Vendors use their heads

EVER since a bust of King George III made £12,000 at a recent Moore Allen & Innocent auction, dealers and collectors have been using their heads to make a bit of cash – by taking busts to the Cotswold saleroom.
 
A couple will go under the hammer next Friday (October 8). There’s a fine stallion’s head, but if that’s a bit Godfather Part II, a modern sculpture of a beautiful 18th century French aristocrat might do the job. She’s cast in plaster, not chiselled from marble, so is unlikely to make £12,000 for the vendor, but at £60 to £80 she would make a fine piece of interior decoration.
 
Mademoiselle isn’t the only reproduction piece to go under the gavel during the sale. A collection of very modern but well-made reproduction furniture includes a four-poster bed in the Georgian manner (estimate £100 to £200), chests of drawers, seats and tables, the most interesting of which is a Victorian-style specimen table for the kitchen, with drawers for rosehip, hops, ginseng, valerian and oakmoss. A bid of £100 to £150 should secure the lot.
 
Of course, there’s nothing new about nostalgia. A 1920s serpentine-fronted writing desk in walnut harks back in design to the mid 18th century. It was made by Maple & Co of Tottenham Court Road, which used to boast that it was the largest furnishing establishment in the world. This was before the advent of Ikea, mind you.
 
Meanwhile, a handsome Victorian mantle clock has been designed in the rococo taste of the late 1700s. With its walnut case, gilt metal mounts, Arabic numerals and eight day movement, this timepiece is bound to strike a chime with someone, at £50 to £80.
 
And to complete that Victorian mantelpiece look, there is a collection of 20 pieces of Staffordshire flat back figurines, including livestock and equestrian scenes among the more usual fare of people, horses and pets.
 
The collection includes a garniture of a huntsman with spaniel, hunted stag and clock, several pairs – including Off to Market and Back from Market featuring a couple on a horse - figurines of Wellington and Napoleon on horseback, and a scene of a fox leaping over a hound. The collection will be sold in single or set lots, with a collective estimate of £200 to £300.
 
For more information and a full sale catalogue, log on to http://www.mooreallen.co.uk

A modern sculpture of a beautiful 18th century French aristocrat	A handsome Victorian mantle clock has been designed in the rococo taste of the late 1700s
A 1920s serpentine-fronted writing desk in walnut harks back in design to the mid 18th century.	A Victorian-style specimen table for the kitchen, with drawers for rosehip, hops, ginseng, valerian and oakmoss.
A collection of 20 pieces of Staffordshire flat back figurines