Furniture

Three substantial sales from Edinburgh to Exeter via Doncaster last month confirmed the promise of early spring with the staple areas of furniture, silver and ceramics holding up and, for named or specialist-interest material, doing well. The figures underline the overall buoyancy.

Cooper Events’ next outing is The Pavilions of Harrogate Antiques & Fine Art Fair in North Yorkshire, from June 2-4.

English and Continental Antiques, the Suffolk dealership, has its second selling exhibition of 2017 on May 27.

Latest in a number of outstanding pieces of English furniture to surface and succeed at provincial auctions was this pair of satinwood inlaid demi-lune card tables, above, offered at Stride & Son (20% buyer’s premium including VAT) at Chichester on March 31.

A relatively unfamiliar name in Nordic works is under the spotlight at Bruun Rasmussen in Copenhagen in its Nordic Design auction on Thursday, June 8.

A rare ebonised framed armchair after the original design by Edward William Godwin (1833-86) sold for £44,000 (plus 18% premium) at Moore Allen & Innocent in Cirencester on April 21.

One of the highlights of Mossgreen’s sale of Decorative Arts to be held in Armadale, Melbourne, on May 8-9 is this 11in (26.5cm) diameter 17th century terrestrial table globe with its original mahogany cradle.

Primary provenanced Arts & Crafts furniture comes up for sale at Mallams in Oxford on May 25.

Ken Garrard runs Origin Antiques with his father Steve. Their business is based in The Barn on Turkey Cock Lane near Colchester and sells antique, vintage and contemporary furniture.

Three high-quality sales from the north to the south gave a cheerful air to spring. The catalogue at Tennants in North Yorkshire pretty much covered the range but in Sussex and Buckinghamshire the emphasis was on furniture.

“Seeing the vans arrive and all the wonderful things being unloaded and then built into something beautiful on their stands is a real buzz: we can’t wait.” These are the words of Richard Burgoin, director of Arthur Swallow Fairs, when talking about his ‘summer of salvage’.

A record sale total, the trade in buying mood and traditional furniture selling well – all further evidence that 2017 so far is proving rather less catastrophic than some had forecast.

Decorative furniture from the 19th century was in keen demand at Guernsey auctioneers Martel Maides (17.5% buyer’s premium) on March 15-16 including a pair of satinwood demi lune commodes.

In Kent, the Design Gallery’s largest-ever furniture warehouse sale, including a basement clear-out, takes place on Saturday and Sunday, April 22-23.