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.

Early oak fresh on the market attracts trade’s strongest bidding

19 April 1999

Carolean court cupboard emerges from Cumbrian chicken shed UK: EARLY oak furniture attracted the higher prices at the quarterly sale ‘Antiques and Collectors’ sale at the Skirsgill Salerooms in Cumbria where the most valuable lot was a James II one-piece oak court cupboard.

More money on the tables…

05 April 1999

£25,000 bid sees trade becoming less perfectionist in hunt for quality UK: FEW dealers will talk bullishly on the record and the auction scene in the provinces does remain patchy – but all the evidence is that there is still money around and auctioneer Guy Schwinge saw its effect at his latest Dorset sale.

English owls take flight

05 April 1999

UK: WHILE Christie’s sale of the collection of the Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava lacked much of the memorabilia one so often associates with these events, the personal gap was filled in some measure by the elements from The Owl House.

Not just any old iron for display

05 April 1999

UK: IT HAD been forged as ecclesiastical strongchests for church treasure in medieval Europe and wrought in the form of bedsteads in 17th century Italian villas, but it was only with the rise of industrial manufacture and the growth of the middle-classes in the 19th century that iron became a commonplace element in the gardens, and then the houses of the British gentry.

From Zanzibar to the Cotswolds

05 April 1999

UK: FURNITURE from the East Coast of Africa is hardly common currency within the Cotswolds antiques trade but it was given unusual prominence last month with the appearance of this substantial 18th century hardwood chest with brass studwork decoration at the Gloucestershire rooms of Wotton Auction Rooms on March 23-24.

Out of Africa and into the rich treasure house known as Sussex

05 April 1999

UK: AS two of the wealthiest and most densely populated of the Southern Counties – housing large communities of former expats, retired professionals and alpha-class commuters – it is hardly surprising that West and East Sussex have a multitude of salerooms.

£20,500 sparks more talk of Burges

05 April 1999

UK: IS this Gothic revival red walnut foldover card table, left, another rediscovered work by the great William Burges?

£3100 for mirror with nautical air

05 April 1999

UK: THIS Victorian gilt overmantel mirror, right, was the unexpected highlight of Plymouth Auction Rooms (buyer’s premium 10 per cent) February 24.

Bidders go Wilde

05 April 1999

UK: SIGNED cabinet photographs of Oscar and Constance Wilde flank one of their younger son, Vivian, which has been inscribed and dated 1891 to the reverse – although the well known portrait of Oscar is known to date from 1889.

Trade flock to Cotswolds for all manor of delights

05 April 1999

UK: NINETEENTH century brown carcase furniture of country house proportions and impeccable provenance attracted the higher prices at this monthly sale in the Cotswolds.

Collectables fill the traditional gap

30 March 1999

UK: AS good-quality traditional antiques become harder to find – no piece of furniture made more than £1500 among the 902 lots at Bristol – collectables are becoming more and more of a commercial proposition at auction.

£8100 bookcase underlines era coming of age

30 March 1999

UK: NEXT year, with the beginning of a new millennium, 19th century furniture will seem far older than it actually is. But for some time now the finer pieces have been making prices comparable to their 18th century exemplars and this was certainly the case when this late 19th century satinwood and mahogany breakfront bookcase came up for sale at Heathcote Ball (10 per cent buyer’s premium) in Leicester on February 25.

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