Not only did a local private take the second top offering of the day – a set of eight Regency mahogany dining chairs which, with the top-selling table were more evidence of the durable appeal of dining room pieces – but the top jewellery lots were also, and unusually, private buys.
The set of chairs were classic pieces with boxwood and ebony decoration and justified their bullish hopes when they took a top-estimate £6000.
As to the jewellery, which undoubtedly benefited from the gift-giving season, a local private buyer outbid a Yorkshire dealer to take a diamond solitaire ring, approx. 2.97ct, at £8500. Other private buyers included one from Gloucestershire who took a pair of diamond earrings at an above-estimate £1300.
The 300 lots of ceramics and glass were fairly quietly received, prices reflecting conservative estimates.
Moorcroft, however, exercised its usual appeal when a local collector beat one from Cheshire with a double-estimate £920 on a small c.1915-16 Florian vase of slight ovoid form painted with blue and yellow flowers.
But the main strength of the sale was the 240-lot furniture section. Here the trade did take on private strengths, at least in the upper reaches. A Kent dealer bid the sale’s top price when, against local private competition, he took a Regency mahogany dining table extending to 8ft 4in (2.54m).
It comprised two D-ends with recessed friezes, each on four turned and tapered reeded legs, the centre ones sliding to support a central rectangular leaf. Estimated at up to £3500, it sold at £7000.
Battles between the North East trade and local dealers resulted in two victories for the North East. First up was a 2ft 9in wide (84cm) George III mahogany chest of two short and three long drawers which went above hopes at £5050.
The second was the good Victorian mahogany bookcase, illustrated on the catalogue cover. With a breakfront cornice above four glazed panelled doors on a breakfront base with four panelled doors, the 7ft 8in tall by 6ft 2in wide (2.34 x 1.88m) bookcase made a mid-estimate £4800.
A private buyer from the Borders beat a local dealer to a George III mahogany chest-on-chest with boxwood and ebony stringing. A manageable 5ft 4in (1.62m) tall, the top section comprised two small drawers and three long ones, the lower one falling to reveal a secretaire with fitted interior.
With a lower section of three long graduated drawers on ogee bracket feet, it sold just above estimate at £3600.
Mitchells, Cockermouth, December 6-7
Buyer’s premium: 12 per cent
Countrywide trade face private battles at Cumbria sale
STRONG private interest from well beyond the local area meant the trade, drawn mainly from the North and across the Border but also including dealers from Kent and as far as Holland, faced stern competition at this 1100-lot Cumbrian sale at Mitchells on 6-7 December.
