Sofa

Lamps designed by surrealist artist Salvador Dalí have been blocked from export in the hope a buyer can be found to pay £440,000 to keep them in the UK.

A Salvador Dalí Mae West lips sofa has been blocked from export in the hope a buyer can be found to pay nearly £500,000 to keep it in the UK.

A sofa in the form of Mae West’s lips and a lobster telephone are among the surrealist lots from West Dean House to go to auction in December.

THE two Tiffany works of art that gave strong performances within days of each other in recent US sales were not the usual lamps, glassware or table silver.

AT Scarborough Perry Fine Arts' (15% buyer's premium) June 24-25 sale, auctioneer Stephen Perry, who had given a distressed Regency painted settee sofa a modest pre-sale estimate of £400, admitted ruefully after seeing it go for ten times that amount: “I can value furniture in general but I find it difficult to value interior decorator’s pieces.”

It may not look like a particularly important piece of furniture, but this early 19th century mahogany framed sofa, right, played a crucial role in the dynastic history of Cleveland Lodge, North Yorkshire.

The Berkshire auctioneers Dreweatt Neate led the table of provincial auctioneers who were prepared to reveal their turnover for 1999.