Showing that specialist pockets of 19th century furniture remain popular, a pair of jardinière stands and a sofa attributable to Gillows led the way at the Cotswold Auction Company (20% buyer’s premium) on May 16-17.
Moorish-themed furniture was fashionable in the later years of the century and similar jardinière stands to those offered in Cirencester carved as kneeling Moorish figures can be viewed at National Trust stately homes and the like.
They are more rarely seen at auction and the £300-500 estimate on the 2ft 4in (71cm) high examples, each with metal-lined troughs to the top, looked tempting. So it proved when a UK private buyer beat a local dealer to the pair with a bid of £4600.
Attribution favoured
The 6ft 3in (1.92m) wide three-seater sofa was catalogued as possibly by Gillows. As with much of the firm’s output it was not stamped but it had a number, 108502900, and one front castor was stamped Cope & Collinson Patent Strong, the Birmingham maker of castors and locks favoured by Gillows.
The upholstery was stained and holed but the structure was solid and bidders appeared to favour the Gillows attribution when, against a £300-500 estimate, the sofa sold to an internet bidder at £3800.
