Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Bissinger gem carving turns heads in Oxford auction
03 September 2018This agate, enamel and gemset cameo brooch carved with the profile of a classical maiden is signed verso for Georges Bissinger.
Taking a £3400 bite out of Victorian sentimentalism
03 September 2018Victoria, Princess Royal (1840-1901), shed her first baby tooth at the age of seven while the royal family was a guest of the Duke of Abercorn at Ardverikie, by Loch Laggan. Her father Prince Albert tugged the tooth free himself and had it set in gold and enamel as a brooch. The milk tooth formed the blossom of thistle.
Swedish jewellery and portrait miniature in Leominster sale
03 September 2018A demi-parure of mid-18th century Swedish gold jewellery offered by Brightwells (22% buyer’s premium) in Leominster was accompanied by a painted portrait miniature of the original owner wearing the set. The miniature, although uninscribed, was dated 1845.
Snake symbol of eternal love warms auctioneer's heart in south London
03 September 2018Far more fluent in the language of jewellery and stones, the Georgians and Victorians would have immediately made the link between snakes and eternal love. The ouroboros – a serpent swallowing its own tail – was commonly understood as a symbol of eternity.
Sale season opens in west London and Salisbury
03 September 2018Ahead of its season-opening September 18 jewellery sale, Chiswick Auctions invited Jessica Diamond, the suitably-named jewellery editor for 'Condé Nast Traveller', to pick her top 10 lots from the catalogue.
Bidding for a little history
03 September 2018Forthcoming jewellery auction highlights at home and abroad – from the first ‘smart’ watch to the first female mayor in the British Empire.
Ancient and medieval jewels acquired by Gas Board engineer in 1960s shine in Derby auction
03 September 2018A remarkable collection of early rings was offered by Hansons (20% buyer’s premium) in Etwall, Derbyshire, this summer.
Ivory removed from Chippendale commode before Christie's sale
27 August 2018Ivory elements of an important piece of Chippendale furniture were removed prior to its appearance at auction earlier this year, ATG has learned.
Pick of the Week: Trinidad painting sails into Cumbrian auction
20 August 2018A ship painting by the artist regarded as the first great Trinidadian painter, Michel-Jean Cazabon (1813-88), surfaced for sale at Cumbrian auction house PFK earlier this month.
Leo Kaplan sale tests transatlantic ceramics taste
20 August 2018After 49 years of trading in Manhattan, ceramics and glass dealer Leo Kaplan Ltd closed its doors earlier this year.
Sotheby's place £5-7m estimate on pair to ‘Bainbridge vase’
20 August 2018The pair to the famous ‘Bain bridge vase’ – knocked down at £43m in 2010 but later sold for half that sum – has come to market. Sotheby’s will sell the near identical vase, that has a century-long provenance, in Hong Kong in the autumn
Trengoff’s bottle brings seal of approval at Reeman Dansie
20 August 2018The most desirable of all sealed bottles are those that are both named and dated. It is the possibility for geneaological research that fires many collectors.
A £7500 toast to the Dutch East India Company
20 August 2018A valuation day find for Kingham & Orme (20% buyer’s premium), this Dutch-engraved East India Company baluster goblet c.1760, took a multi-estimate £7500 in Evesham.
Ex-Bonhams specialists launch new saleroom in Los Angeles
20 August 2018Downtown Los Angeles has a new mid-market fine art auction house, formed by a group of ex-Bonhams specialists.
Pair to the ‘Bainbridge vase’ emerges at Sotheby’s
14 August 2018The pair to the famous ‘Bainbridge vase’ – knocked down at £43m in 2010 but later sold for half of that sum – is to come to market. Sotheby’s will sell the near identical vase, that has a century-long provenance, in Hong Kong in the autumn.
US and UK trade unite to oppose 25% tariff threat in Trump's trade war
13 August 2018Dealers and auctioneers in the US and UK are mobilising in the hope of removing works of art from the thousands of items caught up in the escalating US-China trade war.
Sotheby’s expands New York space by a third
13 August 2018Renovation project under way in Manhattan will provide ‘powerful marketing advantage for consignors’
Pick of the Week: Crane leaves them wanting Maw
13 August 2018The Shropshire pottery, Maw & Co of Jackfield, is best known for the mass production of earthenware tiles and architectural ceramics.
Shannon collection of jewellery comes toWoolley & Wallis auction
13 August 2018A major collection of late 19th and early 20th century jewellery amassed by a Buckinghamshire collector over half a century will come to auction this autumn.
New premises in Melbourne for Sotheby’s Australia
13 August 2018Sotheby’s Australia has moved to new premises in the ‘Paris End’ of Melbourne.