Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell

Pick of the week: Austere Moorcroft catches the eye
27 March 2023The series of relatively austere wares made by Moorcroft in the 1930s are, today at least, not the factory’s most commercial designs.

Lucie Rie bowl given to her cleaning lady is among five lots to watch this week
27 March 2023With estimates from £300, here are five previews of items coming up at auction.

Hands of history relating to US hero Lafayette
27 March 2023The visit of ‘Revolutionary Wars’ hero Gilbert du Motler, the Marquis of Lafayette, to the US in 1824 spawned a large number of commemoratives.

Surrealist carpet designed comes with heart and sole
27 March 2023Footprint design telling a story of lost love stars among a selection of ‘out of the ordinary’ collectables lots sold at auction

Shipwreck Lutine surfaces again as tabletop souvenir
27 March 2023La Lutine, launched by the French in 1779 and later requisitioned into the Royal Navy, is today best known for its sinking.

Middlesbrough FC jerseys is ‘possibly the oldest Football League shirt extant’
27 March 2023This jersey dates from between 1886 and 1890, making it not just the oldest Middlesbrough FC shirt but possibly the oldest Football League shirt extant.

On a mission to make porcelain
27 March 2023Items sold at auction show how Jesuit expertise helped China to gain technological skill for enamelling

Moorcroft exhibition vase stars in our pick of five auction highlights
24 March 2023ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a Moorcroft vase made for a 1937 exhibition that made over six times estimate in the West Midlands.

Roma owner arrested in coin false provenance probe
20 March 2023Richard Beale, the owner and managing director of London coin auction house Roma Numismatics, has been arrested in New York in connection with the sale of a record-breaking classical coin.

A grand design: George I architect’s desk in demand
20 March 2023This exceptional George I walnut and feather-banded architect’s desk was hammered down at seven times its low estimate.

A Charles II stumpwork casket is among five lots to watch
20 March 2023With estimates from £400, here are five previews of items coming up at auction this week.

Designer celebrated in the Soviet era
20 March 2023This 9in (22cm) vase by the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory is signed and dated 1929 for Aleksey Vorobyevsky (1906-92)

Marvellous Marshall vase emerges at Thomson Roddick
20 March 2023At his best Mark V Marshall can give his one-time employer Robert Wallace Martin a run for his money

Significant Sèvres tazza makes 22-times estimate at Macclesfield auction
20 March 2023The Adam Partridge (25% buyer’s premium) sale in Macclesfield on March 2 included a tazza from an important historical Sèvres service.

Rowlandson’s comic characters in ceramics style
20 March 2023Estimated at just £50-80, a rare Staffordshire figure group sold online for £3000 at Clarke’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Semley, Dorset, on February 10.

Touch of Baxter detected on Flight, Barr & Barr dish
20 March 2023An exceptional piece of Regency porcelain emerged for sale at Hannams (23% buyer’s premium) in Selborne, Hampshire, on February 21-24.

Stellar results from White Star liner designs
20 March 2023Chipped to both elements, a Spode cup and saucer made for use on White Star liners sold online for £6000 at Richard Winterton (22% buyer’s premium).

Tinworth’s take on the famous Polito’s Menagerie
20 March 2023The most ambitious of all of the George Tinworth (1843-1913) mouse groups is the 10in (25cm) high clock case