Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
English candlesticks created with Egyptian style
13 March 2023This pair of English Regency bronze candlesticks in Egyptian revival taste sold for £1800 at Laidlaw (20% buyer’s premium).
Best of West and East covered by one carpet
13 March 2023When Ziegler and Company of Manchester established a carpet factory in Sultanabad in 1883, it did so with a clear idea of its customer base.
Whimsical tale of VCA’s missing Precious Puppy
13 March 2023Here is a heart-warming story for all admirers of retro canine-themed jewels. Yes. The lost puppy has been found.
It must be love for a buyer who bid £2900 on a Troika plaque
13 March 2023The first of the Troika ‘Love’ plaques was made by Benny Sirota as a present for his mother.
The might of the round table at Fellows
13 March 2023Topping Fellows’ sale of Antiques, Fine Art & Collectables, a timed online event closing on March 3, was this impressive 19th century Italian giltwood and micromosaic centre table.
Signet rings receive seal of approval
13 March 2023For many years signet rings served a very practical as well as a decorative and symbolic function.
Falize’s sense of gothic timing
13 March 2023This 7½in (19cm) high carriage clock in a fanciful gothic revival taste is stamped to the base AF, probably for the renowned Parisian jeweller and goldsmith Alexis Falize (1811-98).
Blue is the colour, natural is the game
13 March 2023Myanmar (Burmese) sapphires, renowned for a deep blue colour, are highly prized for reasons of scarcity, quality and history
Top-selling Mouseman clock stars in our pick of five auction highlights
10 March 2023ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a Mouseman clock case carved with elephants that more than doubled its estimate in North Yorkshire.
Poole pottery charger by ‘the quiet virtuoso’ takes 30-times estimate at auction
06 March 2023The Weekly Antiques Sale at Gorringe’s on February 27 included this fine Poole Pottery charger.
Pick of the week: Pint standard measure makes stand-out price
06 March 2023Since the days of Magna Carta, it was thought the best way to avoid a fraudulent measure was to have a verified ‘standard’ against which all others could be judged.
An 18th century bureau cabinet is among five lots to watch
06 March 2023With estimates from £800, here are five previews of items coming up at auction this week.
Silver: No longer the last days of the Raj
06 March 2023A once neglected aspect of the silver market received a showpiece sale in February. ATG reports on the Stewart collection of Anglo-Indian silver from the Raj period.
Ashbee’s decanter revisited by Guild
06 March 2023The quasi-medieval silver and glass ‘claret bottle’ designed by Charles Robert Ashbee for the Guild of Handicraft is one of the great pieces of the Arts & Crafts movement. Ashbee mentions it in his 1909 book Modern English Silver, saying: “The shape is taken from an Elizabethan sack-bottle found when digging the foundations of [my home] the Magpie and Stump in Chelsea.”
Islamic brass bowl 'found to be 14th century'
06 March 2023Estimated at a mere £20-40, this Islamic brass bowl on a later associated stand sold for £11,000 at Taylors (25% buyer’s premium) in Montrose.
Christopher Dresser: ‘I propose three feet formed as to serve as handles’
06 March 2023Dr Christopher Dresser’s conical sugar bowl with three angled leg-like supports is one of the great ‘eureka’ moments in Victorian design.
Tankard has the look of the Irish
06 March 2023Size, quality and sheer Irishness made the tankard shown here the toast of the silver sold at Ipswich auction house Lockdales (19.5% buyer’s premium).
The exotic appeal of coconuts and porcelain
06 March 2023Cups with coconut bowls mounted in silver or silver-gilt were fashionable rarities in western Europe throughout the 16th and early 17th century. At the time the coconut was, like other ‘exotics’ such as nautilus shells or imported pottery and porcelain, held in high esteem.
Windowsill of opportunity provides Chinese vase
06 March 2023Spotted sitting among modern pottery on the windowsill of a small cottage, a meiping porcelain vase with ‘robin’s egg’ blue glaze was the plum piece.