Regency centre table – £96,000 at Bearnes of Exeter on March 1.
Fashioned in amboyna, ebony, giltwood and brass, the 4ft (1.21m) wide table had been unearthed by the West Country auctioneers in what they called a relatively anonymous home in the South Devon area.
Although lacking much in the way of provenance and in tired condition (the top was warped, the end standards were broken and there were some losses and replacements to the cut brass inlay) the splendid, if unattributed, high Regency design found many admirers among the upper echelons of the English furniture trade.
Estimated at just £3000-5000, it was pursued by nine telephone lines before selling to Partridge Fine Arts for stock.
