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.
![Dsc 1135](/media/107968/dsc_1135.jpg?rxy=0.3373913043478261,0.3165217391304348&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133723316990000000)
Contents of Kensington Church Street gallery offered at Dreweatts auction
02 October 2024In 2000, Raymond Horneman chose Kensington Church Street as the location for an antiques and interior decorating business. Times have changed and the business is moving on.
![barniz de Pasto escritorio](/media/107972/barniz-de-pasto-a-2664ie-us-02-10-2024.jpg?rxy=0.48898678414096919,0.28164556962025317&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133723514320000000)
Cabinet showing 17th century ‘globalisation’ in action makes over 90 times estimate
02 October 2024Due to the fact that they represent a meeting of three continents and cultures, barniz de Pasto (Pasto varnish) boxes have recently been described by Jorge F Rivas Perez, curator of Latin American Art at the Denver Art Museum, as ‘some of the first works of a globalised world’.
![Teak window panel](/media/107978/teak-window-panel-a-2664ie-us-stair-01-10-2024.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133722740110000000)
Window panel from Getty collection reaches six figures at Stair Galleries
01 October 2024A final treasure from the Ann and Gordon Getty collection excelled at the latest sale at Stair Galleries in Hudson, New York.
![img_62-2.jpg](/media/107946/img_62-2.jpg?rxy=0.54956521739130437,0.43230403800475059&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133721592150000000)
Obituary: Furniture dealer David Pettifer (1930-2024)
30 September 2024The antique furniture world has lost one of its great characters and senior statesmen in David Pettifer who died on 30th August aged 94.
![img_18-5.jpg](/media/107829/img_18-5.jpg?rxy=0.60521739130434782,0.27138157894736842&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133721640890000000)
Posnet was recent Norfolk detector find
30 September 2024This medieval (probably 14th century) small bronze cauldron or posnet is a recent detecting find, dug late last year in a field in Norfolk.
![img_17-1.jpg](/media/107819/img_17-1.jpg?rxy=0.40869565217391307,0.46491228070175439&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133721629670000000)
Furniture & interiors: Market shifts towards the regions
30 September 2024Much of the market for ‘country house’ antiques is now in the hands of UK’s regional auctioneers. Here we review two recent bellwether sales.
![img_18-3.jpg](/media/107827/img_18-3.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133721635020000000)
Harewood furniture for sale at Christie’s
30 September 2024In October Christie’s conducts a timed online sales series titled Collections.
![img_19-1.jpg](/media/107831/img_19-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133721642980000000)
Appealing faces of Victorian furniture
30 September 2024Chairs and sofas by Howard & Sons are a pricey niche market these days, largely immune to the varying fortunes of the wider market for Victorian and Edwardian furniture.
![Peter & Willow As Woodward & Willow, Circa 1990S Combined](/media/107787/peter-willow-as-woodward-willow-circa-1990s-combined.jpg?rxy=0.40723981900452488,0.45263157894736844&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133719194550000000)
Dealers reform their classic duo
27 September 2024It's not just stars of Britpop who are reuniting. Two former business partners are making a one-off comeback for an appearance at a London fair.
![Graham](/media/107741/graham.jpg?rxy=0.497029702970297,0.35356200527704484&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133716649890000000)
Retiring dealer puts career collection up for auction
24 September 2024Newcastle-based saleroom Anderson & Garland is holding an auction of the Graham Smith Antiques collection following his decision to retire from the industry.
![img_31-6.jpg](/media/107396/img_31-6.jpg?rxy=0.41081081081081083,0.16025641025641027&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133709550070000000)
Georgian card table deal sealed at £5000
16 September 2024This 18th century mahogany card table was part of a collection of furniture from Earnshill House in Somerset offered by Busby (25% buyer’s premium) in Bridport, Dorset.
![carved giltwood horse](/media/107248/2661-fe-bonhams-single-owner-fairground-bioscope.jpg?rxy=0.50628366247755829,0.28764044943820227&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133704567630000000)
Rare fairground memorabilia gallops ahead at London auction
11 September 2024On entering an Edwardian fairground, the sheer size and scale of the ornately carved ‘bioscope’ show front would stop an observer in their tracks.
![img_36-3.jpg](/media/107182/img_36-3.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133703009180000000)
Pergay’s steel furniture proved to be a big hit
09 September 2024When the Romanian-born French designer Maria Pergay (1930-2023) was asked why she chose to make furniture out of steel, she responded that it was because she had a score to settle with Stalin. “You know his name means steel? So the more I hit it, the happier I am.”
![img_51-2.jpg](/media/107208/img_51-2.jpg?rxy=0.52644836272040307,0.39501779359430605&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133703474530000000)
Salvo launches latest pocket guides
09 September 2024Dealer association Salvo promoted its revised Pocket Guide at a ‘Secondhand September’ drinks party on September 5.
![img_37-2.jpg](/media/107185/img_37-2.jpg?rxy=0.46782608695652173,0.14730878186968838&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133703519820000000)
Louis XVI bedroom panels on the move yet again after auction purchase
09 September 2024Painted wood panels from a partial Louis XVI boiserie-panelled bedroom were among the 250 lots at the Design for the Home and Garden auction at Andrew Jones (25/18/12% buyer’s premium) in Los Angeles on July 17.
![img_5-3.jpg](/media/106738/img_5-3.jpg?rxy=0.46085409252669041,0.5955056179775281&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133694049020000000)
Flush with cash? Splash out on a Thomas Crapper sanitary ware collection
27 August 2024A celebrated collection of 19th and early 20th century sanitary wares is to be sold.
![img_56-1.jpg](/media/106741/img_56-1.jpg?rxy=0.48695652173913045,0.095238095238095233&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133692331750000000)
Organiser remains optimistic about traditional furniture
27 August 2024Dealer who has run a major Irish fair for 35 years feels Georgian furniture is starting to rise in value
![img_16-5.jpg](/media/106420/img_16-5.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133685348780000000)
Creative couple’s collecting tastes filled their home with ‘miximalism’
19 August 2024Highlights from the estate of Max Clendinning and Ralph Adron sold at Sworders
![img_33-1.jpg](/media/106479/img_33-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133685318660000000)
Five questions with dealer and fair organiser Darren Hudson
19 August 2024Darren Hudson is the proprietor of Hudson Antiques. For the last eight years he has been organiser of the thrice-yearly Decorative Fair in Battersea Park. The next starts on October 1.
![img_12-1.jpg](/media/106245/img_12-1.jpg?rxy=0.2805755395683453,0.26523297491039427&mode=crop&width=125&height=125&rnd=133679279020000000)
Lock from Florence Nightingale encapsulates the diverse lots in a North Yorkshire auction
12 August 2024One of the more unusual items on offer at Tennants’ (20% buyer’s premium) Summer Fine Sale was a lock of hair from the 19th century nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). It was thought to have been cut in 1883 when she was 63 years old.
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