloves
21 December 2020Estimated at £800-1000 at Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium) but sold at £10,000 was this International Watch Company Luftwaffe pilot’s watch, c.1940.
‘From a royal palace’ to family bathroom in Hull house
21 December 2020Bristol auction house sells mirror with an intriguing link to Marie Antoinette
Rowland Ward went Down Under
21 December 2020Australian species pack into a Rowland Ward taxidermy tableau sold for £4000 in Guernsey auction.
Superb British Smith & Beck microscope bought by US collector for £38,000 in Berkshire auction
21 December 2020Surviving records for the London instrument maker Smith & Beck state this superb microscope from the brass and glass era was purchased on September 2, 1853, by Francis Herbert Wenham (1824-1908) – the British engineer who became a key figure in the improvement of the microscope.
At least you can look at a skiing scene
21 December 2020Selection of skiing posters focused on winter sports and travel is on offer at Edinburgh auction house Lyon & Turnbull.
Debut three-day sale graced by an aristocratic selection
21 December 2020In playing condition but with enough problems to be catalogued as ‘sold as seen’, a Nicole Frères brass inlaid music box was one of the unexpected stars of the first three-day sale to be held at Ripon auction house Elstob & Elstob (22% buyer’s premium).
Auction previews: issue 2473
21 December 2020Our weekly selection of previews from UK and Irish salerooms.
Pick of the week: Vincennes Louis XV dish takes £95,000
21 December 2020This 12½in (32cm) Vincennes circular dish or plat d’entremets from the first Louis XV service sold for £95,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Woolley & Wallis.
Mouseman 'critters' chip in with their own creations
21 December 2020Furniture by Robert ‘Mouseman' Thompson and more recent productions from the Kilburn workshop attracted the usual enthusiasm at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium).
The name’s Lazenby – George Lazenby
21 December 2020A gap in many collections of 1960s James Bond posters often involves rarities to promote On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) starring George Lazenby.
Bidder makes a holy order
21 December 2020Model produced for pilgrims and tourists to Jerusalem in mind is a highlight as specialist sales launch
Top-selling Staffordshire figure group stars in our weekly pick of five auction highlights
18 December 2020ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes one of the most ambitious and desirable early 19th century Staffordshire figure groups that made over 30-times estimate in Edinburgh.
A Bizarre discovery for Clarice Cliff historians
14 December 2020The latest Specialist Collectors’ Sale at Cuttlestones in Wolverhampton included a little bit of 20th century ceramics history.
Pick of the week: Jumbo price from Rothberger collection
14 December 2020The Anschluss of 1938 between Nazi Germany and Austria had a devastating effect on Vienna’s Jewish population.
Busts of tragic Roman duo take £106,000
14 December 2020This pair of life-size bronze busts depict the tragic young figures Publius Septimus Geta, son of emperor Septimus Severus, and his sister-in-law Plautilla.
Cotswold School brass fire dogs and an 1880s safety bicycle are among the six lots to watch at auction
14 December 2020With estimates from £100-9000 here are six previews of upcoming items this week.
Auction previews: issue 2472
14 December 2020A selection of nine upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK and Ireland.
A glued together Chinese vase taking a six figure-sum at auction is among our pick of five auction highlights sold this week
11 December 2020ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a heavily repaired Qianlong vase.
Seeing ‘double dragon’ as celadon vase brings €1.2m in Durrow
07 December 2020A celadon vase to a celebrated ‘double-dragon’ form has sold for €1.2m (£1.1m) – a record for Chinese art in Ireland. The 20½in (52cm) vase with a Yongzheng (1722-35) six-character mark was estimated at just €800-1200 at Sheppard’s in Durrow, Co Laois.
Unesco ad campaign on looted art has ‘intention to mislead’
07 December 2020A Unesco campaign aimed at increasing public awareness of looted art is threatening to backfire after it emerged the ‘stories’ told in its adverts were fabricated.