An Arts & Crafts Yorkshire School English Oak TV Unit by Michael 'Seahorseman‘ Riley post 1990. A Yorkshire School TV cabinet that’s actually big enough for a modern TV!. Featuring:

• Two doors with single plank fielded panels surrounded by rails and stiles joined by blind tenons secured with hand made pegs.

• One drop down door with single plank fielded panels surrounded by rails and stiles joined by blind tenons secured with hand made pegs.

• One drawer (made with single plank fronts solid drawer carcasses joined with hand-cut lap and through dovetails).

• Panelled sides and back.

• Rectangular top made out of just two continuous pieces of oak.

Approximate dimensions are:

• Overall Length 1320mm (4 feet 3 3/4 inches).

• Overall Height 590mm (1 foot 11 inches).

• Overall Depth 530mm (1 foot 8 3/4 inches).

post 1990.

Michael Riley's signature carved Seahorse motif on the plinth.

Very good condition with tight joints, snugly closing doors, smoothly sliding drawer and original finish. Two small marks of the top and a few minor marks and dints discoverable upon close inspection, but less then expected with an item that has been in use for several decades. If you wish to have further specific photographs or talk to us for a more detailed condition report then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Michael 'Seahorseman' Riley of Hessay, York was trained at Acorn Industries with Derek Slater in the 1960s. He produced hand-made high class furniture in the Yorkshire School tradition, all of which carries his trademark carved seahorse motif.

The most British of woods, that can produce really special results. English oak has been used for hundreds of years to construct everything from sea-going vessels to fine furniture. Although oak grows widely across Europe and North America, craftsmen continue to cherish English oak which grows more slowly than its foreign counterparts giving it strength, durability. Quarter sawn boards are very straight grained and have distinctive growth rings and medullary rays that give a very beautiful effect as well as being renowned for their superior stability and strength.

The Yorkshire School of the Arts & Crafts movement started with Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson's  transformation from jobbing carpenter to master craftsmen. By the mid-1920s he had adopted his trademark mouse (now world renowned as a symbol of quality furniture) and had his own workshop busily employing several men. As the workshop grew and over the years many of the craftsmen have taken their skills and branched out and adopted a trademark of their own, a fox, a lizard, a fish, a rabbit to name but a few, and whilst some have closely stuck to the Mouseman designs others have taken the style and adapted it. Other craftsmen, unconnected to the Mouseman workshop, have also chosen the classic Yorkshire Oak style as their own. Typical Yorkshire school items are in English Oak, with traditional pegged joints and adzed surfaces.