The Estate of the Late Kenneth Mayer was sold on the 27th March 2021, which included the working documents produced by Buckingham Palace and used by Kenneth Mayer QPM, who as a Metropolitan police officer was seconded to serve as the (armed) personal protection officer for HRH The Duke of Edinburgh between 1963 -1965, together with medals, presentation gifts and other memorabilia. 

Mayer undertook several foreign Royal Tours, either solely with Prince Phillip, or on joint tours along with HM Queen Elizabeth and other Royal family members. 

Many of the documents were produced ‘in house’ by Buckingham Palace and were only for nominated members of staff who were to undertake each Royal Tour, and are therefore very rare.. 

These documents give a fascinating insight into the regimental clockwork timings used on a Royal tour for this time period, and to accompany this, we have the extraordinary and delightful writings by Kenneth Mayer himself, which describe some of the more memorable moments he had during his service, including an incident when Princess Anne trapped her finger in the car door. 

Understandably, the press were extremely interested, and our social media outlets were pivotal in reaching the American collectors of the rare documents included in the auction for the funeral of President JF Kennedy. 

This single owner estate was a rare collection of early English oak and walnut furniture, together with early collectables and paintings that complemented the incredible 16th century interior. We were able to photograph the items in situ, which really brought them to life, and also showed how very early period pieces can also work alongside contemporary. Viewing was held on site, which attracted collectors and buyers alike, and it was wonderful to have such a great response in terms of footfall and bidding! 

 

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The stables and workshops were a treasure trove of items of varying condition – some for budding restorers, and some ready to be taken straight home! A classic house clearance that did not fail to delight, but left the team all covered in dust and cobwebs – which is just the way we like it! 

After much sorting, and searching, we unearthed some wonderful finds, including some rare lathes, and an unusual oak primitive stool which had multiple phone lines booked on it, and eventually sold to an American online bidder.  

This beautiful property had a combination of antique and modern items, as well as a library of books, and cupboards full of silver which all went up for auction in 2018. Jessica, our auctioneer remembers the Victorian coffin carrier which she found in one of the barns which created quite a stir on the sale day; ‘it was poking out from underneath some tarpaulin, and revealing it was like finding buried treasure! I then had to work out how we were going to extract it from the barn which is another story…..!’

This Northamptonshire based collection was one of our first major events. Ken Kirkwood was a famous illustrator, photographer and collector of mid-century modern art, design and architecture and we were delighted to be asked to sell Ken’s wonderful collection in our sale room in May 2017.

Items drew in a new audience, with the introduction of our Mid-Century, Modern Art & Design auction, for which we are now well renowned. Designers such as Eduardo Paolozzi, Charles & Ray Eames, Piero Fornasetti, Harry Bertoia, Alvar Aalto, Finn Juhl, Gerrit Rietveld, Le Corbusier, Hans & Wassili Luckhardt, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer and Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann all featured in this show stopping auction.

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This estate auction was our first ‘country house estate’ held back in 2015. It is a wonderful Lincolnshire property that was full to bursting with antiques, collectables and hidden treasure in the out buildings! We sold part of the contents of this property in what was a fantastic sale, and built the foundations for many more estate sales to follow.