Moore Allen goes back to the eighties

WE”RE in the midst of an eighties revival. The music sounds like it did in the eighties; fashion looks like it did in the eighties; even the unemployment figures are starting to resemble those of the eighties.

Fans of the decade will be delighted by an early 80s dining suite, featuring a Joe D’Urso for Knoll D-end dining table with black dimpled formica top on stainless steel legs and six black leather dining chairs on chrome legs after a design by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, also made for Knoll.

The dining suite will be sold by auction at Moore Allen & Innocent on Friday, July 24. The table carries an estimate of £400 to £600 and the set of chairs is expected to achieve between £300 and £500.

Staying on a retro theme, a movie camera by Swiss manufacturer Bolex will cut a swathe for amateur film-makers for whom making a video on a mobile phone is just not good enough. The H16 records on to 16mm film, which slots into the top of the camera.

Of course there’s no uploading it to YouTube to share with your friends – the successful bidder will need a cine projector to play back his or her creation, while the camera itself its probably just within the parameters of ‘portable’.

Still it’s a design classic, and Bolex are still making accessories for it. Carrying an estimate of £50 to £80, it’s part of a large collection of cameras from the 1950 and 60s including a Kodak K100 Turret 16mm movie camera, estimated at £80 to £120, a Leicaflex SL2 stills camera, estimated at £100 to £150, and a quantity of Leica lenses, with an estimate of £100 to £150.

For fans of Oriental art there’s a large collection of Chinese pottery, porcelain, metal wares, glassware and carved wood. Among the highlights are a 20inch tall root carving featuring a bald headed and bearded scholar, with an estimate of £60 to £90, a Chinese bronze kettle with stylized handle and spout in the form of a dragon in the Ming Dynasty manner, with an estimate of £150 to £200, and a pair of early 20th century stem cups with floral and fruit design, with an estimate of £50 to £80.

Finally, a World War I jacket and cap as worn by a Private of the Glorious Glosters is creating plenty of local interest. The cap features the regimental badge front and rear – the Glosters were the only regiment permitted to wear a badge on the rear, an honour awarded after the Battle of Alexandria when they fought whilst surrounded on all sides – whilst the jacket still has all its brass regimental buttons and Glosters epaulettes. It carries an estimate of £40-£60.

	A First World War jacket and cap of the Glorious Glosters regiment.
Stills and cine cameras from the 50s and 60s
An eighties dining table (estimate £400 - £600) and chairs (estimate £300 - £500
Part of a large collection of oriental art