Tennants Auctioneers’ Mouseman and Yorkshire Critters Sale on 3rd October will celebrate the work of the Yorkshire icon Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson and his craftsmen in the year of his 150th anniversary. One of the outstanding lots in the sale is a circa 1930s English Oak Monk’s Chair with provenance from the Horlicks Collection (estimate: £3,000-5,000 all figures exclude buyer’s premium). The chair was one of a set commissioned for the offices of ‘Messrs Horlick’ in Slough, each bearing the Horlicks coat of arms, and according to the ledgers of Robert Thomson were invoiced at a cost of £6 each.
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Preview: Mouseman & Yorkshire Critters Sale
Further lots of early Mouseman with good provenance are a rare English Oak Writing Box made in 1928 for Annie Elizabeth Kilvington (estimate: £1,000-1,500), and an English Burr Oak Dish Top Stool made in 1934 and presented to Elinor Gertrude Lupton (1886-1979), a renowned chair of governors and benefactor at Leeds Girls High School (estimate: £1,000-1,500). Mouseman clocks are perennially popular, and two good examples from the 1930s will be offered with an estimate of £2,000-3,000 each, and amongst a wide array of furniture is a 1930s English Oak Table with an unusual shaped cruciform base (estimate: £1,500-2,500), and an example of the 2010 limited edition Hovingham Estate English and Burr Oak Octagonal Coffee Table made with oak from two ancient trees from the Hovingham Estate (estimate: £2,500-3,500).
The sale will also offer a selection of Mouseman and Critter carvings, and not one but two examples of one of the most popular Mouseman carvings, the English Oak Pheasant will be offered with estimates of £3,000-4,000 each. Also of interest to collectors is a rare pair of English Oak Bookends in the form of squirrels eating nuts, which were made by Albert ‘Eagleman’ Jeffray (estimate: £600-900).
