The lid, with a small piece missing, was of a slightly lighter shade but, overall, the 3in (7.5cm) wide mull was in good condition.
Undated in the catalogue, its fine patina suggested it was an early 19th century or earlier piece.
Offered with a guide of just £80-120, it sold at £3800 to a London dealer at the June 21 sale in Leominster.
An 18th century ebonised mull of bombé form with white metal mounts and panel inset into the hinged lid, engraved Jean Clark 1749, had some rubbing to the white metal mounts and a crack down one side but went to a Derbyshire dealer at £550.
Good collections
While the 628-lot sale was led by jewellery (a single-stone diamond pendant at £6000) and pictures (a 1944 Frank Owen Salisbury oil portrait of cellist Beatrice Harrison at £6500), other carved wooden pieces consigned from two good collections were the eye-catchers.
Tudor Romayne carving, £900 at Minster Auctions.
A Tudor Romayne carved panel of a head in wreath border and scroll carving was entered by the family of Roger Warner, the prominent Burford dealer who died in 2018.
Most of his extensive collection was sold at Christie’s after his death, at the age of 98, in 2008.
The panel offered here sold to a UK collector on the lower estimate at £900.
Trebling and quadrupling estimates were three 19th century articulated lay figures for artists consigned by a collector.
A 13in (33cm) example sold to a private buyer at £1000, a 2ft 2in (66cm) figure with an A/F caveat and a similarly sized figure in good condition sold to a London dealer at £1200 and £1600 respectively.
