The loo or centre table, (Lot 82 ) in the sale, bears a partial label for the Hobart maker James Lumsden and would appear to be the example shown in London at the Great Exhibition of 1851, after which the piece seemingly disappeared for almost 60 years.
The folding circular top of the table, 1.38m in diameter, is decorated with 12 radiating segments of huon pine veneer and the edge is cross-banded with tightly figured birds-eye huon pine, as is the apron and the hexagonal pedestal on which it stands.
Tullochs director Scott Millen says Lumsden was relatively little known until research on him by the late Caressa Crouch was published in the respected journal “Australiana” three or four years ago.
She noted that a Lumsden “loo table and pedestal of huon pine” was documented in a catalogue for the Great Exhibition of 1851, though its subsequent whereabouts were unknown.
Mr Millen says the printed Lumsden label is pasted to the underside of the table top. In addition, he says, there is an apparently contemporary ink label on the top of the pedestal saying “this loo table I bought at the Great Exhibition...” followed by an indecipherable signature.
Mr Millen said the table had been in private hands but would not be drawn as to whether it had been consigned locally or from elsewhere. It had been closely inspected by a number of people, he said.
The table is estimated at $100,000 to $150,000.
The cedar sideboards, known as the Killymoon sideboards (Lot 85 ) and (Lot 86 ), from the property in the Fingal Valley from which they came, are described as being in the classic revival design of the 19th century. The backboards feature three recessed panels with cross-banded framing, the central panel with moulded frieze and flanking acanthus carvings.
The top of each is also cross banded and of inverted breakfront form, above cushion moulded drawers with carved panels. It is raised on two pedestals, with cupboard doors fashioned as classical pillars, resting on plinth bases.
The No 1 sideboard, Lot 85, is 1.32m high and 1.79m wide, and is reported to be in untouched condition. The other cabinet, Lot 86, with “revived” finish, is virtually identical but some 5cm narrower – suggesting the pair was made to flank a fireplace offset from the middle of a room, which is not unusual in colonial times.
The property Killymoon, in central Tasmania, was established by Frederick von Stieglitz, the Irish-born son of a Bavarian baron, who built a large home there in the 1840s in the style of Killymoon Castle, County Tyrone. The sideboards are said to have been in family hands since then. Each sideboard has an estimate of $25,000 to $40,000, and the auctioneer has reserved the right to offer the second sideboard to the buyer of the first, at the same price.