The Anstee Collection

The Late Alan and Mrs Maureen Anstee.

In the early 1970s Alan and Maureen Anstee moved into an 18th Century farmhouse in the
village of Heath and Reach, Bedfordshire where they established Heath Farm Antiques.

With large barns full of stock gathered from long held contacts and local house clearances,
Heath Farm became a regular destination for the antique trade across the UK and a
favourite for Dutch dealers searching out 17th and 18th Century English antiques to sell in Europe.

Alan was a second-generation antique dealer. His father Harold began the whole enterprise
collecting second-hand furniture in a barrow in London at the turn of the 20th Century before
a move to Hertfordshire. The Anstee family name was well known among the community of
dealers in Hemel Hempstead, Kempton and Bermondsey. Maureen was born into a family in the removal trade. She enjoyed a keen and natural talent for interior design and decoration.

Alan and Maureen were passionately interested in history, especially from the Tudors
onwards, not just the lives of the Royals, but the lives of the ordinary men and women, the
social history, the folk customs and rural pursuits of everyday life.

Their collection represents the things they held especially fondly and which decorated their
lovely cottage in Buckinghamshire. It embraces the masterwork of craftsmen, the
idiosyncratic and the naïve.

They loved Period Oak Furniture, Delftware and Slipware Pottery. A beautifully mended and
riveted 18th Century Delft Plate was as welcome on the racks of the George I Oak Dresser
as a beautifully preserved piece; a grand portrait of a child with a pet cat by the Irish society
portraitist Thomas Hickey, hung with a primitive pen and ink plan of a house; 17th Century
Abusson Tapestry next to an oil painting in the style of the Dutch master Jan Van Der
Heyden. The only criteria were Alan and Maureen’s appreciation.

They also enjoyed the mythology and stories behind the object. Maybe the pine and
polychrome painted doll they named ‘Old Sue’ had travelled to Pennsylvania. Is it possible
that the Carved Oak Coffer and Oak Chair inscribed with the initials ‘WB’ had belonged to
William Bacon in 1660?
Alan and Maureen enjoyed the fact these treasures had passed through others lives before
landing with them. The 19th Century Carved Coconuts had travelled across the high seas in
the hands of ancient mariners; the 18th Century Carved Angel Heads originated in the
workshops of Italian craftsmen, Chandeliers from metal and glass workshops in France and
The Netherlands, and a simple Treen Folk Spoon was lovingly carved by an ancestor in a
Bulgarian farmhouse.

Maureen and Alan had an affinity with rural values. They kept an Antique Shepherd’s Crook
and a couple of Oak Lambing Chairs, one rocking beneath a Morris Man’s Rattle. They
enjoyed the humble depictions of 19th Century rural figures of Staffordshire, and paintings of
dogs in the manner of 19th century artist George Armfield, primitive scenes of cosy cottage
firesides and a portrait of splendid bull.

In the dining room, Wall Racks in Old Oak and Pine held 18th Century Pewter, Brass,
Delftware, Treen, and a beautifully Hand Written Recipe Book from 1810. The 17th Century Oak Refectory Table decorated with 18th Century Italian Lacquer Wooden Candlesticks was
encircled by Early Oak Side Chairs, still hosting meals for 21st Century folk.

In the bedrooms, Four Poster Beds were nestled between pieces from all eras: an
Elizabethan Joined Stool, a James I Inlaid Oak Coffer, a Charles I Oak Coffer, a Charles II
Oak Geometric Chest, a William and Mary Occasional Table, a George II Gilt Gesso Wall
Mirror, a George III Mahogany Mirror and a simple Oak Cricket Table from the 19th Century.

The Antique Mirrors reflected the candlelight from the 17th and 18th Century Candlesticks as
the characters in the painted portraits and Dutch Street Scenes lived very comfortably in the surrounding glow.

Everything was chosen because it was interesting, looked beautiful and enhanced Maureen
and Alan’s daily lives. It really is a very interesting collection.