For sale, a taste of the Downton life…
Aristocrat's treasured heirlooms go under the hammer before £25m mansion is sold
Hundreds of treasured family heirlooms are going under the hammer during a £5 million auction which began today at one of Britain's most famous stately homes.
The three-day sale at Cowdray Park House near Midhurst, West Sussex, has been billed as the largest and most important country house auction of the year.
Around 1,200 lots including furniture, silver, old master paintings, tapestries and European porcelain are on offer from estimates of £50 to £500,000.
On offer: A member of the park staff studies the sale catalogue, and some of the lots in Buck Hall at Cowdray Park, Midhurst, West Sussex
Dozens of people crowded into a marquee set within the grounds of the sprawling estate to witness the start of the bidding process.
But the sale has upset some of those closest to the objects on offer. Viscount Cowdray, who is putting his possessions up for auction, has encouraged family members who disapprove of the auction to buy back their favourite items.
Telephone buyers from California, Connecticut and China were also among those vying today for antiques such as a set of three mid-17th century Flemish tapestries which sold for £31,000.
A portrait of Francis Thynne, Lady Worsley, in a red dress and a blue ermine-lined mantle sold for £65,000, while a Charles II oak dresser dating back to 1680 went for £4,800.
Star lots: An Italian Rococo giltwood tester bed and an elaborate silver cabinet on a stand which are being sold
Going, going, gone: Christie's staff remove a sold item from the saleroom
The sale offers antiques from both Lord Cowdray's country home and from Dunecht House, the Scottish home of his brother, Charles Pearson.
Highlights include an early 17th century portrait of a woman identified as Queen Elizabeth I but more probably Catherine Carey, Countess of Nottingham. It is expected to go for between £250,000 and £350,000.
The auction by Christie's follows sales in July when nine works from Cowdray Park were sold for a total of £10,974,000, led by Thomas Gainsborough's full-length portrait of Mrs William Villebois which sold for £6,537,250 - a world record price for the artist at auction.
Also for sale: Cowdray Park House, some surrounding property and parkland was put up for sale by the present Lord Cowdray for £25 million last year
Many of the works being offered were acquired by Weetman Dickinson Pearson (1856-1927), the first Viscount Cowdray and his son, Weetman Harold Miller Pearson, the second Viscount.
Weetman Pearson developed his family firm, S Pearson and Son, from a small company in Bradford into one of the most successful business empires of the 20th century with interests in oil and construction.
For 10 years he was the MP for Colchester in Essex but because of his regular absences from the House of Commons he was often jokingly referred to as the 'Member for Mexico'.
Weetman Pearson acquired Cowdray Park in 1909. His company, Pearson, still exists as a global media and education company and the largest book publisher in the world.
Family heirloom: A George VI silver tray, engraved with signatures is also up for grabs. The inscription reads 'Viscount Cowdray on the Occasion of his Marriage 19th July 1939'
Andrew Waters, head of private collection and country house sales at Christie's, said: 'Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray and his wife Annie, Lady Cowdray were among the most prolific and discerning British collectors of the early 20th century, coupling their considerable wealth with a taste for beautiful pictures, objects and works of art.'
Last September Cowdray Park House, some surrounding property and parkland was put up for sale by the present Lord Cowdray for £25 million as he reportedly wanted to downsize and not burden his son with looking after it.
The estate agents handling the sale, Knight Frank, said it was still on the market.
For sale: James Dean’s private letters to his girlfriend plus rare photos are up for grabs at auction
He was the poster boy for Hollywood glamour - mean, moody and infinitely enigmatic.
Now fans of actor James Dean have the chance to own a piece of his private life with the sale of personal letters at auction.
The private letters from the movie heart-throb are to his then girlfriend Barbara Glenn, whom he dated for two years.
The hand-written notes to Barbara Glenn, whom he dated for two years, come from her family archive and have never been sold before.
Dean died in a car accident in 1955 as he was poised for major stardom.
