Furniture
Every piece of furniture has a practical purpose regardless of how simple or grand it is, even if some pieces were built more for display than function. Today, furniture remains one of the largest areas of the antiques market and items are categorised by type and period.
The term brown furniture refers to traditional pieces made from dark woods such as mahogany, while pieces made from native woods like oak and walnut are sometimes referred to as vernacular furniture.
Famous historical makers include Chippendale, Gillows, William Vile and John Cobb. More recent market trends have seen modern vintage pieces appearing in specialist design and ‘Interior’ auctions.
London dealer takes 18th century mirror at £80,000
08 October 2007Ten telephone bidders drew battle lines with several bidders in the room for this 4ft 8in x 3ft (1.42m x 92cm) giltwood pier glass sold by Saltney, Chester auctioneers Byrne’s on September 29.
Bookstand brings out bidders
06 August 2007This unusual 18th century bookstand or tray top commode, measuring 2ft 4in (71cm) wide, made a multiple-estimate £20,000 (plus 17.5 per cent buyer’s premium) at Dukes of Dorchester on July 26.
High price for high style Regency
26 March 2007The highlight of the English and Continental furniture and objects sale conducted Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh on March 21 was this walnut, rosewood veneered, satinwood crossbanded and parcel gilt side table c.1805.
A vintage New Zealand wine table
15 January 200719th century furniture may not be the height of fashion, but this wine table is one of only a handful known to carry the label of Anton Seuffert, New Zealand’s premier cabinetmaker and inlayer. Many of the timbers seen to the 23in (58cm) diameter top are timbers native to New Zealand.
Saleroom revises Anglo-Japanese values – to £80,000
04 December 2006Initially catalogued as “an Eastern walnut three-tier table, brass mounted and fitted three flaps, 2ft (64cm) wide when open” and estimated at just £150-200, the appraisal of this stylish table seen at Simon Chorley of Southam, near Cheltenham, Gloucester on November 30 was radically upgraded when it was identified as the work of Aesthetic architect and designer Edward William Godwin (1833-1886).
A prime example, with hints of a prime minister
27 November 2006While many are still finding the market sluggish for standard English brown furniture, there is no shortage of demand at the top end as shown by results from the latest sales in London.
Parker chairs now on record
13 November 2006The Frederick Parker Collection of Chairs, whose long-term future once looked uncertain, has now found a secure home as a study collection at London Metropolitan University.
French Gothic ascends to the top table
06 November 2006IT was the Gothic furniture that was in strongest demand at Sotheby’s Haute Epoque sale in Bond Street last week, none more so than this massive 16th/17th oak refectory table that was bid to an astonishing £420,000 (plus premium).
Chimneypiece fitted in 1970s is now “an essential feature of a protected structure”
30 October 2006The 2001 Irish heritage laws are again being tested after a local council announced its intent to stop the sale of an 18th century fireplace on the grounds that – although not fitted in the property until the early 1970s – it is now an essential feature of the house.
£160,000 Langlois commode crowns Bolney Lodge sale
02 October 2006This early George III kingwood parquetry and marquetry commode attributed to Pierre Langlois proved the highlight of the £812,413 Bolney Lodge collection sold by West Sussex auctioneers Toovey’s on September 20.
400 years old and still rockin’
02 October 2006MICK Jagger and Keith Richards may be doing well for 60-somethings, but they’ve got nothing on this old rocker. Dated to 1610, it is thought to be the oldest known rocking horse in the UK and was quite likely made for Charles I.
£60,000 for Boarsney’s Tudor table
25 September 2006On September 18 the Dreweatt Neate team decamped to Boarsney House, a 16th century property near Robertsbridge in East Sussex to sell the property of Judith Hamilton, a collector of oak and country furniture and effects for 45 years.
Regency style at Temple Newsam
02 September 2006This Regency figured and gilded rosewood writing table with gilt brass mounts attributed to the Royal furniture-makers Morel and Hughes and once owned by former Prime Minister Earl Grey (1764-1845), has become the newest attraction on show at Temple Newsam House, Leeds.
Last chance to keep the pomp of Pomfret in the UK
10 July 2006Culture Minister David Lammy has placed a temporary export ban on a highly important George II Gothick japanned cabinet from Easton Neston.
£45,000 for George II side table
10 July 2006McLean link to £200,000 table
17 June 2006This very fine early Regency period drum table c.1805 in a faded honey-coloured rosewood prompted an extraordinary bidding battle at Clevedon Salerooms near Bristol on June 1. Estimated at £4000-6000, it sold at a house record £200,000 (plus 15% buyer’s premium) to a member of the London trade. The underbidder was also a London dealer.
Hyde-bound
22 May 2006“This bureau was bought by my Great Grandfather, John Stuart, at the sale of Deacon Brodie’s stock in trade after his execution, W.M. Stuart, the Hummel, Gullane, 18.10.28.”
Condition and colour help table to €180,000
22 May 2006The ownership of this c.1760 Irish mahogany side table was traced by the late Sir Charles Brett, a prominent Ulster attorney and leading Irish historian, to his descendent Charles Brett of Belfast (1752-1829). He was a wine merchant in Belfast and Bordeaux in the 1780s and his many business concerns included interests in the Belfast Glass Works, Distillery, Chamber of Commerce and Shipping.
Bonhams broker deal to save steam collection
15 May 2006BONHAMS have brokered a last-minute deal to save the unrivalled Jonathan Minns Collection of Industrial Archaeological Artefacts from being split up.
The myth of Scotland’s royal seat
03 May 2006It gives some idea as to how furniture connoisseurship has changed that the upholstered high-back chair pictured here could once have been accepted as an original furnishing from the bedroom of Mary Queen of Scots.
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