Windsor Castle furniture goes under the hammer
THE very rare opportunity to buy antique furniture from a royal residence will be offered to traders and collectors in the Cotswolds at the end of the month.
Four pieces of furniture from Windsor Castle will go under the hammer at the Cirencester salerooms of Moore Allen & Innocent on Friday, May 29.
The top lot is a Victorian amboyna and carved giltwood embellished centre table by the world-famous manufacturer Holland & Sons. The underside of the table is stamped with a Queen's crown, the initials VR and the date 1866. Underneath the stamp are the words Windsor Castle - Room 243, which is one of a suite of six bedrooms. The metre-wide table carries an estimate of £5,000 to £8,000.
A pair of Victorian giltwood chairs also carries the VR stamp, which tells us they belonged in Room 187, the State Dining Room in the Prince of Wales Tower, which was one of the rooms badly damaged by the fire that ravaged the castle in 1992. The chairs also bear a paper label inscribed "P Wales Tower". They carry an estimate of £300 to £500.
And a Victorian carved giltwood framed screen with green silk floral spray decorated panels was assigned to Room 196, the library, and carries an estimate of £300 to £500.
The final lot from the collection bears no stamp or paper label, but carries a high estimate due to its unusual nature and fine condition. The pair of Victorian mahogany waterfall display cabinets with brass-beaded decoration are each almost a metre wide and stand at over two metres tall. They carry an estimate of £2,000 to £3,000.
The pieces of furniture were bought by the vendor’s parents in the late 1950s. Why the furniture was sold in the first place is not known – perhaps the Queen, recently ascended to the throne, was having a clear-out.
It’s not the first time Moore Allen & Innocent has sold furniture from a royal household. In August 2006 the auctioneers helped Prince and Princess Michael of Kent find new homes for their bric-a-brac after they sold Nether Lypiatt Manor. Estimates started at just £2, and the sale attracted attention from across the globe – with the American market particularly keen to get a share of the spoils.
Auctioneer Philip Allwood said: “We sell hundreds of lots of Victorian furniture every year – but this is the first time we can claim to be selling Victoria’s furniture! We’re expecting a lot of interest from home and abroad.”
Among other stand-out lots are a 24cm plate decorated by Pablo Picasso in 1948 and limited to a run of 100. The Visage Noir – or Black Face - plate, which carries an estimate of £500 to £800, was found in a cardboard box of junk headed for a charity shop.
The well-represented jewellery section includes a 3.5 carat diamond pendant, surrounded by diamonds totaling a further one carat. It carries an estimate of £10,000 to £15,000.
A William III long case clock, from the late 1600s, was made by Frenchman Isaac Papavoine in Duke Court, London before being shipped to China for craftsmen to add the striking pagoda scene decoration – a truly international effort! It carries and estimate of £3,000 to £5,000.
Anyone not born with a silver spoon in their mouth now has the chance to own three, which are sure to boost their standing in society. Made in Moscow in the late 19th century, and carrying an estimate of just £100 to £150, they were designed with the specific intention of shoveling caviar down the gullets of the pre-revolutionary aristocracy.
Finally, antiques can be like buses – wait ages for one, then two come along at once. Back in March the auctioneers had a very rare set of Toby jugs on their hands. The full set of eleven Wilkinson jugs depicted Allied leaders from the First World War, including prime minister David Lloyd George, admiral ‘Hell Fire Jack’ Jellicoe, field marshall Sir Douglas Haig, King George V, Lord Kitchener and American president Woodrow Wilson.
The jugs were produced in limited numbers between 1917 and 1919, with the rarest individual pieces numbering just 250, meaning there can only be 250 complete sets in the world.
After they achieved a hammer price of £7,400, the owner of another complete set contacted the auctioneers. The new set carries a £4,000 to £6,000.
The auction takes place at the Norcote salerooms in Cirencester on Friday, May 29, from 10am. For more information log on to www.mooreallen.co.uk
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| Furniture from the Windsor Castle collection – a pair of mahogany waterfall display cabinets |
Furniture from the Windsor Castle collection – a pair of Victorian giltwood chairs |
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| Furniture from the Windsor Castle collection – a carved giltwood framed screen |
Furniture from the Windsor Castle collection – a centre table |
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| A 3.5 carat diamond pendant | A Visage Noir plate | ||||||
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