THE unexpected highlight of the sale conducted by Cheffins of Cambridge on June 9-10 came courtesy of this mahogany writing table. Estimated at £4000-6000, it sold at £68,000 (plus 17.5 per cent buyer's premium).
While the auctioneers catalogued the piece as late 19th century,
they did refer to a Georgian marble-topped side table sharing the
same distinctive design in Burghley House, Lincolnshire. That table
is attributed to the Soho firm of Mayhew and Ince who were
patronised by the Earl of Exeter for more than 20 years from the
mid 1750s.
Another eminent London cabinetmaking partnership of the period,
Vile and Cobb of St Martin's Lane, also produced similar tables to
Kent-inspired designs.
Cheffin's table, with a number of later modifications including
the creation of drawers and a writing slope, was part of a deceased
estate near Huntingdon. It was formerly part of the Forbes family
collection and housed at Castle Newe, a castellated
Aberdeenshiremansion house, built in 1831 and demolished in
1927.
It sold to a telephone buyer.
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