Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Elizabeth I gold Sovereign strikes £75,000
07 April 2025Held by the same Dutch family for just over 300 years, a very high-grade Elizabeth I gold Sovereign sold for £75,000 at London coin specialist Sovereign Rarities’ auction on March 13.
Lost Raeburn portrait of Robert Burns emerges
07 April 2025A hitherto lost portrait of Robert Burns by Sir Henry Raeburn has sold for 136-times top estimate at auction in south London. Modestly guided at just £300-500, it hammered for £68,000 at Wimbledon Auctions on March 31. Raeburn (1756-1823) never painted Scotland’s national poet from life.
Murphy’s Falcon Studio produced fine silver
07 April 2025These two silver lots bear the mark of Henry George Murphy (1884-1939), whose Falcon Studio produced some of the finest English silver of the inter-war era.
Designer Elmer wheels into view with a Carlton Ware vase
07 April 2025Only a decade ago Carlton Ware designer Violet Elmer (1907-88) was a relative unknown compared with her contemporaries Clarice Cliff, Susie Cooper and Charlotte Rhead.
Rings gave miners a memento of the Australian gold rush
07 April 2025Among the earliest examples of Australian gold rush jewellery are the simple signet rings sold to miners in the settlement of Ballarat in the 1850s as a memento of the boomtown days.
Isokon and Summers paved the way for Modernism
07 April 2025The London-based design company Isokon, which produced furniture by Wells Coates and Marcel Breuer, and Gerald Summers’ firm Makers of Simple Furniture both explored the radical possibilities of lamination.
Listeners cried out for cheaper radios amid economic turmoil
07 April 2025As the Depression took hold, the clamour for luxury goods in tropical hardwoods, silver and shagreen was replaced by a demand for less expensive consumer goods that combined the modern aesthetic with new materials and industrial production.
Trump tariffs throw art trade into confusion
07 April 2025The ‘Liberation Day’ trade tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump have thrown the global art and antiques trade into disarray.
Slater Shelley creations gave cause to ‘stop and think’
07 April 2025Shelley produced the geometric Vogue and Mode shape tea and coffee wares between 1930-32 - both the designs of Eric Slater (1902-84) who had worked at the factory since the end of the First World War.
Louvre steps in to secure French flatware made for George III
07 April 2025Flatware from a French silver dinner service made for George III was pre-empted by the Louvre Museum at auction in Paris.
Minimalistic Murray made simple but striking forms
07 April 2025New Zealand-born architect Keith Murray (1892-1981) began to make designs for Wedgwood on a commercial basis in 1933, joining a stable of designers that included Daisy Makeig-Jones and John Skeaping.
A special look at the British design side of the Art Deco market a century after the movement began
07 April 2025With this year marking the 100th anninversary of the exhibition that gave Art Deco its name, we report on the British designers whose creations appear on the market
Pick of the Week: Jamaican views trump European
07 April 2025The Fine Sale on March 26 at Cheffins in Cambridge included a group of pictures consigned by a descendant of the artist known as Philip Villamil of Jamaica (1814-78).
English delft features in Slater collection sale
07 April 2025Graham Slater (1927-2024) was fascinated by relics of Stuart and Georgian Britain. His wife Rosemary shared his passions, including his love of mudlarking, exploring the banks of the Thames for fragments washed up by each new tide.
Brontë Parsonage buys Emily’s painting
07 April 2025The Brontë Parsonage was the successful bidder at £32,000 (plus premium) when an original watercolour drawing by Emily Brontë came for sale in London.
Lost portrait of Robert Burns appears at auction
02 April 2025A hitherto lost portrait of Robert Burns by Sir Henry Raeburn has resurfaced at Wimbledon Auctions on March 31.
Valuable collection of 15,000 coins to be auctioned
01 April 2025A spectacular coin collection, buried for over 50 years since the Second World War, is coming to the market
French silver flatware made for George III appears at Christie’s
31 March 2025Flatware from a French silver dinner service made for George III was pre-empted by the Louvre Museum at auction in Paris last month.
Cartier Tutti Frutti pin buyer nails at at £15,000
31 March 2025‘Tutti Frutti’ is the name given to Cartier’s range of brightly coloured jewels in the Indian style from the 1920s-30s.
Fond memories of Gorringe’s gone by - and excitement about the auction house's future
31 March 2025Sussex and Kent saleroom Gorringe’s begins a new chapter this month under full family ownership and new management.