The showroom had been downstairs. “One minute you could be relaxing on a sofa and the next it would be sold,” recalled Duke’s auctioneer Guy Schwinge.
So, although this sale had all the ingredients of a ‘classic’ English country sale – selling on the premises, impressive surroundings, lots of good kit – it was missing one major element and that was fresh-to-market goods. In today’s uncertain market, freshness is of key importance for the trade and many dealers who knew the stock on offer chose to stay away.
Fortunately for Duke’s – and indeed John Parnaby, who intends to invest the sale proceeds in his Christian charity The Sower’s Trust – private buying was extremely strong at all levels. The sale was the best ever held by the Dorchester auctioneers and they have notched up some pretty impressive totals over the years.
There is a tendency for increased levels of private buying at house sales but, more often than not, many who view do not buy. Guy Schwinge was keen to avoid this ‘nosy parker’ element and concentrate on serious buyers rather than sightseers. To this end, entry to the sale was by catalogue only – an impressive glossy publication.
With the day trippers excluded, private buying made up just over 70 per cent of the sale with bids taken from round Britain – in particular from the wealthy surrounding areas of the West Country – as well as from Canada and Australia. An undeniable attraction for private buyers was the impressive condition of the majority of pieces. John Parnaby wasn’t a well-known face in the salerooms, preferring to buy quality pieces in good restored condition from top regional dealers.
A prime example of his purchases was the top-selling pair of George II giltwood console tables. Each of the 5ft 10in by 2ft 6in by 2ft 6in (1.77m x 76cm x 76cm) cabriole-legged tables retained its original rectangular ‘breche violette’ marble top with a moulded edge over a frieze carved with stylised scallop shells and curling acanthus scrolls on a punched ground.
Being a pair and with a provenance back to Colstoun House in East Lothian, the “realistic” £25,000-45,000 estimate seemed about right, but those “stunning” tops worked their magic on the room and the pair went at a punchy £60,000 to a UK collector.
William and Mary pieces were fairly prevalent in the sale and among the best sellers was a 3ft 51/2 by 2ft1/4in by 5ft 21/2in (1.04m x 62cm x 1.59m) walnut chest-on-stand which was formerly in the collection of Geoffrey Hart and is illustrated as plate 22 on p.29 of R.W. Symond’s 1946 Veneered Walnut Furniture 1660-1760.
Again, this was a lot with more than just an excellent provenance. It is extremely rare to find a chest on stand of this period retaining the original legs and stretchers and the use of solid walnut for the drawer linings was another unusual feature which highlighted the quality of the piece.
With a moulded cavetto cornice over three short and three long drawers with herringbone banded borders and the original brass pear drop handles to the upper part and three long drawers and an arched apron to the stand, the whole was estimated up to £20,000 and fell just shy of these top hopes taking £19,000 from a private buyer in the West Country.
Another walnut success was a George I settee with a double chair back. In fine condition, and with the original needlework seat depicting a central oval petit-point panel of a milkmaid in a rural landscape on a gros-point ground of flowers and leaves, the settee had a swept and shaped back with two silhouette baluster splats flanking a pierced panel over shaped arms and a drop-in seat. The cabriole front legs were carved with stylised leaves terminating in pad feet. Going within estimate, it sold at £15,500 to a British private buyer.
Another survivor from the golden age of walnut was a George I tallboy in burr veneers. It had three short and three long graduated drawers all inlaid with herringbone within a crossbanded border and a moulded cavetto frieze to the upper section and and three graduated drawers and a brushing slide to the lower. For such a piece it had quite compact dimensions at 3ft 43/4in by 213/4in by 5ft 93/4in (1.04m x 55cm x 1.77m) and sold at £17,000.
The London trade on the phone were after yet more walnut, this time four ‘Virginia Walnut’ side chairs. Each 231/2in (60cm) wide chair, two of which could be viewed in the hall and two in the dining room, had serpentine cresting rails carved with acanthus scrolls and rocaille-work over pierced and interlaced baluster splats and drop-in seats. The cabriole front legs were carved with oval cabochons, acanthus leaves and rocaille work terminating in claw and ball feet. Keen competition saw the four taken over their top-estimate £8000 to a winning £9500.
Not the biggest disappointment of the day (we will come to that later) but certainly a bit of a low point was the bottom-estimate £20,000 taken for an early George III mahogany breakfront library bookcase.
Guy Schwinge was convinced it had the potential to make the £40,000 top estimate and certainly the provenance was there – it had come from Kirkgate House, Tadcaster, Yorkshire – as was the quality, but the interest wasn’t. Perhaps it was the huge size – 11ft 3in by 9ft 5in by 15in (3.43m x 2.87m x 38cm) which turned people off or maybe it was just indicative of the current selective and slightly nervous market.
In such a market, of course, a sale which notches up a 98 per cent selling rate is a triumph so the failure to sell a fine early George III mahogany ‘winged’ china cabinet was not quite the disaster it might have been.
Described as “a cabinet of the highest quality” in a 1945 Malletts’ advertisement in Apollo, the cabinet was well-known by the trade so it was no surprise when dealers didn’t touch it. But the two-section piece, with three glazed doors above a slightly projecting lower section with four well-figured doors with applied rectangular panels, did breathe quality. Again. this was a big piece of furniture at 5ft 31/2in by 8ft3/4in (1.61m x 2.45m) but Mr Schwinge didn’t feel the £50,000-80,000 estimate was too punchy. It turned out that way, however, and bidding fell away at around the £40,000 mark.
The benefits of holding and viewing sales in situ was demonstrated for Mr Schwinge by a George III mahogany D-end dining table. The 4ft 1in x 9ft 43/4in (1.31m x 2.88m) table was well figured and of good colour, but Mr Schwinge is certain it would have struggled to get £4000 at one of Duke’s regular sales. Here it took £8500.
“This is proof in point of what happens when country house fever takes hold,” said Mr Schwinge. “Everything takes on a certain extra importance when it is viewed in situ and the buyer knows what kind of a home they are buying a piece of.”
While the downstairs of Netherhampton House operated as a showroom as well as a home, nothing upstairs had previously been offered for sale – this area housed Mr Parnaby’s private collection.
Chief among these items was a George I giltwood and gesso mirror. Retaining its original bevelled rectangular plate housed in a moulded frame carved with leafy scrolls and stylised scallop-shells on a pinched ground and with re-entrant upper corners, it measured 4ft x 2ft 6in (1.21m x 76cm). It took a bottom-estimate £15,000 from the trade against top hopes of £25,000.
Duke’s, Netherhampton House, Salisbury, June 16
Number of lots: 416 Lots sold: 98 per cent
Sale total: £900,000
Buyer’s premium: 15 per cent
£900,000... Sweet Charity begins at dealer’s home
Netherhampton House, a wonderful Queen Anne home in Salisbury, was the venue for Duke’s English Country House sale on 16 June. Rented from the Pembroke estate since 1990 by dealer and collector John Parnaby, the elegant stone property operated as both a home and a showroom for Mr Parnaby’s business, Victor Mahy Antiques, specialists in 17th and 18th century furniture and works of art.
