In the film Craftsman of Kilburn (1948) about Robert Thompson and his team, filmmakers Betty and Cyril Ramsden comment: \u2018Here, skill and oak blend, producing the antiques of tomorrow.\u2019 How right they were. The record price for a Mouseman piece is $70,000 (\u00a340,460) for a cupboard, c1923, sold at Sotheby\u2019s in New York.<\/p>\n

\u2018Prices start at around \u00a3120 for an ashtray,\u2019 says Holly. \u2018In contrast, an early desk or sideboard could be as much as \u00a333,000.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Over the last four years, the market\u2019s really risen,\u2019 continues Holly. \u2018Mouseman always holds its money. It\u2019s all so beautifully made and the quality is so high. The oak was seasoned for five to eight years before it was even touched.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Holly and husband Ben started out buying 1930s and 1940s examples. \u2018We could find wonderful early pieces like dining sets fairly easily in the beginning, but it\u2019s much harder now as there are more collectors around,\u2019 she says. \u2018Nowadays, we deal in the later pieces too, from the 1950s\u00a0and 1960s.\u2019<\/p>\n

Holly has sold pieces to famous\u00a0names such as Woody Allen and Marco Pierre White, who has furnished his hotel, The Rudloe Arms, with beautiful Mouseman furniture. \u2018While today, many collectors are wealthy clients or \u201ckings of industry\u201d, when the furniture was first made, it was often sold to local farmers, who used it for bartering.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If the mouse is stuck on rather than carved, it\u2019s a fake. \u2018As prices go up, copies could become a bit more of an issue,\u2019 says Holly. \u2018If the mouse is on the board rather than the handle, it means it\u2019s 1940s or earlier,\u2019 she continues. \u2018There are lots of other ways of dating pieces, but you have to really know Mouseman furniture in order to get a feel for it.\u2019<\/p>\n

On 1930s pieces, the mouse has quite a narrow neck, but the ears were prone to being knocked off, so later designs feature a slightly chubbier mouse with a broader neck and flatter ears. Some collectors are only interested in pre-1955 pieces that were made under the tutelage of Thompson, but later pieces are also highly sought after now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/body><\/html>\n

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By Ellie Tennant Published: Saturday, 03 September 2022 at 12:00 am Famous for the little signature mouse carved into every piece of his work \u2013 from altars to ashtrays \u2013 Robert \u2018Mousey\u2019 Thompson\u2019s English oak creations exude the simple elegance and charm of the Arts & Crafts era. Today, highly prized for its quality\u00a0of craftsmanship, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":14119,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"6"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/09\/a-history-of-mouseman-furniture-and-where-to-buy.jpg",1707,2560,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/09\/a-history-of-mouseman-furniture-and-where-to-buy-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/09\/a-history-of-mouseman-furniture-and-where-to-buy-200x300.jpg",200,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/09\/a-history-of-mouseman-furniture-and-where-to-buy-768x1152.jpg",768,1152,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/09\/a-history-of-mouseman-furniture-and-where-to-buy-683x1024.jpg",683,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/09\/a-history-of-mouseman-furniture-and-where-to-buy-1024x1536.jpg",1024,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2022\/09\/a-history-of-mouseman-furniture-and-where-to-buy-1366x2048.jpg",1366,2048,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Ellie Tennant Published: Saturday, 03 September 2022 at 12:00 am Famous for the little signature mouse carved into every piece of his work \u2013 from altars to ashtrays \u2013 Robert \u2018Mousey\u2019 Thompson\u2019s English oak creations exude the simple elegance and charm of the Arts & Crafts era. Today, highly prized for its quality\u00a0of craftsmanship,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/14118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}