Demand for brown antique furniture in Cotswolds
Brown antique furniture was in demand at a recent Cotswolds auction, with many items heading the sale’s top seller’s list.
Some of the best performers in the sale at Moore Allen & Innocent in Cirencester were:
- A Victorian dwarf specimen cabinet. Designed for entomologists and geologists, the specimen cabinet featured two banks of ten short drawers over five long drawers behind a single drawer, yet stood at just over 70cm tall. Despite splits to the veneer and general signs of discolouration, stains and fading, the auctioneers were confident of bids between £200 and £300, but the hammer eventually fell at £480.
- A 17th-century Jacobean-style dresser with a 1.9m plain top above three drawers sold for £80 above its lower estimate of £500.
- A 17th-century Wainscott chair from Yorkshire with carved floral decoration, exceeded its £200 to £300 estimate, finishing at £380.
- A 19th-century oak dresser also exceeded its £150 to £200 estimate, with the gavel falling at £620.
Elsewhere, modern furniture performed well, with a large modern pine breakfront bookcase measuring over 4m across selling for £620, while a modern leather three piece suite with an estimate of £100 to £200 made the top price of the day at £1,050.
Auctioneer Philip Allwood said, “These prices are good in the current market. When you think of craftsmanship, the age, and the arguable beauty antique furniture continues to be excellent value for money.”