The Country House Sale at Tennants Auctioneers, which will take place on 18th May, is packed with traditional antiques and has a particularly good offering of Country-type pieces of furniture, ceramics, and treen.
A good collection of oak furniture from a vendor in the North East including an Early 18th Century Oak Tridarn, a three-level sideboard (estimate: £800-1,200 all figures exclude buyer’s premium), a circa 1700 Oak Geometric Chest of Drawers (estimate: £400-600), and a Late 16th Century Boarded Oak Chest (estimate: £300-500). Further highlights of country furniture include a Primitive Oak Stick-Back Armchair from the late 18th or early 19th century (estimate: £300-500), and two Ash Comb-Back Windsor Armchairs of the same date (estimate: £300-500 each).
An extraordinary collection of Treen and Metalware, put together over many years by David and Hilary Hide, will be sold in forty-nine lots. The Hides, who lived in the North of England, had a fascination for British vernacular objects and developed a deep knowledge of their subject. Not only did they appreciate these pleasingly tactile wooden and metal objects for their aesthetic qualities and their craftsmanship, but the hidden histories they represented, and insights into long forgotten aspects everyday domestic life for which they were used. The majority of the collection dates from the 19th century, with a few earlier examples, including a Treen Lignum Vitae Mortar, together with a pestle, dating from the 18th century (estimate: £300-500).
Amongst the offering of ceramics in the sale is a remarkable collection of twelve assorted English and Scottish Pottery Potato Flasks from the 19th century, which will be sold in one lot with an estimate of £400-600. The flasks are naturalistically modelled and coloured in varying shades of brown, with the exception of three, which are decorated in blue Pratt-type glazes. Potato flasks rarely come up for sale at auction. Little research has been carried out on these peculiar flasks, but some suggest they evolved from novelty stirrup cups, or were made to be filled with homemade spirits such as potcheen or poteen made out of potatoes. Variations were made in America too, which were associated with bootlegged alcohol during the prohibition.
Further interesting lots in the sale include a Pair of Victorian Glass Pharmacy Shop Display Jars and Covers, labelled ‘Sodae Carb’ and ‘Acid Tart’, with provenance from Manders Pharmacy, Malvern (estimate: £1,000-1,500), and an early 20th century Novelty Cigar Box in the form of a railway coal truck with GNR livery (estimate: £300-400).
Also on offer in the sale is a Private Collection of Rugs and Weavings, put together by Nicola Pyne (1948-2023). Nicola Pyne was born in 1948 in South-West London. Her early years were spent at the family house in Strawberry Hill, which backed onto the Thames. She was academically able, attending Lady Eleanor Holles School before obtaining a BSc in Physics from Birmingham University. She had a lifelong love of studying and also completed a degree in Biology from Birkbeck. Nicola worked for many years with IBM before leaving to pursue a teaching career specialising in Physics, Chemistry and Biology. She loved to travel and visited many countries in Central Asia, the Middle East and India, developing a love of different cultures and filling her house with artefacts from around the globe. Her travels led to an interest in ethnic items including jewellery, wood carving and of course tribal rugs and related weavings. Highlights of the collection include a Tekke Maine Carpet, probably made in Merv in the late 19th century (estimate: £800-1,200), and a Sewan Kazak Rug, made circa 1880 in South Caucasus (estimate: £600-900).
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