Mouseman furniture proves popular at Tennants in North Yorkshire

The sale saw exceptional prices for pieces by both Mouseman and the ‘Critter’ craftsmen and generated a total hammer price for £142,110 for 177 lots.

Topping the sale was a six-foot Mouseman sideboard, which sold for £5,500 (plus buyer’s premium), sideboards being amongst the most popular designs of Mouseman furniture at auction due to their practical and useful nature. A good Burr oak kidney table sold for £2,700, a newel post cap carved in the shape of an owl with mouse in one talon sold for £3,000, a carved mouse standing on a truckle of cheese sold for £3,800, and an oak fox carving by Stan Dodds for Mouseman sold for £5,200.

However, it was the strong selection of lots by the other Yorkshire Critter Craftsmen that saw a marked increase in demand, following on from the first ever exhibition dedicated to the Yorkshire Critters which was held at Tennants this spring.

Indeed, the sale saw the house record for a carving by Stan ‘Woodpecker’ Dodds under his own name rather that of Mouseman, when a ‘Woodpecker’ carved elephant sold for £5,200.

A double pin tray made by Dodds under his earlier Rabbit signature sold well, too, at £1,100 against an estimate of £200-300.

Further notable results were seen for pieces from the estate of Horace ‘Knightman’ Knight at Old Mill Furniture such as an oak three-piece suite (sold for £2,500), an oak panelled dresser (sold for £2,000), and an oak panelled bureau made by Knight and Sidney Pollard, who taught him his craft (sold 
for £2,200).

A further oak bureau, this time by Albert ‘Eagleman’ Jeffray, sold for more than double the top estimate 
at £2,000.

Elsewhere in the sale, a good selection of French glass was led by an opalescent, stained and frosted Ceylan No.905 vase marked ‘R Lalique France’ sold for £2,800 against an estimate of £500-700.

Selling well, too, at £1,500 was an Art Deco glass car mascot designed by Lucille Sevin for Etling of Paris circa 1932, modelled after the legendary American dancer Isadora Duncan.

Art Deco figures remain much in demand at auction, and a beautifully shaped cold painted bronze figure of a dancer by Josef Lorenzl sold above top estimate 
for £2,500.

Amongst the design furniture in the sale, an Aesthetic Movement Cupboard sold for £1,700, and a circa 1933 reclining bookshelf chair made by Heal’s sold for £1,900.

The sale achieved at total hammer price of £194,940 for 329 lots and a 90% sold rate. Full sale results are available on our website: www.tennants.co.uk

All prices quoted are hammer price, excluding buyer’s premium at 22% plus VAT.

The next sales at Tennants will be the Antiques and Interiors, including a section of silver, on July 8, David Battie: A Study Collection on July 15, the Summer Fine Sale, and the British, European and Sporting Art sale both on July 16.

Tennants Auctioneers is a fourth-generation family business and is one of the UK’s largest international Antiques and Fine 
Art auctioneers.

Situated in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, Tennants holds more than 80 sales and connects more than 200,000 buyers and sellers a year.

In 2014 Tennants expanded the Auction Centre to 80,000sq ft with the development of The Garden Rooms - a dedicated venue for events, weddings, conferences and exhibitions. The venue is one of the region’s largest event spaces with a capacity of over 600 people.

For more information and a timetable of future sales, go to: www.tennants.co.uk