‘Celebrity’ house clearance led to very busy sale

A MASSIVE house clearance from a mystery country pile somewhere in the UK led to one of the busiest sales ever at Moore Allen & Innocent’s Cirencester salerooms on Friday, May 16.

Although the auctioneers had been sworn to secrecy over the identity of the vendor or the location of the mansion, nearly everyone at the event had an opinion about who the seller was, with speculation ranging from members of the royal family to sultans and oligarchs.

The saleroom filled to capacity as bidding started on 689 lots of mainly modern and reproduction furniture and fittings, which included numerous sets of lined curtains, armchairs, settees, beds, tables, lamps, mirrors and ornaments.

The top price of the day, however, was achieved by antiques: a pair of 18th century French giltwood chairs with tapestry upholstered back and seat, which sold for £6,800.

Among the more notable pieces was a full-sized billiard table, once owned by Randolph Churchill, the only son of Winston Churchill. The table, made by Burroughs & Watts, London, had an owner’s plaque bearing the words “Randolph Churchill, East Bergholt”, and achieved £4,400.

The 66 container-loads of furniture included over 50 chandeliers, several of which made some of the top prices of the day, including a large gilt metal and cut glass electrolier, with a 1.5 metre drop, which sold for £2,800 and a similar large gilt metal and cut glass electrolier, with a 1.3 metre drop, which sold for £2,200.

There were three carpets in the sale, the best of which – a Persian carpet set with floral sprays within a stylised border and measuring over five metres by three metres ­– made £2,200.

“It was quite an event – as busy as you could expect a sale here to be,” said auctioneer Philip Allwood. “Although many of the items were reproduction or modern, there was a great deal of interest, and I was delighted with the prices they achieved.

“Many of the items were purchased from a renowned department store in central London within the past ten or twenty years and are still available there today at double the price they were achieving at the sale, and I think a lot of buyers had done their homework beforehand and considered that they went home with some real bargains!

“It just goes to show that quality sells, regardless of whether it is ancient or modern, and anyone considering a clearance of modern of reproduction furniture might think about using an auction house as a way of selling their unwanted furniture and furnishings.”

Not all of the items from the house were sold at Friday’s sale. Antiques and the best reproduction items were reserved for the Selected Sale, which takes place on Friday, May 30. Highlights include a mahogany Georgian-style dining table, which measures a dining room-busting 46ft long and is estimated at between £2,000 and £3,000. The 56 mahogany sabre-legged dining chairs in the Regency style that complement the table are being sold as seven separate lots of eight.

Meanwhile, another consignment of similar items from a house on the same estate is on its way to the auction house and will go under the hammer on Friday, June 13.

For more information about buying and selling at auction log on to www.mooreallen.co.uk or call 01285 646050.

A full-sized billiard table, once owned by Randolph Churchill, which was bought for £4,400.
A pair of 18th century French giltwood chairs which achieved £6,800	A 1.5m large gilt metal and cut glass electrolier which sold for £2,800