Richard Hornby Fyne Ladye Tall Chest Of Drawers

These lovely chests rarely come up for sale. The range was designed in 1962 and made by the up-market maker Fyne Ladye Furniture. They’ll sometimes be described as Heals as the famous London store sold a lot of their furniture, and they’re sometimes found with a Heals label or provenance. This was expensive furniture when it was new which you can see by the quality of manufacture and the expensive materials that were used.

The wood is afrormosia, also sometimes known as African teak even though it’s a totally different wood and a darker colour. Unlike teak which can be cut into thin veneers to optimise the use of nicely grained timber, afrormosia has to be either used in the solid or with very thick veneers making it an expensive wood to use. It was rarely used after about 1966 except for edging and handles.

Richard Hornby designed a very successful dining suite for Fyne Ladye in 1961 and followed up with this range of bedroom furniture with the same type of cut out handles as on the dining sideboards in 1962. The dining suites sold in far greater numbers than the bedroom range as they turn up for sale more regularly, probably as people would spend more on their dining rooms to impress than they could afford on their bedrooms. It’s 3 years since we last had one of these chests even though it’s a model we’re always looking to buy. It came with a matching modular dressing chest which we’ve already sold. 

62.5cms wide , 51cms deep and 108cms high

It's been cleaned and oiled and has no obvious marks or damage. As with all vintage furniture you have to expect to see some minor signs of wear if you look very closely.