He starred in three major movies - Giant, East Of Eden and Rebel Without A Cause - before his untimely death of the age of 24.
The three letters are to be sold separately but are estimated to fetch a total of $25,000 when they are sold at Christie's in London, England, on November 23.
In one letter, dated January 10 1954, he tells Glenn about rehearsals for a Broadway adaptation of The Immoralist which he calls 'a piece of shit.'
But the letter, sent from the St James Hotel in Philadelphia, and illustrated with doodles of buildings, also predicts that the play will 'probably be a monster success.'
His positive reviews led to an early exit and a move to Los Angeles within weeks.
Another letter was sent on May 7 that year, a month into filming his first starring role, East Of Eden.
In the letter he responds angrily to a letter she wrote informing him she was doing a swimsuit photo-shoot, telling her: 'Boy, that's selling out cheap.'
The final letter jokingly suggests that the relationship may be over as he tells her: 'Darling I haven't written because I have fallen in love.'
But he goes on to say that he is referring to his horse 'Cisco the kid.'
As he outlines how homesick he feels, he thanks her for 'the nicest, sweetest letters in the world.'
The couple are thought to have been introduced by mutual friend, the actor Martin Landau, in New York.
Glenn's son, filmmaker Keith Gordon who is selling the letters, said: 'They were all young actors starting out and struggling together.
'She never discussed their romance in great detail, but I did know Jimmy was her first serious, grown-up relationship.
'It was apparently very intense and involved numerous break-ups and reconciliations, but she often remained his confidant even during some of the "off-again" times.
'Eventually my mother met my father Mark Gordon, an actor and director, and broke it off with Jimmy to go with my Dad.
'Jimmy actually gave her his blessing to leave, even he knew that what they had was too fraught with drama to ever be stable.
'I hope that a fan or collector can gain as much pleasure from owning these letters as my mother clearly did from receiving them, and as I did in learning more about my mother's history.'
Neil Roberts, head of popular culture at Christie's, said the letters provided 'a tangible insight into the mind of the film star.'
'They reveal a private side of Dean's character far removed from his public persona - the young man who became a screen legend - a lonely, insecure, and caring person, dedicated to his craft.'
The lots also include a number of photographs of the actor.
Source: Mail Online
A life in diamonds: As Liz Taylor’s £20million jewellery collection goes under the hammer
Richard Burton is asleep in bed. He stirs to find that his wife, Elizabeth Taylor, is in another room. ‘What are you doing?’ he calls out to her. ‘Playing with my jewels,’ she blithely replies.
She certainly had a few. And this week it was announced that her collection - thought to be one of the world’s finest - is to go under the hammer at Christie’s in December.
While today’s Hollywood stars merely borrow baubles from the houses of Cartier, Bulgari, Harry Winston and Tiffany, Elizabeth Taylor owned hers and the auction - made up of 269 diamonds, pearls, rubies, rings, necklaces and a tiara - is expected to make at least £20million.
Star quality: Elizabeth Taylor pictured in 1967 wearing the Grand Duchess Vladimir Suite, a collection of diamonds and emeralds expected to fetch £2.3million at auction
The two-day sale will be preceded by a three-month global tour that will also display couture, fine art and memorabilia belonging to the actress, who died of heart failure in March aged 79.
But although Taylor enjoyed art and fashion, jewels were always the star of her show.
After every film wrapped, she would demand, as well as her fee, that the producer bestow upon her a valuable piece of jewellery. Burton bought many of her most famous pieces, most notably the Krupp diamond in 1968 for £237,000, which is regarded as the most flawless diamond in the world. It is estimated to fetch up to £2.2million.
Sadly, Taylor’s most famous jewel, ‘The Taylor-Burton diamond’ - a 69.42 carat, inch-thick diamond from Cartier for which Burton paid £680,000, making it the world’s most expensive diamond at the time, is not in the auction.
