This time next year Rodney...

A rare and valuable antique is expected to fetch a “substantial price” after being discovered in a Montgomeryshire home.

 

Such is the anticipated value of the George I bureau cabinet (right), the exact location of its discovery has been kept under wraps for fear of attracting unwanted attention to its seller whose identity will be kept from the public.

 

And mywelshpool research has found that he or she is in for a ‘Trotter-style’ windfall after a similar model was found listed on line for over £100k.

 

Jeremy Lamond, fine art director of Halls in Shrewsbury, described the superb, red Japanned bureau cabinet as “an exciting find and probably the best piece of furniture consigned to the company for a decade”.

 

“This is a rare opportunity to acquire a piece of furniture that, in its day, was the Ferrari of its class,” said Mr Lamond, who will be selling the cabinet at Halls’ Welsh Bridge saleroom on April 20. “It would have been made for the bedroom of a top country house around 1720.

 

“This cabinet bears more than a passing resemblance to a similar piece in the state bedroom at Erddig Hall, near Wrexham, which has been attributed to John Belchier. We are expecting national and international interest because it’s in largely original condition, has good provenance and they rarely become available on the market.”

 

Declining to issue a pre-sale estimate for the bureau cabinet, Halls are advising prospective bidders to contact either Mr Lamond or senior auctioneer and valuer Andrew Beeston for further information.

 

A walnut version is listed on www.ronaldphillipsantiques.com for over £100k and a black-Jappaned version sold for £80k last year at auction.

 

The auction will be conducted live on the Internet to a global audience via www.the-salerooom.com/halls. For more information contact either Mr Lamond on Tel: 01743 284777 or e-mail: jeremy@halls.to or Mr Beeston at andrew@halls.to.

 

Have you ever enjoyed a surprise windfall from something you found in the attic or lying around the house? Let us know on editor@mywelshpool.co.uk