How do I view a lot from the current index?

Members may view by appointment at our Cecil Court showroom, six days a week. Non-members can request a private viewing by emailing membership@withnail-and-i.com or calling +44 20 7946 0817.

Are prices published on the public index?

Public plates show the guide price range. Members see the firm reserve, condition report, and provenance file in full. Some consigned pieces are offered 'by application' where the seller has asked for discretion.

Can pieces be reserved while I arrange shipping?

Yes. Members can place a lot on hold for up to 14 days while arranging transport, export licences, or a surveyor's inspection. We can introduce specialist shippers and restorers we have worked with for over a decade.

Do you handle export outside the UK?

We routinely ship to members in 41 countries and can advise on CITES documentation for ivories, tribal pieces, and protected species. We do not advise on import duties in the destination country — your freight forwarder handles this.

I would like to sell a piece through Withnail & I — how do I consign?

Email a photograph, dimensions, and any provenance you have to membership@withnail-and-i.com. One of our fourteen specialists will reply within five working days. We do not charge a valuation fee and there is no obligation to consign.

The Curators' Club · Est. 1998 · Cecil Court, WC2

The Current Index.

Twelve months of vetted pieces, set down as a private catalogue plate for members who would rather see the lot before the world does.

Compiled by fourteen specialists across seven departments · Issued quarterly · Open to the public for enquiry by appointment

Join The Curators' Club Open the Index

Plate photograph, a Georgian mahogany writing slope open on a linen-dressed table — Fig. 01 Writing slope · c. 1795 · Mahogany, brass, ivory, original inkwell and secret drawer · West Country estate

Index holdings · 2024 fiscal year Pieces offered: 31,500 Accepted after review: 12,008 Average tenure per member: 6.4 yrs

A mahogany Gainsborough armchair — Fig. 02 Gainsborough armchair · c. 1765 · Mahogany, original tapestry squab · London private collection

A pair of Worcester porcelain sauce boats — Fig. 03 Worcester sauce boats · 1760s · Underglaze blue, crescent mark · Within 2mm of a matched pair

A pair of Georgian silver candlesticks — Fig. 04 Silver candlesticks · 1787 · London, maker's mark TF · 1,180g, original engraving intact

A Senufo rhythm pounder — Fig. 05 Senufo rhythm pounder · Côte d'Ivoire, mid-20th c · Carved iroko, acquired 1972 from a Hampshire estate

A Victorian Highland regimental shako plate — Fig. 06 Highland shako plate · c. 1845 · Gilt bronze, regimental device · Family descent, Ross-shire

A pair of Arne Jacobsen Swan chairs — Fig. 07 Pair of Swan chairs · Fritz Hansen, 1958 · Original cognac leather, stitched label, original sales receipt

A Swedish 1920s pendant lamp — Fig. 08 Pendant lamp · Nordiska Kompaniet, c. 1925 · Brass, original opaline glass shade · One of eight traced

A Georgian satinwood secretaire cabinet — Fig. 09 Secretaire cabinet · c. 1790 · Satinwood, tulipwood crossbanding, original brass · Yorkshire family, since 1902

Plate numbers run sequentially through the index. Members receive the unillustrated remainder, with prices and condition notes, twenty-four hours before public release.

Chapter II — The Method

How a piece reaches the index.

Twelve thousand and eight lots is what we accepted last year. Thirty-one thousand, five hundred was what we were offered. The number we leave off the page is the more interesting one.

Every consignment enters the same sequence at Cecil Court, whether it arrives through one of the two hundred and thirty estate executors on our books, a member's phone call, or a Friday morning walk-in. The object is logged, photographed, and routed to whichever of our fourteen specialists owns the relevant period. From there it passes a forty-seven-point review covering provenance attribution, documentary chain of custody, structural condition, surface condition, restoration history, material authenticity (a not inconsiderable point with early nineteenth-century brass and mid-century glass), maker identification, regional comparative pricing, and exportability under the UK/EU dual regimes.