Taylor wanted to wear the diamond suspended from a £24,000 Cartier necklace to Grace Kelly’s 40th birthday party in Monte Carlo in 1969. Her insurer, Lloyd’s of London, insisted she be accompanied by guards armed with machine guns. Princess Margaret thought the diamond so big as to be vulgar. ‘Yes, ain’t it great?’ said Liz. The Princess tried it on. ‘It doesn’t look so vulgar now, does it?’ the actress quipped.
Elizabeth sold the diamond in 1979 for £1.8million in order to fund her then husband John Warner’s senatorial candidacy.
The star would go on to amass a collection which Christie’s Americas chairman and president Marc Porter has described as ‘without a doubt the greatest private collection of jewellery ever assembled in one place’.
‘It’s clear she possessed an expert’s eye for craftsmanship, rarity, quality and history,’ says Francois Curiel, Christie’s international jewellery director.
Elizabeth understood she was merely a custodian of the jewels and that one day they would belong to someone else. And unlike so many women who keep their jewels under lock and key, at least she wore them.
‘You can’t cry on a diamond’s shoulder and diamonds won’t keep you warm at night. But they are sure fun when the sun shines,’ she loved to say.
Since Taylor’s death, the world shines a little less brightly. But the diamonds live on, and thanks to this auction at least we can all get the chance to see them.
Napoleon’s hair found at Sir Walter Scott’s former home
The lock of Napoleon's hair was contained in a small handwritten note
A lock of Napoleon's hair has been unearthed during a visit by a TV antiques show to the former home of Sir Walter Scott in the Borders.
The historic item was contained in a small handwritten note at Abbotsford House near Melrose.
The hair was found by the Antiques Road Trip team during studies of a blotter book which had belonged to Napoleon.
Jason Dyer of the Abbotsford Trust said it showed the "importance of preserving this wonderful home and its contents".
The hair was rediscovered as one of the show's antiques experts, Anita Manning, and Mr Dyer examined the blotter book which had been on show in the library.
It contained a small handwritten note dated 8 November 1827, written to Sir Walter Scott from a Mr Dalton.
In the note, Mr Dalton explained that the lock of hair was given to him by Lt Col Elphinstone who served under Wellington, and that he believed it would be of great interest to Scott who was famed for his passion for collecting.
The blotter, which is in an extremely fragile condition, the note and hair have now been removed from Abbotsford and are being examined by a team of conservation experts.
They will go on show again to the public once that work has been completed.
The lock of Napoleon's hair is just one of a host of "fascinating objects" in Sir Walter Scott's Abbotsford collections.
Other items include a silver urn gifted to Scott by Lord Bryon, a clock that is reputed to have belonged to Marie Antoinette, Rob Roy's broadsword, dirk, sporran and gun, as well as numerous artefacts collected from the field of the battle of Waterloo.
A multi-million pound regeneration is now under way at Abbotsford including the first extensive cataloguing of all of the historic objects in the house, as well as conservation work on many of the pieces.
Abbotsford Trust chief executive Mr Dyer said: "We're obviously delighted by this latest rediscovery which we believe demonstrates further the importance of preserving this wonderful home and its contents for the future.
"For the last four years, we have been developing plans and raising funds to enable us to preserve Abbotsford and create a world-class attraction where visitors can learn about Scott, his legacy and his wonderful collections.
"We believe the restoration process involved will unearth even more treasures and are greatly looking forward to seeing the progress of this exciting project."
'Hidden gems'
Wendy Rattray, executive producer at STV Productions, which produces the TV series, said they had been delighted with the "truly breathtaking find".
"Our experts are always on the lookout for hidden treasures as they drive across the UK but never did we imagine we'd find something of such historical importance," she said.
"It just goes to show that there are still hidden gems waiting to be discovered and our experts are still managing to thrill and excite the audience with their finds."
The episode of Antiques Road Trip featuring Abbotsford is due to be screened on BBC Two on 14 September.
Source: BBC News