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.

img_39-4.jpg

The web shop window: Sicilian giltwood casket from Anthony Outred

10 June 2019

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

img_39-5.jpg

Welsh furniture dealer offers cupboard at festival

10 June 2019

Tim Bowen Antiques brings this Welsh oak cwpwrdd bara caws (bread and cheese cupboard) to the midsummer Carmarthenshire event Midsummer Cahoots at the Hall (June 22-30).

img_38-1.jpg

Olympia summer fair caters for decorative buyers and collectors

10 June 2019

French commode forms good example of selling strategy at long-standing London event

img_6-3.jpg

Label fits the bill as Oxfordshire dealer sells cupboard by John Coxed

03 June 2019

A chinoiserie corner cupboard bearing the paper trade label of the Queen Anne furniture maker John Coxed has been sold by Oxfordshire dealership Alexander George Fine Antiques.

img_10-1.jpg

Furniture rolls back the years

27 May 2019

Two collections assembled since the late 1960s enthuse a fresh generation of buyers.

img_11-1.jpg

Pedestal tripod table finds place in the sun

27 May 2019

The furniture market continues to enjoy its occasional moments in the sun. During The Pedestal’s (25% buyer’s premium) sixth sale at Moor Park, Hertfordshire, on April 30 a George III carved mahogany octagonal tripod table (estimate £12,000-18,000) sold for £24,000.

img_11-3.jpg

Early oak takes root in spring

27 May 2019

One of the best pieces of early oak at spring provincial sales was an17th century carved oak mural livery cupboard sold at Henry Adams (20% buyer’s premium) of Chichester.

img_12-1.jpg

Exceptional farmhouse table brings excellent price

27 May 2019

Catalogued as ‘exceptional’, this farmhouse refectory table fulfilled the auctioneer’s adjective in more than one way at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) sale in Dorchester on April 26.

img_55-3.jpg

Obituary: Furniture dealer George Floyd

20 May 2019

It is with great sadness that I report the passing away of George Floyd – always an immaculately dressed larger-than-life character.

img_25-5.jpg

Gargoyles grimace in Suffolk House Antiques exhibition

20 May 2019

A highlight of Suffolk House Antiques’ summer selling exhibition is a pair of 13th or 14th century English gargoyles.

img_1-2.jpg

Pick of the week: Figurehead full of canine quality points way to £52,000 result at Charles Miller auction

13 May 2019

A carving of a deerhound which once adorned a 19th century yacht more than doubled the house record for a figurehead at a Charles Miller auction in west London. The item sold for £52,000 had a royal connection but it was the quality and condition which secured the high price, said Miller.

img_14-1.jpg

Fragment from Roman period sarcophagus – an example of very early recycling

13 May 2019

Although the antiquities market is more stringently regulated than ever before, the possibility of illicit material continues to cause concern for collectors of antiquities. This places a greater financial value on pieces with long watertight provenances.

img_16-1.jpg

Salerooms aim to create a home from home when dispersing traditional country house contents

13 May 2019

With ‘on the premises’ country house contents sales now so rare, the more usual practice is for the better pieces to be removed to saleroom bases.

img_40-3.jpg

Brandt Art Deco table on offer in LA

13 May 2019

A 23in (58.5cm) diameter Art Deco table by the designer Edgar Brandt has been consigned to the two-day Design for the Home and Garden auction to be held by Andrew Jones in Los Angeles on May 18-19.

Settee

Sofa where Edward Prince of Wales met Wallis Simpson comes to auction in Northamptonshire

08 May 2019

The 'love seat' said to have played a part in the abdication crisis of 1936 is to be offered at auction this week at Humbert & Ellis.

img_42-2.jpg

Table topper at Battersea decorative fair

06 May 2019

A c.1946 Italian wrought-iron dressing table was among the stand-out sales during the spring Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea.

side tables

Italian side tables, Horatio Nelson prints and Chinese jades – six auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes in the last week

03 May 2019

ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week includes a pair of North Italian side tables from a distinguished collection and a group of prints relating to Lord Horatio Nelson.

Bacon screen

Four works by Francis Bacon worth £3m barred from export by government in hope of keeping them in the UK

29 April 2019

The government is hoping to find a buyer for four works - three rugs and a painted screen - by Francis Bacon (1909-92) in the hope of keeping them in the country.

img_37-1.jpg

Garden antiques set to bloom at Suffolk dealer's selling event

29 April 2019

This cast-metal figure of a young girl with a bird on her arm, below, is offered on a composition base for £325 from English and Continental Antiques.

img_63-1.jpg

ATG letter: Giacomo Herman cabinet must stay in UK

29 April 2019

Copy of a letter sent to Jeremy Wright MP, secretary of state for culture, concerning the temporary export ban placed on a 350-year-old cabinet by Baroque artisan Giacomo Herman in the hope a buyer can be found to keep it in the UK (see ATG No 2388):

Categories

News