An auction celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Yorkshire craftsman Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson drew in the crowds at Tennants Auctioneers on 13th June, offering 300 lots of finely made furniture and decorative objects made by Mouseman and his followers. A packed saleroom and competitive bidding throughout resulted in astonishing prices and proved the market for Mouseman continues to flourish.
Tennants’ Mouseman specialist Diane Sinnott said of the sale: “The last few days have been a real celebration of all things Mouseman and have proved how much his work still means to the people of Yorkshire and beyond. We were delighted to see so many people come through the doors, and to achieve such fantastic prices for our vendors.”
At the heart of the sale were three exceptional private collections. The North East Collection offered a varied selection of furniture, carvings and small pieces, many of which were sourced direct from the Mouseman workshop at Kilburn. The collection generated some of the top lots of the sale, including a very rare Mouseman English Oak Carving of Racing Greyhounds, which sold for £11,500 (all figures exclude buyer’s premium), and an unusually large bespoke Mouseman English Oak Bowl with six carved mice running around the bottom, which sold for £8,000.
The North Yorkshire Collection offered a beautifully curated collection, put together over the course of a decade by a dedicated collector. A host of Mouseman carvings, furniture, and small pieces sourced from both the Mouseman workshop at Kilburn and from auction included an impressive English Oak Stallion Group Carving that sold for £8,000, an English Oak Mare and Foal Group that sold for £7,000, and a Limited Edition Hovingham Estate English and Burr Oak Octagonal Coffee Table that sold for £4,000. Selling for over ten times the bottom estimate at £7,000 was an English Oak Pheasant carving by ex-Mouseman craftsman Bob ‘Wrenman’ Hunter of Thirlby, an auction record for any piece by a Yorkshire Critter carver.
The sale also included the Stone Lodge Interior, which offered the fitted Mouseman interior of Stone Lodge, Skipton Road, Silsden, which was completed in 1953. Now demolished, lots removed from the property included an impressive English Oak Fireplace and Surrounding Panelling, which sold for £7,000, and a set of Three English Oak Panelled Cupboard Doors, which sold for £6,000. The collection sold for a total hammer price of £26,550.
The sale achieved a total hammer price of £329,330 for the 300 lots, and a 95% sold rate.
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