Royal House Antiques
Royal House Antiques is delighted to offer for sale
this stunning and exceptionally rare Gillows Lancaster twin pedestal double
sided partner desk in panelled figured oak.
An exceptionally rare
example of a early Victorian partner desk made by one of the finest if not the
finest furnisher in English history, Gillows of Lancaster and London.
I will include a short
biography below on Gillows for those who are not fine furniture connoisseurs.
The desk is fully stamped in the middle drawer Gillows - Lancaster and has the
correct Bramha stamped locks under the crown.
The desk is made from
figured oak which has a wonderful patina throughout, oak tends to be quite a
plain grained timber but not this, it is exquisite.
The desk is double sided as
mentioned, the idea being two partners shared either side, the main side has a
full suite of nine drawers, the back side has two large cupboards, pieces like
this are exceedingly rare and highly collectable.
Dimensions
Height:- 75.5cm
Width:- 136.5cm
Depth:- 84.5cm
Leg room
Height:- 61cm
Width:- 55cm
Please note all
measurements are taken at the widest point, if you would like any additional or
specific measurements please ask.
Gillows of Lancaster and
London, also known as Gillow & Co, was an English furniture making
firm based in Lancaster, Lancashire, and in London. It was founded
around in Lancaster in about 1730 by Robert Gillow (1704–1772 Gillows
was owned by the family until 1814 when it was taken over by Redmayne,
Whiteside, and Ferguson; they continued to use the Gillow name.
Gillows furniture was a
byword for quality, and other designers used Gillows to manufacture their
furniture. Gillows furniture is referred to by Jane
Austen, Thackeray and the first Lord Lytton, and in one
of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas.
In 1903 Gillows merged with
Warings of Liverpool to become Waring and Gillow and although the
furniture remained of a high quality it was not as prestigious.
Gillow family (1728–1814)
In 1728 Robert Gillow began
trading in Lancaster as a joiner, builder, house carpenter, furniture maker and
overseas merchant. By the summer of 1731 he had entered into a partnership with
a fellow catholic, George Haresnape, which had ended by 1735. By 1734 six other
names appeared on their staff list. Gillows notably made heavy use
of mahogany wood, which is indigenous to the Americas, from the
early 1730s. In the early 1740s, Gillow owned a twelfth share of the
ship Briget, which he partially used to import mahogany from the West
Indies.
The success of the firm was
partly due to his ability to directly import mahogany; by 1742 Gillow was
exporting finished mahogany furniture back to the West Indies. On 1 January
1757 Robert entered into an equal partnership with his son Richard
Gillow (1733–1811), and the firm was known as Robert Gillow &
Son. Richard was also the architect for several buildings in Lancaster. He
financed the building of the Catholic church in Dalton Square,
Lancaster in 1798.
The family's Catholic
history was important in building up a customer base within Lancashire's
gentry, and their subsequent purchase of Leighton Hall,
Lancashire from a cousin in 1822. On 31 December 1768 Robert Gillow I
retired and left his share of the firm to his other son, Robert Gillow II
(1747–1795). In 1769 and 1770, a shop at 176 Oxford Street, London,
was sent up by the brothers' cousin, Thomas Gillow (1736–1779), to sell their
furniture. Goodison and Hardy state that the firm opened
a London branch in 1760 at 176 Oxford Road. By 1775 the Lancaster
branch had 42 employees, and by 1789 there were about 50 employees.
Any questions please feel
free to ask before you bid.
