Chorley’s highly anticipated Country House sale on 29th January 2019 did not disappoint. The majority of lots came from the fourteenth-century manor Beverston Castle, near Tetbury, and Grade I listed Ombersley Court, Worcestershire, with additional pieces from a Berkshire country house and selected other properties.
Chorley’s highly anticipated Country House sale on 29th January 2019 did not disappoint. The majority of lots came from the fourteenth-century manor Beverston Castle, near Tetbury, and Grade I listed Ombersley Court, Worcestershire, with additional pieces from a Berkshire country house and selected other properties.
On the day, the star lots from Beverston Castle came from the impressive collection of jewellery formerly belonging to the late Mrs Rook, a longstanding customer of Garrard, the prestigious Crown Jewellers. Mrs Rook lived with her late husband Major Laurence Rook MC at Beverston Castle which was once part of the great lordship of Berkeley, taken from Roger de Berkeley by Henry I.
Highlights from Beverston Castle included a pair of natural saltwater pearl & diamond earrings, which sold for £38,000, a Victorian diamond tiara, knocked down at an impressive £19,000, and a diamond three-stone ring, which went under the hammer at £15,000.
A selection of lots from Ombersley Court, built for the first Lord Sandys between 1723-1726 by Francis Smith of Warwick, made their auction debut, having remained in the family for generations. Since the 1950s, the house has remained somewhat of a ‘sleeping beauty’, only viewed through the lens of photographer Arthur Oswald for a Country Life profile in 1953. Oswald’s photographs showcased the house’s decorative interiors and stately refinement, particularly the intricate plasterwork and carving.
Highlights from Ombersley Court included a rare edition of A Curious Herbal by Elizabeth Blackwell from 1782, making £17,000, along with two particularly distinguished portrait miniatures by John Hoskins and Cornelius Johnson, which were knocked down at £6,500 and £5,000 respectively.
The sale also included some exceptional pieces from a country house in Berkshire, and some very strong results in the pictures section. This included Waiting for the Guns, an impressive sporting oil by Arthur Wardle, which sold for £6,500—a strong price for the artist—as well as a local hunting scene by John Arnold Wheeler, entitled The Duke of Beaufort Riding to Hounds, which was knocked down at a punchy £5,500. Finally, a nineteenth-century naïve study of a bull trumped expectations, making £4,000, showing that even ostensibly dusty country house auctions can be full of surprises.
