Moore Allen celebrates 10th anniversary at Norcote
CIRENCESTER auctioneers Moore Allen & Innocent celebrate the 10th anniversary of the opening of their purpose-built salerooms at Norcote, on the outskirts of the town, with the very rare opportunity to own furniture from Windsor Castle.
A centre table at £5,000 to £8,000, a pair of dining room chairs at £300 to £500, and a dressing screen, at £300 to £500, all carry a stamp depicting a crown, the initials VR and the date 1866.
It’s just one of a number of high-profile auctions that have cemented Moore Allen’s reputation as one of the most important salerooms outside London.
The firm’s profile has also been raised by television shows such as Bargain Hunt, Flog It, Cash in the Attic and David Dickinson’s Real Deal, whose presenters and film crews favour the space of the Norcote salerooms, which can easily accommodate 250 bidders.
But the auction that brought the company to worldwide attention was the sale, in October 2007, of a hitherto undiscovered Rembrandt for £2.2 million – breaking the sales record for a provincial auction house.
The self-portrait, entitled The Young Rembrandt as Democrates the Laughing Philosopher, measured just 25cms by 17cms.
“I knew the moment I saw it that it was something special,” said auctioneer Philip Allwood, “but the vendor had sought verification some years before and no-one would take the risk. Even the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam weren’t 100 percent sure.
“We attributed it in our catalogue to a ‘follower of Rembrandt’, and gave it a guide price of £1,000 to £1,500. At the same time we made sure the trade knew what we had on our hands, and come sale day three of the leading Rembrandt buyers – from London, Holland and New York – were in the room.
It took the experts just 15 minutes to reach the £2.2 million hammer price – £2,580,750 once the 15 percent buyers’ premium had been added. But it was not until June 2008 – after exhaustive tests in laboratory conditions – that the experts, headed by Dr Ernst van der Wetering, were finally satisfied enough to verify the painting as a genuine, undiscovered Rembrandt.
But it wasn’t the only record the firm has smashed. In May 2008 a Francois Nicole music box was sold for £54,000 – believed to be the highest figure ever paid for a music box in the UK.
Other recent notable sales include a pair of early 18th century walnut hall chairs, which sold for £25,000, and a Faberge box, discovered by auctioneers during one of their extremely popular antique valuation road shows, which later sold for £64,000.
The Cotswolds is smattered with stately homes, which once in a while provide an interesting item or two for auction, but in May 2008 the firm sold the entire contents of a mansion. The consignment was so massive that it filled the firm’s two salerooms three times over – hardly surprising considering the lots included the likes of a 46-foot mahogany dining table and the 58 mahogany dining chairs that accompanied it.
The Cotswolds is also well known for its association with country sports, and the hugely-popular sporting sale attracts fans of hunting, shooting, fishing and taxidermy. But in March 2008 there was a rather special sale of fishing tackle. One of the finest single collections of tackle ever auctioned, comprising 836 individual lots, was sold over nine hours and made nearly £300,000.
But behind the headlines, Moore Allen & Innocent continues to provide a community service. Sales are held every fortnight and furniture, glass, ceramics, books, carpets, clocks, jewellery and more are bought and sold by local vendors, collectors and dealers.
The firm supports local charities and good causes. In September 2008 a celebrity auction in aid of the Cotswold NSPCC boasted David Cameron’s cycling helmet, Anne Robinson’s glasses, Esther Rantzen’s jewellery and Anthony Worrall Thompson’s chef’s whites, whilst in July 2008 the sale of Victorian tiles from the floor of Cirencester Parish Church raised £4,410 towards the £2 million renovation of the building.
The company is now older than many of the antiques it sells. It was established back in1845, and Charles Moore’s first sale was the auction of houses and land in North Cerney, which was held at the Bathurst Arms in the village.
Before moving to its Norcote home, Moore Allen conducted auctions once every three weeks from the Bingham Hall in the centre of Cirencester. “It was a lovely venue,” said Philip, “but it was not our building, which meant we had no time to set up and catalogue, and vendors and buyers could not park outside to drop off and collect antiques.”
The converted farm buildings at Norcote offered Philip everything he desired – 2,000 square feet of storage and a 6,600 square foot space in which to display and sell antiques, along with parking for 250 cars. In 2008 the firm took on a second barn on the site, providing an extra 1,500 square feet of storage and selling space.
During the same time, of course, use of the internet has escalated. But rather than being knocked sideways by the rise of auction sites like eBay, the internet has given Moore Allen a global presence. Buyers from all over the world can now view the auction catalogue online and bid on the company’s 14 phone lines, or leave bids via email, and the facility to bid live over the internet with a mouse click is months away.
Future events include selected antiques sales on May 29, September 25 and December 11, a sporting sale on August 28 and a selected picture sale on October 23, whilst antique and general sales are held every second Friday. For more information log on to www.mooreallen.co.uk
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| Auctioneer Philip Allwood at the rostrum | The Young Rembrandt as Democrates the Laughing Philosopher | ||||
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| An auction in progress | A Faberge box | ||||
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| A 46-foot mahogany dining table and the 58 mahogany dining chairs that accompanied it, from a Cotswolds mansion | The Norcote team – left to right: Lesley Munton, Simon Hayes, Irvine Patterson, Philip Allwood, Chris Rudd, Lucy Allwood; Lucie Rowe | ||||
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