News & Events

The Quintessentially English appeal of Attic and House Sales.

Chorley's Director Thomas Jenner-Fust appears in this month's House & Garden Magazine, discussing with writer Fiona McKenzie Johnston the quintessentially English appeal of attic and house sales. 

"In terms of what you might find at the regional auction houses, the answer is almost anything; Thomas recounts once finding a literal skeleton in an attic (it belonged to one of the first ever female doctors), and a jade-handled sword.  “We come across things people didn’t even know they have,” he explains.  “There might be a coffer in the hall, with a squash racket and a barometer at the top – then we’ll dig down and find a set of leather-bound books that somebody put there 80 years ago.” 

Add dressing table sets, dinner services, fireplaces (yes really), silver, jewellery, silk scarves, antique croquet sets, pretty porcelain ornaments – and soft furnishings, which tend to be sold for significantly less than it would cost to have them made.  For example, in the Chorley’s sale that included items from Spetchley Park, a pair of floral curtains, lined and interlined with a drop of nearly three metres, went for £200 (do remember that you can have curtains cut down, have the headings changed, have a new leading edge put on, etc.)  Similarly, sofas and armchairs can be a steal – and reupholstery seems less urgent (even totally inessential) when you know where a sofa has come from."

Read the entire article The joy of house clearance sales, attic sales, and iconic collection sales at House & Garden Magazine.