Nowadays, long sets of dining room chairs are scarcer, and ambitious hostesses more commonplace than at any time in the past 250 years, and it does not require a mathematician to know that the traditional practice of matching a few stray chairs to a long set has never been more lucrative.
An index of auction prices for sets of chairs would show that the gap between sets of six and eight chairs to have widened considerably in the past couple of years, even more so between sets of eight and 12, with the exponent curve approaching a vertical gradient between 12 and 14.
One can only speculate upon the motives of the dealer who paid £17,000 for a set of four early George III side chairs of provincial manufacture at this Berkshire sale, but it is understood that the private underbidder was prepared to go up to this level because he wanted to add them to his existing set.
There can be no better justification for the winning dealer doing the same; certainly it would be difficult to see the chairs standing on their own individual merits at this price.
Not even the prospect that they had originated in Ireland, owing to the style of the leaf-scrolled and pierced splat, would have warranted that price.
Ultimately, their “fairly standard design” according to auctioneer Mark Law, would make them ready candidates for incorporation into another set.
There were no other parts of the sale which provoked nearly as much speculation; Mark Law is better known for his abilities as a ceramics expert and valuer, although he says that there is a growing interest from buyers and sellers in these quarterly furniture sales.
More prominent entries included a late 19th century satinwood and crossbanded writing table painted overall with flower garlands, baskets of flowers, urns and musical trophies.
Formed with a raised back of open shelves above pigeonholes with four small drawers and a writing slope on square tapered legs, 2ft 111/2in (91cm) wide, the table went to the trade mid-estimate at £3200.
A similar market existed for a Regency pine side table which appeared to have retained much of its original cream paintwork and had a sound, longstanding provenace, having been consigned to auction from Ramsbury Manor, a Tudor House in Wiltshire.
The top had been unusually painted to resemble marble and the legs to simulate bamboo. Measuring 3ft 6in (1.06m) wide and praised for its “remarkable freshness” by Mark Law, the table’s only major concern was an unstable back leg (see illustration, middle right) and this held back the bidding to £3000.
The most interest outside the furniture was generated by a set of four, c.1800 French school paintings on glass, which eventually sold to a Furniture dealer.
Each measuring 7 by 5 1/4in (18 x 13.5cm) the four paintings had been delicately painted, though probably by a provincial hand, with couples and larger groups of figures in wooded landscapes. The content suggested a betrothal theme. An unusual quartet, preserved in their original giltwood frames and in reasonable condition (only one had been cracked) the paintings attracted a double-estimate £6600.
Law Fine Art, Donnington Grove, March 27
Number of lots offered: 501
Number of lots sold: n/a
Sale total: £142,000
Buyer’s premium: 15 per cent
Calculating the extra value of six plus two and eight plus six...
UK: RESOURCEFULNESS is a characteristic of the successful dealer, and there are occasions where profit margins can be improved by, say, slipping an extra leaf into a dining table, or turning a dressing table into one of those rare kidney-shaped desks.
