The autumn season of sales started last week and immediately estimates issued by an auction house were spectacularly surpassed, an occurrence which has become familiar A pair of Regency mahogany-framed tub-back armchairs in the manner of Thomas Hope were offered on Wednesday at the James Adam salerooms with an estimate of £3,000-£5,000; eventually they were bought for £36,000. So extraordinary is the difference between these two figures that it merits some comment.
After the sale, Adam's James O'Halloran offered a number of reasons for the disparity between the estimate and their final price. He suggested caution on both the vendor's and auctioneer's parts, plus uncertainty about the market, had led to the low estimate.
However, the most cursory examination of this lot showed the two chairs' fine quality of design and manufacture - hence the reference in the sale catalogue to their being "in the manner of Thomas Hope." Hope was a key figure in the field of early 19th-century furniture and interior design and anything associated with his work possesses an inherent value.
While caution is always understandable on the part of auctioneers who do not wish to inflate their clients' expectations, the current state of the Irish market for antiques ought by now to have encouraged a greater degree of realism in the pricing of estimates. Almost on a weekly basis over the past year, this page has recorded lots at auctions across the country selling for considerably more than had been predicted by the auctioneer. It is quite clear that demand for items of the best quality currently far outstrips supply and that, accordingly, when chairs such as these come up for sale they will be keenly contested.
Estimates are not reserves; they are merely helpful suggestions to interested bidders of what eventual figures might be achieved. When there is such a substantial leap in figures as was the case last Wednesday, estimates become meaningless. While a small and occasional disparity between estimate and final price is understandable, a difference of £31,000 is not. Either, auctioneers should offer bidders realistic estimates or simply admit they have no idea what a lot might fetch on our buoyant market and dispense with the current practice.
The Regency chairs were not the only item to exceed their estimate last Wednesday at the James Adam salerooms; a George III mahogany rectangular hall table went for £15,000 after being expected to make £4,000 at most. A set of nine Regency mahogany rail-back dining chairs (estimate £3,000-£4,000) fetched £8,800, a French 19th-century seven-piece part salon suite (estimate, £2,000-£3,000) sold for £8,500, a George IV Irish mahogany rectangular serving table (estimate, £2,000-£4,000) made £8,000, as did a late 19th-century Coalport porcelain part dinner service (estimate, £1,500-£2,000), and £7,000 was paid for a Victorian inlaid, walnut-shaped partners desk (estimate, £2,000-£3,000).
