Antiques

HOUSE SALE Richard Bromell, ASFAV, Charterhouse Auctioneers

An early memory was wandering around a country house auction with my parents. Wandering might be a slight over-statement. As a parent, I remember my kids ‘wandering’ around with me 20 years ago, and in reality, it was dragging them around wherever we were!

But the country house auction memory is strong. I suspect, living in a modern house, this was the first time I went into a large dwelling and I remember the staircase in particular with its dark, carved wood – a far cry from our family home with its white gloss painted bannister rail and wrought iron balustrades.

I expect we were only there as my late father had a large interest in military history and militaria, and there was a group of medals in the sale which he looked at and then bought at the auction. This was all back in the early 1970’s. At this time, there were quite a number of country house auctions. Moving forward to the 21st century and the country house auction is a rare occurrence indeed.

Having been at Charterhouse for over 20 years, we have had a few small off-site sales, but not a country house auction. That is… until the end of July.

Eight years ago, I carried out a valuation for inheritance tax (more commonly referred to as probate) for a solicitor in Exmouth. The lady’s family had been in the house, a substantial 19th century dwelling with large rooms and high ceilings, since about 1900. Moving forward to early 2020, her son passed away and I was asked back to carry out the probate valuation for his estate.

He never married, and with only a few close cousins, the executors took the decision to instruct Charterhouse to auction the contents. My initial thought was to remove the contents back to our salerooms in Sherborne. At our salerooms, we have all the infrastructure set up for running auctions and running offsite classic car and motorcycle auctions, we are also well positioned to work outside of the salerooms.

However, the temptation to hold a country house

auction in Exmouth was just too much. Thankfully, the executors were also excited by this and agreed, but it would be with a twist. Viewing for the sale would be at the house, with everything left in situ. The personal papers were sorted and removed by the executors and overall, there was not too much remaining sorting to do. That was, apart from the attic rooms. Here, three generations of the family put all their unwanted items upstairs, out of sight and out of mind. I quite enjoyed working up there - sorting through the old toys, ceramics, glass, tools and furniture riddled with wood worm! But there were also some nuggets hiding in the

Archibald Thorburn, Red Grouse in Flight, watercolour, sold for £83,200

attic, including a Clarice Cliff pottery tea set.

We had two days of viewing at the house, but then went back to our Sherborne salerooms to hold the auction. Traditionally, a country house auction would be held in a marquee in the grounds of the house, but with security issues, poor Wi-Fi and Covid-19 restrictions in place, the decision was taken to hold the auction online with absentee and telephone bidding at Charterhouse World Headquarters!

Bidding was fast and furious for all the lots. Top lot was a watercolour drawing of Red Grouse by Archibald Thorburn which sold for a total of £83,200. There were also many other lovely lots, which contributed to a sale total of over £320,000, such as a cut, faded and worn carpet in the dining room bought by an American bidder for £9,100, the Clarice Cliff tea set from the attic for £338, and even a vintage Silver Cross pram, sold for £65 to a buyer near Sherborne who openly admitted they had no idea why they bought it.

It was a great auction and it certainly had the ‘country house bidding fever’ I hoped for, although the auction was held online 60 miles away from the house!