Two examples attracted Continental interest but sold to the UK trade at Andrew Smith & Son’s (21% buyer’s premium) February 5 sale in Winchester.
The c.1870 Louis XVI-style ormolu mounted and brass-inlaid centre table was stamped twice A Beurdeley for the Parisian specialist Alfred-Emmanuel Beurdeley (1847-1919), son of the equally famous maker Louis-Auguste. It doubled the mid-estimate in selling at £5000.
The c.1890 Louis XV-style ormolu-mounted, kingwood and quarter veneer satine desk was by Maison Millet and probably by Theodore Millet himself. The eight-day timepiece was stamped to the movement S Marti et Cie, Paris. Standing 4ft 7in (1.4m) high, the desk sold on its lower £10,000 estimate.
