Royal House Antiques
Royal House Antiques is delighted to offer for sale
this very rare set of eight original Howard & Son’s Berners street
London Gainsborough carver armchairs, fully stamped and restored Circa 1900.
It is exceptionally rare to
find a carver armchair from Howard & Son’s, even rarer to find a set of
eight, these are ideally suited as very fine boardroom chairs or extremely
lavish dining room chairs.
Each chair is fully stamped
Howard & Son’s LTD Berners Street and with matching serial numbers 1690 3845.
The chairs have been fully
restored to include a deep clean, the leather has been hand dyed this wonderful
deep cigar brown colour, the colour is rich and warm, and the chairs look
sublime from every angle
The frames are solid
English oak, very sturdy and stable, they have a nice plinth base stretched
which keeps everything in place.
The provenance for the
chairs is they came from the Chartered insurance institute museum at 21 Lombard
Street London
Dimensions
Height:- 94cm
Width:-59.5 cm
Depth:- 61cm
Please note all
measurements are taken at the widest point, if you would like any additional or
specific measurements, please ask
The name of Howard and Sons
is probably one of the best known and highly sought-after names in Upholstered
furniture. Over the next few paragraphs, I will do my best to give you a brief
history of the company.
The company was started by
John Howard in 1820 trading from 24 Leman St, London as a Cabinet Maker. Over
the next 25 years they would make several changes of premises within the
Whitechapel area. First to 27 Great Alie St (Now just Alie St) before moving a
short distance to 34 Great Alie St.
In 1844 the company made
its first venture into upholstered furniture by opening a showroom/workshop at
36 Red lion St. This was also to be a big move towards what would be their next
and most famous location.
In 1848 they moved to a new
address much more accustomed with the name; Berners St. London as “Cabinet
Maker, Upholsterer and Decorator” under the name John Howard and Sons.
The business seemed to boom
at this location with workshops opening up at Tottenham St, Charlotte Mews and
Fitzroy Sq and an expansion to a second Berners St building in 1853.
In 1869 the company
consolidated its many workshops into the one building on Cleveland St. By 1872
the company was occupying 25, 26 and 27 Berners St. These addresses would
remain unchanged until 1935. During this period, they became a limited company
in 1899 and won the first of their Royal warrants in 1901.
In 1935 the the well-established
decorators Lenygon and Morant appear to take over the name with the business
address being given as 31 Old Burlington St (Lenygon and Morants premesis since
1909).
Lenygon and Morant later
moved to South Audley St where from 1954 they advertised as 'Makers of Howard
Chairs and Sofas'. In 1967 the owners of Lenygon and Morant open Howard Chairs
Limited, the company operating from Lyme St continue to make high quality sofas
and armchairs.
Exhibitions and Important
Houses: At the 1862 International Exhibition (The 3rd World Expo) Howard
and Sons entered a suite of library furniture for which they won a prize.
They also went on to
exhibit at the Paris World's Fair, called an Exposition Universelle twice;
once in 1878 and again in 1900.
Also at the Exposition
Internationale d'Anvers 1894 (International Exposition/World Fair Antwerp).
Winning Prizes at them all including 1 silver and 2 golds.
They also employed their
eclectic styles working for many important clients providing furniture for
important houses such as Sudbury Hall in Derbyshire, Elton Hall,
Huntingdonshire and Stokesay Court, Shropshire.
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