Seaton Delaval Hall treasures reach high price at auction

Oct 1 2009 by Moira Holden, The Journal

A TREASURE trove from Seaton Delaval Hall yielded three times its predicted estimate when it went under the hammer at Sotheby’s auction.

Experts had put a value of around £274,000 on the 100 lots put forward by Lord Hastings at the world-famous auction house in London.

But the sale massively exceeded predictions and fetched a total of £810,000.

The biggest-selling item on the day was a Vincennes fish broth bowl made in 1754 – it had been valued at £15,000 but sold for a whopping £181,250.

A pair of Queen Anne gilt-wood wall mirrors fetched £102,050 – estimates before the auction had placed the mirrors around the £40,000 to £60,000 mark.

And a gold and enamel dagger and scabbard, believed to have been crafted in Paris around the turn of the 19th century, sold for £92,450 which far outstripped its pre-auction estimate of nearly £20,000.

The dagger and scabbard was bought by antique silver dealers Koopman Rare Art, of Chancery Lane, London.

Director Lewis Smith told The Journal: “The piece is absolutely wonderful and is extremely rare – it’s a great treasure. I saw it on Sunday at the auction’s exhibition and I have wanted it ever since then.

“I don’t know how many of them there are in the world. I think the estimate beforehand was crazily low. It’s such a beautiful piece.”