Antiques Trade Gazette

9

different world for Parry

“John Parry has always bought from the trade as well as at auction and price comparisons there are more difficult”

Chester in 1990.

But this kind of performance was not the general rule.

The second highest priced lot of the sale, a well-figured George I period burr walnut bachelor’s chest, 2ft 43 in height and width and 131

/4 /2

in (34cm)

deep, sold for £75,000. This was just inside the £70,000-100,000 estimate and exactly the same hammer sum that John Parry paid at Christie’s in 1997, while a Queen Anne walnut kneehole bachelor’s chest which carried the day’s highest estimate at £100,000-150,000 couldn’t get past £65,000 and failed to sell. This last was notable for its narrow profile – just 131

/2

in (34cm) deep – and well-

finished, veneered reverse, but perhaps counterbalancing this were its later bun feet, associated handles and replaced escutcheons and its recent purchase. Mr Parry only bought it from Apter Fredericks in 2007.

John Parry has always bought from the trade as well as at auction and price comparisons there are more difficult. But looking at the Parry auction

purchases, where ATGhas managed to track down the prices paid, they showed mixed fortunes when it comes to making a profit.

For example, the sale featured a 2ft 10in (78cm) wide George II walnut and burr walnut chest of three long and three short drawers, on replaced bracket feet, dated to c.1730-40. This was another piece that John Parry didn’t let go at the first auction. It was purchased in April 1993 at Christie’s King Street when it cost him £32,000 (like all auction prices quoted here this would attract additional buyer’s premium). This time around it went over the phone for £70,000, mid estimate but over double what he paid 17 years ago. But a William and Mary period dressing table, which had a replaced foot and side stretchers, acquired in the same rooms in 1997 from the collection of Mr and Mrs Melvyn Rollason, was bought in at just £18,000. That was well below an estimate that at £30,000-50,000 was itself well under the £70,000 that it cost 13 years ago. That’s also a contrast to the

performance of another ex-Rollason piece offered in the first Parry auction, a figured

in (73cm)

Above: the yew section of the Parry sale included this 2ft 10in (87cm) wide George II period burr yew and walnut kneehole desk estimated at £50,000-80,000. Bidding got off to a slow start and at one point it looked as if it might not get beyond £40,000 but then a two-way phone contest took it up to £72,000.

walnut reading table that had cost £17,000 at auction in 1983 and sold for £62,000 in ‘97.

The small, 16-lot oak section had a

in (57cm) wide coffor bach from the Gower Peninsula carved with stylised tulips and birds. The cupboard had been acquired at

/2

Sotheby’s Olympia in 2004 for £8800. This time it sold for £5000. The coffor was purchased at Bonhams Chester rooms in 2005 for a multi-estimate £5500. This time it realised £4500. The results for numerous examples of

treen and smaller works of art pointed to similarly mixed fortunes as our caption here demonstrates. One area where the auction picked up noticeably was with a group of around a dozen fruit-shaped wooden tea caddies constructed from a variety of woods.

These had been bought from specialist dealers such as June and Tony Stone, Peter Lipitch and Hampton Antiques or at Bonhams’ London rooms. Several determined trade and private bidders were in contention for these: two or three telephone bidders, a couple of internet bidders (one from the US) and a lady in the room and the resultant competition ensured all got away.

proportionately higher casualty rate with half a dozen bought-in lots. Most of this had been purchased through the UK trade rather than at auction, but two exceptions were an early, late 16th/early 17th century, 2ft 4in (72cm) high food cupboard with pierced Gothic tracery and a 221

Above: when it came to comparing purchase and sale prices, John Parry’s collection of treen exhibited the same mixed fortunes as his larger pieces of furniture. This 73

/4 in (19cm) high

fruitwood tea caddy formed as a pear, acquired from Peter Lipitch in 2003, sold for £5500 to a lady in the room who beat off stiff competition from commissions and another room bidder. Pictured below is a selection of turned pieces mostly acquired by Parry from the Jonathan Levi collection sale at CSK’s on 2006. From left to right: the George II lignum vitae and walnut pounce pot and the George fruitwood muffineer (the latter purchased from David Levi in 2007) sold for £950 (estimate £600-1000); the 41

/2 in (11.5cm) high William and Mary ribbed spill vase in the centre,

purchased at the Jonathan Levi Collection sale for £700, went last month for £250 (estimate £500-800) and the two late 18th century yewwood salts, one 41

/2 in (11cm) the other 11 /2 in

(4cm) high, were purchased at the same CSK Levi sale for £600 and £240. Last month they were offered together as one lot (estimate £600-900) and sold for £850. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72