The ideal present for the friend who has everything
WHAT do you give the friend that has everything? Well, if you’re George III, you give your pals a copy of your head.
The original, the Jubilee bust of 1810, was chiselled by a Dublin sculptor by the very Irish-sounding name of Peter Turnerelli. King George was delighted with the 43.5cm bust, and over the years Turnerelli produced around 80 copies, which were given to the king’s favoured subjects, among them the first Lord Melville, Henry Dundas, whose descendents live in the Cotswolds.
The Melville copy of the bust will be going under the hammer at the Selected Antiques sale at Moore Allen & Innocent on Friday, September 24, with an estimate of £500 to £800.
Throughout history, people have had different ideas about what makes the perfect present. Dougal from the Magic Roundabout, for instance, upon being given a clock as a birthday present by springy pal Zebedee, declared there was no present like the time.
And a trio of long case clocks are among the standout lots in the sale, especially an oak cased clock manufactured by Joseph Thomas of Cirencester some time in the late 1600s or early 1700s. The square brass dial has a single hand, Roman numerals and pierced foliate scroll spandrels enclosing a date aperture. Auctioneers have put £800 to £1,200 on it.
Meanwhile, an oak clock from the late 18th or early 19th century is inscribed W Tomlinson, London. Tomlinson was a clockmaker of some repute – he was Master of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1733 – and the brass face of this clock is engraved with a Ho-Ho bird flanked by dolphins. The gothic carvings to the oak case are undoubtedly Victorian additions, but this timepiece still looks the part and carries a £900 to £1,100 estimate.
Also likely to strike a chime with bidders is a late 18th / early 19th century mahogany cased clock by Edward Hopkins of Bradford, with an estimate of £400 to £600, while over in the silver and jewellery section a late 20th century Omega Speedmaster chronograph wristwatch, with 17 jewels and a rotating bezel around a black dial, might make more than any of the three-hundred-year-old clocks, carrying as it does an estimate of £1,000 to £1,500. Well, that’s designer labels for you.
And the furniture section is not short of designer labels, either. A Victorian mahogany and painted commode in the Adam taste comes with an Edwards and Roberts of London maker’s stamp, and an estimate of £1,000 to £1,500. Edwards and Roberts, of course, were the most fashionable name in cabinet making in the second half of the 19th century.
Gordon Russell, meanwhile, was a big name in furniture making in the early 20th century, and his workshops at Worcestershire were turned into a museum of his pieces in 2008. A circa 1925 gate-leg table with octagonal top, bearing a copper Russell Workshops Broadway label to the underside, carries an estimate of £300 to £500.
Of a similar vintage is a 1920 oak chest designed by Ambrose Heal, of Heal & Son of London fame. Following his death in 1959, The Times obituary described him as ‘one of the great artists and craftsmen of his time’. He won many awards for furniture design, including the Albert Gold Medal for services to Industrial Design, from the Royal Society of Arts in 1954. A bid of £300 to £400 should secure the lot.
And a relatively modern piece of craftsmanship comes in the form of a circa 1956 palisander rosewood dining table designed by Robin Day and manufactured by Hille, one of a small number of commission-only pieces.
Robin and his wife Lucienne were the most celebrated designer couple of the post-war era, and their work was a big hit at the 1951 Festival of Britain. Robin was designing furniture as recently as 2003, when he was aged 88. The dining table being sold by Moore Allen measures a stonking 4.3 metres long – so a large dining room is a must for the bidder who can stump up £1,000 to £1,500 to buy the piece.
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| A copy of the George III Jubilee bust of 1810 | Three long case clocks |
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| The Cirencester clock (detail) | |
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| An Edwards & Roberts commode |
A circa 1956 palisander rosewood dining table designed by Robin Day |