Most rejections happen at two predictable points: provenance, which cannot be retrofitted, and condition, which a sympathetic photograph sometimes can. The remainder — substitutions, period mismatches, "almosts" worth photographing but not worth publishing — fall away for reasons that have nothing to do with quality and everything to do with the line we draw between interesting stock and a considered plate. Roughly six in ten offers fail. The point of telling you this rather than the ratio of acceptances is that the four you can see above reached you only because they cleared a bar the rest never came close to.

"If we cannot say when, where, and for whom a piece was made, we do not list it. Indulgence is not curatorial."
— Margaret Holroyd, founder, written in her second quarterly letter, 2004

Chapter III — The 2024 Index, in Figures

12,008 Lots accepted to the index in 2024 Of 31,500 offered · 38% acceptance rate

14 Specialists on the curatorial desk Including 2 FRHS · 1 LAPADA-accredited

41 Countries holding active membership Curators at the V&A, the Met, the Rijksmuseum

6.4 Years — average member tenure 71% renewing year-on-year

Holdings, A–E

Furniture

2,840 lots

From George II walnut to mid-century Scandinavian. Condition reports on every piece over £1,500; structural surveys by appointment in the showroom.

Lead specialist: David Pryce · 38 years in the trade

Ceramics & Porcelain

2,110 lots

Worcester, Bow, Leeds, Meissen, Russian, Chinese export. UV examination for every piece over 100 years; repair history documented in the plate.

Lead specialist: Helena Withers · FRHS

Silver & Vertu

1,260 lots

Georgian flatware, entrée dishes, vinaigrettes, cased sets. Hallmarks read against the Goldsmiths' Company register; assay office confirmation provided for pieces over £5,000.

Lead specialist: Mark Hennigan

Decorative Arts & Lighting

1,470 lots

Giltwood mirrors, ormolu, Art Nouveau glass, 1920s Swedish lighting. Wired to current UK standards where electrical; otherwise sold un-wired with the original fittings bagged.

Lead specialist: Reza Patel

Holdings, F–T

The Withnail & I showroom interior in Cecil Court — Fig. 10The 4,200 sq ft showroom, Cecil Court — open six days, eighteen thousand four hundred viewings a year

Tribal & Ethnographic

820 lots

African, Oceanic, Pre-Columbian. Acquired only with paper trail; consulted with external scholars where attribution falls outside the desk's working knowledge.

Lead specialist: Ines du Crocq

Militaria & Arms

610 lots

Edged weapons, regimental accoutrements, Victorian and Edwardian miniature medals. Licence-checked per current UK legislation; we will not list anything we cannot explain to the Firearms Office.

Lead specialist: Col. James Earle (ret.)

20th-Century Design

2,898 lots

Continental and Scandinavian makers from 1900 onward. Production runs, lab analysis, original documentation, and crucially the absence of "design-by-association" attributions.

Lead specialist: Sara Holm

Chapter V — Notes for Visitors

Practical questions, answered before you book a viewing.

How do I see a piece in person?: Public visitors may view any plate by appointment at the Cecil Court showroom, six days a week. Members may request next-day appointments and access the index one quarter ahead of public release. We do not offer walk-in dealing.
Are prices available on enquiry, and do you negotiate?: Every plate carries a published guide; firm prices are held for thirty days from first offering to members and may be quoted down in genuine case of provenance question. We do not run Dutch auctions, never reduce for "urgency", and will tell you our reserve if you ask.
Can you ship a piece abroad?: Yes, with caveats that depend on the piece. We handle CITES paperwork for ivory and certain timbers, export licences via the Arts Council where required, and use a single specialised courier for fragile and high-value consignments. Members in forty-one countries have used our shipping desk since 2003.
How do I consign to the index myself?: Send clear photographs and any provenance you have to [email protected]. If a specialist on the desk thinks the piece warrants inspection we will arrange to view it either at Cecil Court or at the property. We do not pay for consignment; we agree a reserve together, and we share the plate with members before it is offered publicly. The fee structure is plain and set out on the membership page.

Ready to see what passes the desk?

Join The Curators' Club Book a viewing