Furniture

Among the highlights of the sale conducted by Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet on February 17 was this William IV patent mahogany library armchair, with carved acanthus leaf sides, turned lobed front legs and outswept back supports.

Remarkable for both their size and their original condition, this pair of Italian console tables c,1760 sold for £28,000 Semley Auctioneers of Shaftesbury in Dorset on January 24.

It took them over a week, but Bonhams have now been able to announce a new record for a piece of 19th century furniture achieved. The new high was achieved when this French ormolu, lacquer and Brazilian rosewood cabinet imitating the shape of a Japanese shodana realised a mighty £1.8m.

THIS imposing but relatively plain 5ft 6in (1.69m) wide mahogany centre pedestal desk c.1760 was a last-minute entry to Addison's of Barnards Castle fine art and antiques sale on November 15.

WHEN Jeremy and Hotspur, two of London’s best-known furniture dealerships, announced in the late summer that they were shutting up shop and selling off their remaining stock, few could have predicted the ensuing market slump. Both dealerships, who intend to continue as consultants, must have had their fingers crossed at Christie’s on November 20, when the sale took place.

Surrey fine art auctioneers Ewbank are selling architectural stonework from the Palace of Westminster that dates from before the buildings were destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the 1830s.

Fireworks were seen in Edinburgh on November 5 when this Charles Voysey secretaire leapt above its modest £3000-5000 estimate to sell for £70,000 at Lyon & Turnbull's Decorative Arts sale.

BOOKS being used in their physical form alone to disguise an entirely different function are nothing new – money boxes are a perennial favourite – but the book as Thunderbox?

Gloucestershire auctioneers Simon Chorley began their autumn season on September 18, selling this Louis XIV ebony, ivory and tortoiseshell cabinet for £65,000 (plus 15 per cent buyer's premium).

CHRISTIE’S have announced that their sale of the joint stock of the two London dealerships Hotspur and Jeremy will be at a dedicated auction at their King Street rooms on November 20.

With Bernard Cotton's scholarly new book on Scottish Vernacular Furniture coming out soon, where better to promote the event than North of the Border?

Whilst perhaps better known for selling reclaimed building materials, T.W. Gaze of Diss in Norfolk consistently attract lots of a more decorative nature in their five architectural sales each year. Their August 16 sale included this very fine quality early 18th century marble study of a boy holding aloft a bearded mask.

North Yorkshire auctioneers Tennants have cut a profitable niche selling the furniture of local craftsman Robert Thompson, but for their July sale they went one better.

HUNDREDS of Victorian gothic revival floor tiles removed as part of a £2m renovation of the church of St John Baptist, Cirencester, will be sold by Moore Allen & Innocent on Friday, July 25.

Consigned by a local private source, this late Louis XIV contre partie boulle commode c.1710 sold for £155,000 at Dreweatts in Nottingham on July 10.

Given that Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (1865-1945) completed his education and first major commissions on the Isle of Man it is no surprise Manx country is the repository of much work by the Arts and Crafts pioneer. However, few pieces tell a story like the inlaid 'Baillie Scott' sideboard offered for sale by Douglas auctioneers Murrays (incorporating Chrystals) on June 27.

Christie’s King Street devoted an entire day to traditional English furnishings when a 369-lot all-day sale of the collection of the late Simon Sainsbury was followed by a highly select, mixed-owner, 12-lot evening auction of what they termed “exceptional furniture”.

Christie’s English furniture day on June 18 was marked by the £9m auction of a dozen pieces of top-flight examples and by the 369-lot £13.6m sale of the collection of the late Simon Sainsbury.

APPRENTICE Andy Cunningham will be among those displaying their skills at the Open Weekend being held at the Edward Barnsley Workshop near Petersfield from June 21-22.

Sotheby’s New York and Christie's King Street both withdrew furniture lots provenanced to dealers John and Carlton Hobbs from sale last week – casualties of the unfolding "fake" furniture scandal first exposed by The Sunday Times.