Featured World-record price for a ‘Mouseman’ table

‘Unforgettable’ moment as world-record price for a ‘Mouseman’ table is achieved at East Yorkshire auction

School facing closure sells ‘astonishing’ furniture to mark end of era

Two extraordinary Robert Thompson “Mouseman” 1930s dining tables sold at an East Yorkshire auction at the weekend for a combined total of £78,000. Hawleys auctioneers, based at North Cave, said the £42,000 paid for the 1937 6m (19.7ft)-long table, made from a single piece of oak, was a “world record price for a piece of Mouseman furniture”, with the offer coming from a buyer in Yorkshire.

A second table, made in 1935 and measuring almost 5m (16.4ft)-long sold for £36,000 to a Canadian bidder phoning into the auction from Hawaii. Both bids were sold to phone bidders at the Hawleys Antiques and Fine Art Auction at Beverley Racecourse over Saturday and Sunday, November 22 and 23, where calls and internet bids came in from all over the world.

Caroline Hawley said: “We are incredibly proud to announce a new world-record for a piece of Mouseman furniture. The £42,000 paid for the 1937 table sets a new benchmark for Mouseman craftmanship and the £36,000 for the smaller 1935 table sets another record in its size category.”

She said the sale prices for the two tables had "burst through" the estimates, with the 1937 table having a guide price of £8,000 to £12,000, and the 1935 table at £5,000 to £8,000. Each table had four benches, which sold to the same bidders for prices ranging from £540 to £3,000.

The 1937 table had a guide price of £8,000 to £12,000 before selling for a record £42,000
Sotheby's New York had previously held the auction record for Mouseman furniture - $70,000 (£40,460) for a distinctive two-section cupboard c.1923 with elaborate ironwork by the Kirkby Moorside blacksmith Will Dawson. The furniture, along with other separate items including honour boards and pictures, were sold by Moorlands School in Leeds, an independent preparatory school which has educated children for almost 130 years.

Thompson is regarded as one of the greatest furniture makers of the 20th century, with his trademark signature seen as a mark of authenticity and a symbol of a lasting legacy. The little mouse continues to be hand-carved on every piece made by his Kilburn workshop today.
And he inspired other craftsmen, known as the Yorkshire Critters, whose work was also in the auction, fetching well above guide prices. Many of them trained in Thompson’s Kilburn workshop before setting up their own craft shops but all used the same oak material, and traditional hand tools and techniques.

 

I did a clearance 300 metres around the corner from me a couple of years ago.
The only thing I was not allowed to take was a Mouseman dining suite

I did get some other antiques and I got paid too, so not all was lost.