Lot 430 , A George III crossbanded satinwood oval tea caddy,

A George III crossbanded satinwood oval tea caddy,

**A George III crossbanded satinwood oval tea caddy, with paterae inlay to the top, 5.5in., a papier mache oval caddy with inset paste decoration, 6in. and a Victorian silver plated tea caddy, 5in.
Estimate £150-200

5% Import duty will be charged on the hammer price.

The Beaulieu House Collection, the estate of John Bedford Esq. Removed from St Peter's Port, Guernsey

John Bedford of William Bedford was one of the major dealers in antique furniture in London in the 1970s and for the next 35 years dominated his corner of the trade.

The business was started in the 1960s simply to help his brother William recover from an illness, with a small stall in the Kensington Antiques Hypermarket selling antique glass, while John continued in his role as company secretary at Smith's Industries.

Buying was fitted in at the weekends and evenings by John around other commitments.

After a relatively short time it was found that the furniture used on the stand for display purposes sold more profitably than the glass and a decision was made to take a much larger premises in Upper Street, Islington, and concentrate on period furniture.

John now took up the full-time role of running an antiques business with the skills and approach of a 'true businessman', driving the operation forward into what would become one of the first publicly quoted antiques businesses on the stock exchange.

It operated out of the 15,000sq ft of The Merchants Hall in Islington.

Dealers from across the world would find this often became a one-stop shop for their purchases, allowing them to shorten buying trips to the UK often by weeks.

John was always a kind, cultured and generous man with wide-ranging interests from motor racing to building one of the finest private libraries in the world covering cabinet-makers and furniture designers to the brass-makers of Birmingham.


The satinwood oval tea caddy is a type without an inner lid, the cover is slightly bowed with a gap towards the front showing, there are some lifting veneers to one of the bow pillars at the back and some small areas of veneer lacking in the same area, there are other additional small areas where the veneer has come out and been reglued into position and some occasional small splits in the veener, the zinc lined paper interior is flaking and looks like there is a small inserted bit of marquetry next to where the clasp is on the cover.
The paste mounted papier mache oval tea caddy has a few losses and replacement glass jewels to the cover and to the body but probably in fact there is probably only one paste jewel lacking to the cover, the interior of the caddy has remnants of a lining and a separate wood cover which has dropped to the bottom and now lacking its handle, the clasp for the lock is broken, the escutcheon to the front is lacking, there is numerous small scratches and shallow gouges to the japanned surface.
Silver plated tea caddy is lacking most of its silver plating exposing the nickel underneath, please note that this has an ivory finial which could be removed if you do not wish to have this.


Descriptions provided in both printed and on-line catalogue formats do not include condition reports. The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of aging. Interested bidders are strongly encouraged to request a condition report on any lots upon which they intend to bid, prior to placing a bid. All transactions are governed by Gorringes Conditions of Sale.


Sold for £300