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TW3

Posted by David Harvey, Saturday 5 May 2012

Interior of Oak Bureau showing secret compartments

To all readers of a certain age the name TW3 will strike a chord. This was the BBC's first televised satirical comedy programme and aired in 1962 and 1963. "That Was The Week That Was" was hosted by David Frost with interviews conducted by Bernard Levin, songs with Millicent Martin and Lance Percival with a host of comedic actors who later found fame and often came from the Cambridge University Footlights Review. These included Roy Kinnear, John Cleese, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett,Bill Oddie, Graham Chapman etc..

Well this most certainly has been the week that was. It started with an early call last Saturday to view some pieces followed by a visit to the Teesside University for a conference and a series of appointments in Leeds before returning last thing Wednesday evening. Thursday was Election Day here in West Oxfordshire with all the mayhem and rushing around that brings for fellow councillors who may not be standing but are helping their candidate colleagues. The results are still being analysed but all three major parties have come out with exactly the responses I predicted weeks ago to the results we all knew would happen ages ago. Plus ca change!

In between times a little bit of good fortune came my way with several pieces coming into our Witney antiques showrooms and I was delighted to have acquired the delightful Oak and Inlaid Bureau shown in more detail elsewhere on this website but I found it particularly beguiling with the removable central drawer box revealing four secret compartments behind the sliding well aperture and internal door. I have attached a picture of this because it is so nice to see pieces which need no explanation because they are so obviously exactly right and such a pleasure to live with.

Although fashion gurus would have us all believe that the bureau or antique desks as a piece of furniture is passe and out of fashion, I cannot believe that any collector of early English Furniture would not want to find room for this delicious piece. It is small enough to fit into any home and although it is Oak, it is sophisticated enough to stand with any pieces of Quality Antique Furniture.

This is illustrated in David Knell's book on English Country Furniture 1500-1900 and I hope to have enough time to do a little more research on this. In the interim, pieces have been sold and leaving our Witney antiques shop for homes both near and far away all this week with a couple more deliveries to the North of England in the next 2 weeks still to come. Contrary to some predictions, there is, as David Moss pointed out in the Antique Trades Gazette a few weeks ago, still life in the Antiques Trade. Certainly there has been a reduction in the number of Antique Dealers with some taking early retirement, others selling their shops for Coffee Shops etc. but those who are still trading as we all recover from what has been a difficult few years, will reap the rewards of longevity and holding one's nerve as the pendulum swings back our way.

As ever,

David

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