(Image: Supplied)
A Mouseman bowl billed as Tennants’ largest ever auctioned has sold for £9,500, underlining growing demand for the county’s handcrafted oak furniture.
The 57cm bowl, a bespoke commission with six of Robert Thompson’s signature carved mice, sold at Tennants Auctioneers’ Mouseman and Yorkshire Critters Sale on October 3.
Another bowl with the same motif fetched £8,000 at Tennants in June.
A 1930s oak monk’s chair from the Horlicks Collection was among the top sellers, fetching £7,000. (Image: Supplied)
A spokesperson for Tennants Auctioneers said: "The real charm of the piece was the addition of six carved mice – two large and four small – scurrying around the base of the bowl.
"Measuring 57cm in diameter, the bowl was a bespoke commission and the largest example ever to have come up for auction at Tennants."
The sale sold 97 per cent of its lots, reflecting growing enthusiasm for Mouseman and other Yorkshire-made oak furniture.
English oak pheasant carving, which fetched £4,000 (Image: Supplied)
Interest is rising, with more bidders coming from outside Yorkshire and overseas.
A 1930s oak monk’s chair from the Horlicks Collection was among the top sellers, fetching £7,000.
The chair came from a set made for Horlicks’ Slough offices and bore the company’s coat of arms.
Robert Thompson’s records show that each chair was originally invoiced at just £6.
Modern Mouseman pieces also sold strongly, led by a Hovingham Octagonal Coffee Table that fetched £4,500—a new Tennants auction record.
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Made in 2010 from burr oak grown on the Hovingham Estate, the table followed a 1924 Robert Thompson design created to mark his first grandchild’s birth.
Other highlights included an English oak pheasant carving, which fetched £4,000, and a 1970s shire horse by Mouseman master carver Stan Dodds, which sold for £5,500.
The 144-lot sale raised £142,700, with almost every item finding a buyer.