The highest prices came among the furniture, although the material was fairly routine. A 19th century set of ten mahogany dining chairs with bar backs and re-upholstered seats on turned legs climbed just above the top estimate to make £3200, a European rosewood table cabinet of indeterminate date with marquetry scenic panels to the ten drawer fronts and a soldier figure to the front of the central cupboard, 2ft wide by 191/2in high (63 x 50cm) took £2500, while a fine Edwardian mahogany tambour front pedestal writing desk with mahogany crossbanding and boxwood and ebony stringing to the drawers, 4ft wide by 2ft 4in deep (1.22m x 71cm) topped the day at £3500.
The look of the Irish…
Direct competitors to Bonhams Honiton, in an area of the South West that is hardly brimming with quality goods, auctioneer Richard Connor and his team nevertheless put together a respectable offering of brown furniture and paintings at the Honiton Galleries, where the one item of rarity among the silver was this Irish dish ring of above average quality by Edmond Johnson, Dublin 1863, measuring 8in (20cm) diameter, which attracted an above-estimate bid of £2200.