Clear in the attic

Intriguing chairs, tables and bookstands peppered the Holkham sale at Sworders, but, for me, a lacquered-brass stick barometer in a mahogany case stole the show

Huon Mallalieu

ONE imagines workshopsful of antique-furniture restorers rubbing leathery palms together in satisfaction at the results of Sworders’s Holkham attic sale on February 11. However their trade may have been faring in recent times, there should be plenty to employ them now. It was a proper attic sale, so there was none of the sadness that inevitably accompanies a full contents sale at country houses with a long family history. The Earl of Leicester wrote in his catalogue introduction that ‘the attics and cellars were full to bursting with furniture stacked high, that hadn’t been used’ for more than 70 years. In such circumstances, things that have been damaged deteriorate further, as damp, decay, mouse, worm and perhaps pigeon do their work. There were a good many thoroughly distressed armchairs, sofas…

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Country Life (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 26, 2025

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