Bamber’s £2m cash in the attic
Quizmaster hits jackpot in auction of treasures left by his aunt — but relatives miss out on heirlooms they longed for
As the quizmaster on University Challenge for 25 years, Bamber Gascoigne was used to being behind the microphone.
But yesterday, he took a backrow seat at sotheby’s auction rooms in London’s Bond street, where he was selling the fabulous contents of the country house unexpectedly left to him by his great-aunt and godmother, Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe.
And what a lot of cash there is in Bamber’s attic — £1,980,830 after yesterday’s sale; and that was only day one of a two-day event.
Among the lots sold at ‘the Duchess’ sale was a portrait of her by sir Oswald Birley (£26,000), three drawings by the Pre-Raphaelite artist, sir edward Burne- Jones (£55,000), and a lovely edward Lear oil painting of Rome (£22,000). A drawing by thomas Lawrence, a l eading portrait painter of the early 19th century, went for £98,000.
Along with the most expensive lots, the bidders were just as excited by the bric-a-brac accumulated by the Duchess over her extremely long life — she died last July, aged 99.
Under normal circumstances, a pair of early 20th- century, electroplated cocktail shakers would barely break into three figures. the sotheby’s estimate was only £150-£250. But throw in the toff premium, and the shakers went for £850.
the Downton Abbey effect also worked its magic on a 1935 silvered metal, leather and cork travelling backgammon set. the estimate for this was £800-£1,200. It sold for £1,700.
A framed photo of the Coronation of George V and Queen Mary — estimate £800-£1,200 — went for £4,500. then again, the Duchess’s father, the Marquess of Crewe, was secretary of state for India during that 1911 Coronation. Afterwards, the King and Queen travelled to India for the Delhi Durbar, co-ordinated by the marquess, to be proclaimed emperor and empress of India.
What’s more, the Duchess was named Mary after her godmother, Queen Mary; and her godfather was George V. suddenly, a fairly straightforward photo assumed an extra historic glow.
Gascoigne was delighted with the sale yesterday. ‘I went to the house often,’ he told me. ‘But I didn’t know about all these things. We would have family lunches in one room, but I never saw the other rooms. I think my greataunt thought it bad form for people to see the rest of the house.’
He sAID he would have been more worried about selling off the family silver had it been in the house for centuries. But the Duchess’s parents moved to West horsley Place in surrey only in 1931.
And it’s not as if planet-brained Gascoigne, author of a 1.5 million-word online history of the world, is about to blow the proceedings of the sale on Ferraris and superyachts. All the proceeds will go towards preserving West horsley Place, the rambling, 50-room pile left to Bamber by the childless Duchess last year, to his great surprise.
It is a staggering legacy — and a daunting one. the tudor house is a rare gem — henry VIII once tucked into a 35-course feast there — but it’s in a pretty terrible state. the ceilings sag and the walls are cracked, with much of the east wing supported only by jacks. the lights are on the blink and there’s only one phone socket.
experts estimated that the property needed £7 million of work.
‘When I first had a look around, I saw the wallpaper was creased in one room,’ says Gascoigne. ‘I asked the builder why. “Oh, it’s sunk an inch or two in the past few years,” he said. I think my great-aunt’s attitude was, when there’s another drip, you buy another bucket.’
But the Gascoignes are determined to save the house, so the success of yesterday’s sale was comforting, given several hiccups.
First, some lots were withdrawn after the Duke of Roxburghe, Guy Innes-Ker, disputed the ownership of certain the items on sale. then, other items, including an 18th- century lead statue of Mercury, valued at £15,000, were stolen from the grounds.
But one of the last great country house sales still went ahead yesterday, under the hammer of auctioneer Lord Dalmeny, sotheby’s chairman — and, incidentally, Gascoigne’s cousin.
the auction room was filled, not just with the usual dealers; but also members of the Duchess’s extended clan, on the hunt for an heirloom or
two. Gascoigne and his wife, Christina, cheerily greeted various relations. Among them were halfsisters, Candida and Charity Crewe — daughters of the writer, Quentin Crewe, and great- nieces of the Duchess. They were part of a group of 12 relations who had clubbed together to bid for two lots.
The first — 249 early 20th-century glasses, gilded and highlighted with t he Crewe monogram and a marquess’s coronet — was estimated at £1,000-£1,500.
Sadly, the family lost out to a telephone bidder, who paid a whopping £6,500. The estimate on the next lot — a 221-piece, Minton, crested dinner service from 1900 — was £500-£800. The Crewe family put in a bid of £4,800 — but they were outbid by the winning £6,200 offer.
Charity’s mother, Sue Crewe, former editor of House & Garden — did secure a 17th-century portrait for £8,500. At least the Crewes were there to witness the dispersal of the eclectic family collection.
Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe, was one of the last survivors of a vanished age. She was born in 1915 in Crewe House, the family mansion in Mayfair. Her mother was Lady Peggy Primrose — youngest daughter of Hannah Rothschild, of the fabulously rich family, and a Prime Minister, the Earl of Rosebery (also an ancestor of auctioneer Lord Dalmeny).
In 1937, she was Coronation trainbearer for her close friend, Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother. Mary was brought up between Crewe House, and the family pile, Crewe Hall, in Cheshire.
Her brother, the Earl of Madeley, died in 1922, aged 11, and many Crewe treasures subsequently passed into Mary’s hands.
In 1935, Mary married the Duke of Roxburghe at Westminster Abbey, with a wedding ball at Crewe House, attended by George V and Queen Mary. It was the Crewe china and glass from the ball that the family unsuccessfully tried to buy back.
After 18 years of marriage without children, the Duke attempted to evict Mary from his ancestral home, Floors Castle, in Kelso. For six weeks, she barricaded herself in a castle wing — while the Duke cut off her water and electricity — before agreeing to leave and be divorced.
In 1967, she moved to her parents’ house, West Horsley Place. And there she stayed, surrounded by the treasures she had accumulated over the century — and her noble family had gathered over many more.
Now those treasures are being dispersed to the four corners of the earth. At least the proceeds will go to the most special of homes.