Furniture

A fine pair of Regency dwarf bookcases in the manner of George Oakley sold for £58,000 at the Martel Maides saleroom in St Peter Port, Guernsey.

More homely than the material being produced in Scandinavia and France, the adzed oak furniture first made by Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson in the 1920s-30s was, nevertheless, a distinctive genre.

In terms of name recognition in the UK, Alvar Aalto is probably outranked by the American couple Charles Eames (1907-78) and his wife Ray (1912-88). Of their output the lounge chair (670) and ottoman (671) designed in 1956 is the most iconic.

Toby Jones of Jones Antique Lighting specialises in early 20th century decorative antique lighting.

Now a regular fixture for a number of auction houses, specialist Modern Design sales have moved a long way since the days when the title could mean mountains of Moorcroft and Clarice Cliff and not a lot more.

When it comes to 20th century furniture female designers are a rarity. Some folk still think ‘Ray’ Eames – real name Bernice – was a man.

The recent Modern Living sale at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium) was dominated by ‘Mouseman’ furniture, something of a speciality at the Leyburn rooms.

Pioneer collection of street furniture goes from Parisian flat to the saleroom.

French and foreign bidders flock to white-glove sale of pioneer collection of the city’s heritage

A French Art Nouveau mahogany drop-front writing bureau, c.1925, is among the objects featured in a special exhibition at the spring edition of the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea.

Among the best furniture lots in the regions so far this year was the small early 19th century centre table attributed to George Bullock (1777-1818) offered by Stride & Son (18% buyer’s premium) on March 8.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

A pair of early George III carved walnut Gainsborough chairs, c.1765, were among the early highlight sales at BADA 2019. Offered from the stand of Richard Courtney in excellent original condition, they sold for a price in the region of £70,000.

A piece of recycled wood used to make an Arts & Crafts reading table on offer at WR Harvey has been revealed to contain the names of mischievous boys from Eton College.

Dealer’s collection makes up first single-owner sale run by former Christie’s expert.