AT the beginning of this week, I had a nostalgic time working my way through a pile of new auction catalogues—actual, physical catalogues. That used to be the way all of my weeks began, as it helped me to plan forthcoming visits and viewings. There are significant advantages to online catalogues when they are intelligently laid out, with illustrations from different angles and showing the backs of pictures, especially when there is a good quality zoom facility. The innovation of showing a person standing next to a hanging picture to demonstrate its ‘liveability’ is an excellent adjunct to sometimes easily overlooked printed measurements.
However, even if you have mastered the skills needed to juggle split screens, it is much easier to compare lots in different sales when one has the printed catalogues side by side—not to mention that a good catalogue in the hand is a pleasure in itself. Naturally, too, it may be easier to look up things from past sales when one has the catalogues on one’s shelf than it is to struggle through online archives.
As far as the international auction houses are concerned, however, catalogues are almost extinct, except for limited-run vanity editions for owners and favoured clients in an ever-more limited range of categories. For the time being, middle-sized businesses around this country are still publishing them—thus my recent postbag—and this may be connected to the fact that they continue to offer a wider range of specialities and have taken on specialists discarded by the internationals. As long as it lasts, I shall be happy to use both formats. Here, then, are a number of items drawn from recent catalogues of Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury, Wiltshire; Reeman Dansie of Colchester, Essex; and Dreweatts of Newbury, Berkshire.
Esta historia es de la edición June 05, 2024 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición June 05, 2024 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery