The set of six Georgian mahogany dining chairs featured in the Cotswold Auction Company (24% buyer’s premium) two-day sale on April 9-10 where they were bid to £2500, well above their modest £400-600 guide.
They were of a Chippendale design but it was the seat coverings that were of particular note here. These were period embroidered wool covers worked in gros and petit point stitch with urns of flowers and variously featuring coats of arms or names and dated 1747.
Detail of seat covering from six Georgian mahogany dining chairs, £2500 at Cotswold Auction Company.
The armorial was a variant on Spence or Spens of Lathallan, Fife, which was used by the family from the 16th century until c.1767.
Quality counts
Walnut side chair catalogued as 18th century and later, £2700 at Wilson 55.
It may not have been in the best condition but there was evidently enough quality to a single walnut side chair to propel it way past a modest £100-200 estimate when it went under the hammer at Wilson55 (25% buyer’s premium) in Nantwich on April 11.
Catalogued as mid-18th century and later with cracks to the veneer, later repairs and old worm to the underside of the seat, back and legs, its resemblance to the seat furniture made by the well-known 18th century London cabinetmaker Giles Grendey had also been noted with its vase-shaped splat and acanthus-headed cabrioles on ball and claw feet.
It ended up selling for £2700.