ABOUT US
Royal House Antiques is a privately owned family
ran business founded in Wimbledon SW19 and now based in Pulborough RH20. We
specialise in finding, restoring very fine luxury antique leather seating,
along with every single other type of antique ranging from the 16th
century to the 20th century. We also stock a number of designer
brands such as Fritz Hansen, Ralph Lauren, Cavalli, Charles & Ray Eames,
Vitra, David Linley, Rolex, Tiffany, Jager Le Coulter and so on
PAYMENTS
We accept payment via Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash,
Ethereum, Bacs, Chaps, PayPal or Card, we would kindly ask that all items are
paid for within 48 hours and collected within 7 working days, we can hold all
paid items for 14 days free of charge, there after a £20 a week storage fee will
apply. We have long term storage which is very economically priced, we are
happy to hold stock for as long as needed providing it is arranged prior to the
purchase
If sold items aren’t collected within three months
and no arrangements have been made for long term storage you will forfeit the
item and payment
CONDITION
Please view the very detailed pictures as
they form part of the description pertaining to the condition. Please also ask any questions before you bid
and not after, all of our items are sold as seen and as listed
Royal House Antiques cannot be held liable for any
independent assumptions made regarding the items we sell, if you are unsure on
any point, please feel free to ask for clarity
Please note vintage period and original items such
as leather seating will always have natural patina in the form of creasing and
wear, we recommend annual waxing to ensure no moisture is lost, also hand dyed
leather is not recommended to sit in direct sunlight for prolonged periods of
time as it will dry out and fade
DELIVERY OR COLLECTION
This item is available for collection from our Pulborough
warehouses RH20-1DF by appointment only, alternatively we can have it delivered
nationwide to include Scotland, Wales and Ireland for a fee
Please contact me via email, alternatively my
contact information is under the business seller section of the listing, with
your postcode for a delivery quotation, as mentioned above the fee listed
covers with the M25 for the UK, for international deliveries the amount listed
covers local Europe only so parts of Belgium and France
Please be sure to include which item you would like
to buy as the price is determined on size and distance, if you would like more
than one piece of furniture the courier offers a substantial discount on the
second and third item, for international shipping please view the below
information
COURIER, LARGE ITEMS ONLY THAT CAN’T BE POSTED
We can arrange delivery nationwide, mostly with our
nominated couriers, for Europe we use one reasonably priced professional company
that we trust, for the rest of the world we use international shippers that can
send any size item crated via air freight within 7-14 days after crating or
soft packed and container shipped via sea freight within 30-60 days. The time
frames outlined are guides only, non-domestic shipping is almost entirely
governed by the airlines, sea freight loading times and custom clearances
Whomever delivers will always require help on the
larger items to unload, the price you will be quoted will always be based on
this assumption, if this is not possible, please let us know as it will affect
the price to send a two-person team
Delivery is to the ground floor only, again if you
need help upstairs or in flats etc that's absolutely not a problem, the
couriers charge £10-£20 per flight per man per item, if you have a working
elevator then naturally there’s no additional fee
All courier fees are paid by yourself directly to
the courier company, the contract for delivery is between yourselves the client
and whichever courier you chose from those available I’m happy to accommodate
your own courier after a cleared payment has been received, they need to book
in a collection time with at least 24 hours notice, all collections must be
made within 14 working days of the close of the sale unless agreed by prior
arrangement
IMPORT DUTY
Most countries charge some kind of import duty
however almost all of our items won’t incur any charges as the items are exempt
from tax due to the age and materials used
For European deliveries the price you will be
quoted will include all clearance documentation and any customs charges so
there won’t be any additional fees
For international deliveries such as the United
States there can be some import duty to pay and or a clearance fee, I would
estimate that 99% of all deliveries clear customs without being stopped for
either
All duties are the responsibility of the purchaser
who is the importer, they can’t be covered by the seller or shipping agent or
factored in with additional retrospective discounts
RETURNS
Royal House Antiques offers a no quibble return
policy if the item is not as described, if there are any issues with the piece
you will be refunded in full once the item has been returned and inspected
within 14 days, alternatively if there is a small issue, we can discuss finding
a mutual resolution that makes all parties happy
We don’t offer a sale on approval service which
means you can purchase the item, have it delivered and if you simply don’t like
it, return it, this comes under change of mind or doesn’t fit. There is a lot
of time, money and work involved in transporting goods around the world, the
costs incurred can be vast so my advice would be if you are unsure on a piece
please ask as many questions as you like to make sure you understand everything
before you buy, if you are still unsure then please either arrange a viewing in
person or if that’s not possible then don’t buy from an online retailer,
perhaps look for a local gallery instead