Remarkable oak furnishings assortment with objects relationship again to the 1500s sells for £1million
A collection of oak furniture containing 500-year-old items has sold for £1 million.
The set includes a rare 16th-century extending table, measuring seven feet in length and three feet in width and with a drawer top which can extend to 13 feet.
The Elizabethan era table itself sold for an eye-watering £126,000.
It is a very early example of extending furniture, which had now become common in homes across the country.
The collection was amassed over the past 35 years by antiques dealer Paul Fitzsimmons and contains more than 700 relics.
Mr Fitzsimmons said the sale, at auctioneers Woolley & Wallis, will be used to fund his semi-retirement.
Auctioneers said it was ‘one of the biggest and most historically significant collections to come to market for many years’.
They said it was ‘one of the biggest and historically significant collections to come to market for many years’.
Paul Fitzsimmons pictured with the Elizabethan era table which sold for £126,000
Specialist Mark Yuan-Richards said: ‘The collection was one of the biggest and historically significant to come to market for many years and we were honoured to sell such a great array of early oak and works of art.
‘Extending tables were invented in Elizabethan times so this was a very early example.
‘To get a six figure price for a piece of furniture is rare and we are thrilled that the overall sale made £1million.’
Along with the furniture, Mr Fitzsimmons’s collection also included artefacts and two tapestries.
The tapestries both sold for more than £20,000 each, while a Tudor processional cross sold for £19,000.
Vintage household furniture can fetch surprisingly high prices at auction if they are considered historically significant.
In 2022 a wooden chair which was purchased at a junk sale for just £5, ended up selling for £16,250 at auction.
After noticing its unusual design, the shopper got in touch with a valuer who was stunned to discover that it dated from an early 20th-century avant-garde art school in Vienna, Austria.
The sought-after piece of furniture was designed by esteemed Austrian painter Koloman Moser in 1902.
It was then purchased by an Austrian dealer on the telephone for £16,250.
Paul Fitzsimmons said he would spend the £1million made on the sale on a semi-retirement
Last year, two Robert Thompson ‘Mouseman’ tables sold for a record-breaking £78,000.
Despite having a guide price of around £13,000, the bidders admired the craftsmanship of the table, which was built in 1937 from a single piece of oak.
Vintage IKEA furniture has also become valuable, after a collection of furniture from the Swedish company sold for 37,000 euros (£32,000) at an auction in 2023.
The pieces, which date from the 1950s to the 1990s, were all marked with the stamp of the famous Swedish brand known around the world for its DIY furniture.
Barneby’s, the world’s largest auction search engine for art and antiques, has recently noticed a surge in interest for Ikea furniture from the 1970s in particular, as decor inspired by the decade is set to be a top interiors trend for 2025.
Pontus Silfverstolpe, Barnebys co-founder, previously said: ‘Vintage Ikea furniture is gaining traction as a new collectible category, with early and limited-edition designs commanding higher prices.’
Take the Cavelli armchair, which was created by Ikea’s first-ever in-house designer Bengt Ruda.
This was sold in Ikea stores at a modest price when it made its debut in the 1970s – but that has now changed.
One went under the hammer at a recent auction in Stockholm for £14,000.
The chairs did not sell particularly well at the time, but buyers now seem to be enjoying their retro appeal.
They were created as a limited edition of 3,000, and the rarity may now be driving the higher price
As well as its eye-catching high back and curved design, the fact it was part of a limited edition collection by a big-name designer has added to its appeal.
Other previously modestly-priced furniture items from the 1970s and beyond are also fetching astronomical prices at auction.
An example of the Camaleonda sofa, designed by Italian Mario Bellini and first sold in 1970, went for $40,625 (£32,030) at a Billings auction in 2024.
The plush velvet sofa is modular, comprising nine separate pieces which can be taken apart and arranged in different combinations.
Elsewhere, a vintage 1970s Togo chair, designed by Michel Ducaroy for the French brand Ligne Roset, sold for $1,800 (£1,419) at auction in 2024.
