As reported last week, Mallett – acquired by the Stanley Gibbons Group for around £9m in 2014 – has not traded for several months.
Gurr Johns, the art consultancy and valuation firm and new owner of Dreweatts, agreed to advance cash-strapped Gibbons £300,000 ahead of a stock clearance sale.
The November 8 sale, appropriately titled Mallett: Taking Stock, features property from the Mallett inventory together with a small group of items consigned by Mallett clients.
All 174 lots will be offered with estimates way below retail values. A set of eight George III parcel gilt chairs attributed to Francois Hervé and supplied by Henry Holland carry hopes of £5000-8000. Subsequently reupholstered and redecorated, they had previously sold for £15,000 at the Spencer House Sale conducted by Christie’s in July 2010.
Although Stanley Gibbons came close to selling Mallett to Mark Law’s Millicent Holdings, the brand remains part of the Gibbons group.
To tie in with the auction, Dreweatts is also promoting a Qing ivory and lacquer six-fold screen for sale through Mallett by private treaty. The screen, on loan to the V&A from 1965- 81, depicts episodes from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
