The near pair of c.1770 mahogany serpentine chests of drawers (one shown right) had been entered from a Surrey estate and kept back for the relaunch of the operation we must learn to call (and EastEnders fans will have no difficulty spelling) Sotheby’South.
With moulded quarter veneered tops above four long graduated drawers and brushing slide, flanked by geometric blind fret carved canted corners on shaped bracket feet, the chests stood 2ft 61/2in high by 3ft 4in wide (77.5cm x 1.02m), one 19in (48.5cm) deep and the other 18in (46cm) deep.
Chests of drawers break Billingshurst record
THE first of the new-format International Sales at Sotheby’s Sussex rooms could hardly have got off to a more successful launch – not only a premium-inclusive total of £750,000 from the 513 lots of ceramics and furniture on day one but also the highest price ever recorded for furniture at Billingshurst, when they sold at more than five times high estimate to a London dealer for £62,000 plus 15/10 per cent buyer’s premium.
