FINDERS KEEPERS | ART & CULTURE | CABANA MAGAZINE
British antiquarian Will Green, a specialist at his family's Northamptonshire antique business, Ron Green Antiques, shares with Cabana the stories of two extraordinary objects: his greatest find and the piece he’ll keep forever.
BY WILL GREEN | ART & CULTURE | 12 JULY 2024
My greatest find: A George II gilt gesso side table
"I stumbled across this table in a sleepy auction in the south of England a few years ago. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it. It was simply the most beautiful period table I had ever seen. It was fairly small with perfectly patinated, time-softened skin.
"The interlacing ‘strap-work’ and acanthus carving on the gesso top was obviously executed by an incredibly fine hand and retained its sharpness despite 300 years of use. It’s a table I really wish I had kept, but the joy of owning such an elegant and original piece is enough for me."
The piece I’ll keep forever: An oak bench from New College, Oxford
"Last year I was lucky enough to buy six of the benches from The Dining Hall at New College, Oxford. If I had the room to house six 12ft benches at home, I certainly would have, but unfortunately I don’t. I do, however, have room for one. So I kept the best and sold the other five to some dealers in London (one of whom I know has also kept one for himself, and we’ve jointly made a pact never to sell).
"It’s an incredibly strong thing - the top is a single plank of 2” oak, which was probably felled from college grounds and almost certainly supplied during the refurbishment of the college by George Gilbert Scott - the renowned 19th century architect - around 1870. It sits in our entrance hall but I’m tempted, when our verandah is built, to move it under there in a position that catches the sun every morning. Perhaps it’ll turn that wonderful silvery-grey that oak does when left outside for many years."
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