It is commonly known that a lot of Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson's work was devoted to the inside furnishing of churches. The famous mouse signature came about when he was carving a church cornice with one of his craftsmen. In a letter to Revd. John H. W. Fisher, dated 10th February 1949, he wrote -
 
The origin of the mouse as my mark was almost in the way of being an accident. I and another carver were carving a huge cornice for a screen and he happened to say something about being as poor as a church mouse. I said I'll carve a mouse here and did so, then it struck me, what a lovely trade mark. This is about 30 years ago.
 
Extract from The Mouseman of Kilburn. The Story of Robert Thompson and the 'Church Mouse'
 
Having adopted the mouse signature around 1919, Thompson carved it onto some of his church pieces. Some of these pieces occasionally come to the market. Including this chapel chair, which is an early example, dating to the 1930s. It has been adzed all over, which is quite rare. After the mid 1940s Mouseman stopped fully adzing chairs due to the second world war. Unfortunately, some of his craftsmen were killed in action, and he found it difficult to recruit others. So he began adzing just the back panels to save on time. 
 
The front bottom rail of the chair is positioned between the front legs. Again, indicating an earlier made piece as chairs from the 1950s onwards have the rail positioned between the bottom side rails.
 
The condition of the chair is good. It's sturdy and still very useable today. It has signs of wear and tear as seen in the pictures - chips, stains to the seat etc (priced accordingly), all in line with almost 100 years of use. The signature mouse has been carved running up one front leg and the back of the chair has a cross design, which has been beautifully adzed. To the back of one front leg, there is what at first appears to be a crack. However, on close inspection, it is just the natural grain pattern in the oak. 
 
The seat is lovely, the burr oak is wonderful, and the patination is gorgeous.  Being burr oak makes it particularly rare, these burr examples are becoming increasingly hard to find, so command much higher prices. 
 
Overall, it's a very interesting early Mouseman piece with lots of history. Made around the same time Robert Thompson carved his little signature mouse for the very first time.
 
Also included in the sale is a first edition, first printing of The Mouseman of Kilburn: The story of Robert Thompson and the 'church mouse'. The book is in fair condition. Some of the pages have become detached, but all complete. It's a really interesting read for any Mouseman fan.