The consensus that brown furniture; boring, old, heavy pieces are dusty and worthless and do not appeal to today’s market is at best overused and certainly not altogether true.
Cliches are dangerous things in fine arts and antiques and a little investigation can often create interest as proved by lot 10 in the recent Lincoln Collective Sale held at Golding Young on March 25th.
Three things make what is maybe a boring old library chair, in poor order on paper, something a little different and those three things are: provenance, form and a maker’s stamp.
With this lot, a relatively late 19th century mahogany framed library chair, the latter point, the makers stamp created the most fireworks. The hind legs were both marked GILLOW, that famed Northern powerhouse furniture making company set up in Lancaster in1730 by Robert Gillow and who only used the finest timbers, techniques and craftsmanship. Often misused in catalogue descriptions, this chair was of undoubted quality and the name stamp proved this as only the better pieces were ever signed.
The shape also helped; a good deep seat, a chair of comfort and usefulness, not too dissimilar in style form that other greta late 19th century manufacturer Howard and Sons, it was indeed a highly decorative, supremely comfortably and aesthetically beautiful piece encompassing good craftsmanship and high quality raw materials.
The provenance was not cast iron, but any link to Culverthorpe Hall, with its local connection, always helps and can help excuse the relatively horrid covering on the chair which was torn and tired in places.
Again such pieces can be overlooked and it is always important to bring such things to an RICS accredited company like Golding Young to benefit from a worldwide audience through top class photography, cataloguing and advertising.
We are always here to help and can often create interest for pieces which at first glances may seem boring and of little interest.
The £750 achieved proves how a careful eye, a bit of diligence and a global audience, help achieve a brilliant result. Bidders for this piece were private and from the trade throughout the country and again this highlights the importance of promotion of items through a regulated firm like Golding Young. Indeed it was good to note the younger generation that were interested in the chair during the viewing and bidding process alike; not all brown furniture is dead, bring it to us so we can show you!
