This September, we are favoured with the estate of a collector who really invested in the very best pieces of English furniture. Coming from a retirement property on the Welsh coast, this property features some really excellent examples of the genre, notably Lot 270, a George III mahogany bureau cabinet attributed to Gillows of Lancaster. This is an early example of their work and is of superb colour with a myriad of internal drawers and semi-secret drawers with original handles and a design which has stood the test of time. From the same property comes a George I  walnut  secretaire cabinet (Lot 269) originally sold many years ago by Partridge of London and bearing a label to the two part carcase. The proportions of this piece are marvellous for the small interior and the colour of the walnut is the classic ‘honey’ colour which collectors enjoy.

Serpentine shaped chests of drawers are more expensive to make than bowfront examples or straight front chests and consequently there is a premium on their price at auction. Add an exotic wood such as satinwood and the price goes up again.

Here Lots 222, 223 and 243 are all serpentine shape and of great quality, classic period pieces at a time when the English furniture market is down to affordable levels. Forget the present ‘zeitgeist’ for minimalism and colourless interiors and buy a rich flame mahogany serpentine chest of drawers. A good piece of antique furniture really gives a room ‘gravitas’, a ‘grown up’ feeling of timeless sophistication and quality. This sale has plenty of great examples of antique furniture  from this principal estate and also some wonderful furnishing clocks, a terrestrial globe by Bardin and a Regency hall porters chair (Lot 224). If you have the room or the hall this is a great piece of furniture, comfortable, warm, draught free and with a pull-out footrest when you really begin to settle in to that glass of claret!

In short, we have a good old fashioned ‘antiques sale’ and why not? Buying now from such a great selection might just make you the new trend setter. You are buying pieces that have low or no carbon footprint, will last hundreds more years and are rich in golden colours, made by the very best of craftsmen. What’s not to like?