With UK dealers and privates also in a buying mood, the sale realised a healthy 90 per cent take up by lot.
“The last time the Irish came in force was at the end of last year,” said Bonhams’ specialist Roger Tappin. “Here there were probably around four separate buyers and several British dealers also said to me they had seen a fair increase in business of late.”
Whether or not these encouraging statistics signal a sustained upturned in the market, or merely represent a blip, fresh-to-market provenance and attractively pitched estimates helped curry interest in the most expensive lot: a Victorian walnut serpentine credenza consigned by a local private vendor. These pieces are much less fashionable than they were a few years back but this one was in untouched condition and went to the UK trade at an above-estimate £2800.
Other four-figure furniture bids included £2500 on a William IV rosewood library table; another £2500 for a 17th century walnut and oak chest in largely untouched condition and a punchy £1700 for a Victorian brass-bound teak military chest.
The sale totalled £112,720.
Irish trade return to boost Cornish day
FURNITURE in Bonhams' (17.5/10% buyer's premium) Par sale on September 2 was given a considerable boost by a contingent of Irish dealers who between them secured around 20 of the more standard entries in the 104-lot section.
