Rufus Bird is running the relaunched Mallett.
Image: Julian Calder Photography.
Mallett will now operate as a decorative arts and furniture arm for owner, art consultancy and valuation firm Gurr Johns. Under this new guise it will become an adviser and agent to clients seeking to buy, sell, loan, conserve and research furniture and decorative art collections.
This new business model will mean it will no longer buy its own stock as a dealership.
Founded in 1865 in Bath by John Mallett and his son, the firm moved to London in the early 20th century and became one of the best-known antiques dealerships.
However, after a period as a listed company on the London Stock Exchange, it changed hands a number of times before Gurr Johns purchased Mallett in 2018 from Stanley Gibbons for £100,000 (following its purchase of auction house Dreweatts in 2017).
The Mallett brand, inactive for the past four years, now has a newly launched website and social media account and will use Gurr Johns’ showroom and offices in Pall Mall on an ad hoc basis.
Bird, who previously worked at Christie’s, Duke’s and is a former surveyor of The Queen’s Works of Art, will run the new entity.
He said: “I have had lots of people smile warmly about the Mallett name coming back. We are breathing life back into the company and it is a great opportunity. We can provide advice around building, refining or editing collections of furniture and works of art. This is about providing the best possible service for clients in a changing world.”
Mallett will also work closely with restorer Hatfields (also owned by Gurr Johns).
