The June auction of Fine & Decorative Interiors and Jewellery features a collection of Regency, Georgian and Victorian furniture and objects, along with copies of the ground-breaking 1983 publication, Eighteenth Century English Furniture: The Norman Adams Collection, co-authored by the Directors of Norman Adams Ltd, Stewart Whittington and Christopher Claxton Stevens. The reference work features some of the exceptional pieces handled by the firm from its founding and it is still regarded as an invaluable guide to period furniture.
Norman Adams (1905-1979) was the son of a school master and antiques dealer, and he grew up surrounded by the kind of items he would handle for the rest of his life. He opened his first premises in 1923, on Charles Street, Boston, USA, after leaving the antiques business of his father, Walter, in Bristol. In 1928 a London branch was established, at 8-10 Hans Road, Knightsbridge, where two shops were knocked into one and were accessed through a single front door.
Norman Adams built a business which became acknowledged as the unsurpassed supplier of fine 18th century English furniture. His purchasing decisions were determined by patina, along with the look of a piece, its colouring and figuring. The firm obtained their stock from a variety of sources, but invariably did not frequent the international salerooms even though in the period from the founding of Norman Adams until the late 1980s private clients bidding on their own behalf were rarely seen in the auction houses.
Norman Adams nurtured extremely strong, long-term relationships with private clients, many of whom were buyers, then sellers, and buyers again at the firm over a number of decades. An important example of the longevity of such dealings is the Murray Cabinet, circa 1745, attributed to the maker John Channon (1711 – c.1783). Regarded as an outstanding masterpiece of English furniture, its proportions are extremely generous, and within its structure are found numerous secret interlocking drawers for the safe keeping of love notes and treasures. The Cabinet had passed through Norman Adams Ltd in 1950, when it was sold to the collector Arthur Bull, and following Bull’s death it was re-purchased by the dealer. In 1986 Norman Adams Ltd was instrumental in the sale of the Cabinet to Temple Newsam House, Leeds, where it remains on display in the Blue Damask Room.
Stewart Whittington worked with Norman Adams from the 1960s and a couple of years after Adams passed away in 1979, Christopher Claxton Stevens joined the business from Christie’s where he had worked for six years in the furniture department and on House Sales. Stewart focused on the management of the business, and Christopher devoted his time to research and writing, and in an interview given in 2015, Christopher noted that their division of tasks worked well and together they discussed and agreed on what to buy. Despite its worldwide client base and the presence of Norman Adams at the Grosvenor House and the British Antique Dealers Association fairs, the firm only ever comprised four full time employees at any one time.
Norman Adams ceased trading in 2009 but just a few years before, in a unique development for the time, contemporary furniture was added to the Adams inventory and these pieces were displayed both alongside antique items or alone. The reach and influence of interior decorators was increasingly a significant factor in the market for furniture and rather than furnishing a home or room in one single style, as had been the norm for many centuries, contemporary and antique furniture were now being purchased with the idea of creating a harmonious mix. Norman Adams continued to be guided by the quality of the item, be it contemporary or antique, if it was well made, from the best materials and with a distinct form, it was likely that pieces of differing ages would work together.
In addition to the pieces showing here, further highlights from the collection include: a George III mahogany open armchair, attributed to Gillows (lot 137, est. £500-800 +fees), the design corresponding to those by Gillows of Lancaster and London, specifically a chair and window seat en suite, as illustrated in L Boynton, Gillows Furniture Designs, 1760-1800, (fig 272) which in turn relate to a suite of seat furniture most probably supplied by Gillows to John Harvey for the Breakfast Parlour at Ickwell Bury, Bedfordshire, circa 1785; a George III carved mahogany cellaret, in the manner of Thomas Chippendale, its square cavetto moulded lid features egg and dart moulding with canted angles above panelled fronts and sides (lot 134, est. £500-700 +fees) and a George III mahogany pie-crust tripod table, with a fine patina typical of that for which Norman Adams’ furniture was known, (lot 124, est. £1,500-2,000 +fees).
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Fine & Decorative Interiors and Jewellery | Browse & bid
Property from the estate of the late Stewart Whittington: lots 114-152
Bidding on the auction will close from 5pm, Tuesday 24 June 2025
For all auction enquiries: +44 (0)207 281 2790 | info@thepedestal.com