Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Doulton jug does its Nelson duty
28 August 2023The salt-glazed portrait jug of Nelson by Doulton & Watts of Lambeth is considered the first character jug made by Doulton
What’s your poison? Auction lots show bottles evolved for safety reasons
28 August 2023Bottles with fatal content had to be specially designed and coloured to avoid a nasty accident
Desirable Doulton: inkwells and ashtray
28 August 2023The most eagerly contested lot in a recent sale at Potteries Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) was a Doulton stoneware Isobath inkwell.
‘Earliest international rugby cap’ at auction
28 August 2023This faded red-brown velvet cap worn by Alfred St George Hamersley (1848-1929) is believed to be the earliest rugby international cap to come to auction.
Sip soup from a Minton boar’s head
28 August 2023The boar’s head tureen with matching stand is considered the rarest of all the game tureens made by the Minton factory in its colourful majolica range.
Rare Canadiana in Sussex… and another Norman Bobins
28 August 2023Estimated at £300-500, a group of five hand-coloured prints of early 19th century Canada sold for £8500 at Gorringe’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Lewes.
Auctioneer Alan Blakeman: ‘Someone accused me of making these bottle find stories up…’
28 August 2023By their nature, rare bottles can emerge for sale in some unlikely places
Bizarre beast catches the attention
28 August 2023A curious pearlware pottery hybrid animal with the head of a sheep and body of a winged fish proved a popular entry at Toovey’s (24.5% buyer’s premium).
Goss Harvard rarity emerges in a group lot
28 August 2023Forty years ago, the market for crested china was booming – the subject of specialist sales, annual price guides and an international collecting base
Mason’s shows signs of making a collecting comeback
28 August 2023Is Mason’s ironstone going through a collecting Renaissance? Well, perhaps
Cameo glass perfume bottle stars in our selection of five lots to watch in the US
25 August 2023ATG’s selection of items coming up for auction in the US includes a Thomas Webb cameo glass perfume bottle mounted in silver by Elkington.
Royal Navy deck life in year of Trafalgar attracts bids at Florida auction
21 August 2023Sailing way above expectations at Sarasota Estate Auctions in Florida was a diminutive English watercolour depicting the deck of a Royal Navy ship.
Title of the Lord of the Manor of Silverstone is among five lots to watch
21 August 2023With estimates from £2000, here are five previews of items coming up at auction this week.
Not plain to see: highly decorative furniture in focus
21 August 2023Spotlight on a selection of auction lots made using unusual or exotic materials
Robert E Lee button bonanza
21 August 2023Defeated Confederate general gave out uniform items as gifts until the government cracked down
Make an auld acquaintance: Scottish artists in London club together
21 August 2023This handwritten volume bound in maroon calf boards with brass clasp is titled inside The Minute Book of The Auld Lang Syne Sketching Club.
Bidders home in on a top tea caddy
21 August 2023A superior tea caddy proved to be the toast of a Bonhams’ (28/27/21/14.5% buyer’s premium) sale of fine decorative arts in London.
French author’s work proves cream of the crop rotation
21 August 2023'Theatre d’Agriculture et Mesnages des Champs' issued in 1600 is the first major work on French agronomy.
Corot still very popular in the States
21 August 2023This unframed 8 x 11in (20½ x 28cm) oil sketch of the Swiss village of Dardagny is signed for Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875).