Furniture

This 2ft (60cm) high Charles II needlework looking glass worked with figures and fantastical beasts emblematic of the seasons was estimated at $10,000-15,000 but sold at $80,000 (£61,500) in the Vogel collection auction at Sotheby's New York.

A rare Georgian invalid’s ‘chair lift’ is one of the highlights at the Scone Palace Antiques & Fine Art Fair.

Lamps in south London form a stylish and popular part of the mid-century collecting field.

John Bedford of William Bedford was one of the major dealers in antique furniture in London in the 1970s and for the next 35 years dominated his corner of the trade.

The sale of two great collections at auction – one in London, the other in New York – has highlighted the ebbs and flows of the market for early British pottery and furniture.

A very different residence to Harold Ward’s Manthorpe House (see Mellors & Kirk story in Auction Reports this edition) supplied the very different contents to the 600-lot single-owner collection, white-glove sale held at Bellmans’ (22% buyer’s premium) Billingshurst saleroom on February 9.

After re-booting the moribund firm of Hutchinson Scott (20% buyer’s premium) in 2016, former dealers Michael Scott and Paul Hodson have now bought their premises at Embsay Mill at Skipton.

This Empire-period gilt throne or ceremonial chair, measuring 3ft 11in (1.2m) high and 2ft 3in (76cm) wide, is one of the highlights of an April 7 sale of historic artefacts and memorabilia titled l’Empire à Fontainebleau.

A former cake factory site near Southport is the base for dealer Brett Griffiths, who is also one of the big fans of IACF’s fairs.

Sworders offers late 19th and 20th century styles reflecting the period zeitgeist.

Among the many decorative works of art in Nagel’s sale in Stuttgart on February 27-28 is this 3ft 8in (1.12m) high mirror in an ornately carved gilt frame.

In the early 1980s the London-based designer Ron Arad experimented with new forms of industrial design, incorporating materials that would otherwise have been discarded.

A 1976 secretaire by Bernt Rosen was one of the highlight sales at last month’s Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea where US buyers jostled with locals to bag the best objects.

Comprehensive collection amassed over 30 years attracts very choosy buyers at auction.

A set of four Cotswold School Arts & Crafts wall sconces, one shown below, was catalogued by Moore Allen & Innocent (20% buyer’s premium) as in the Wild Strawberry pattern and in the manner of Ernest Gimson (1864-1919).

With vendors now well adjusted to realities of the market, the demand for standard Georgian furniture is unspectacular but steady.

This Aesthetic movement X-frame armchair took £11,000 against an estimate of just £100-150 at Lawrences of Crewkerne.