GLITTERING silverware which once graced one of the great houses in North Yorkshire is to go under the hammer at auction this week in York.
Dating back as early as the Georgian period, the silver was created for Duncombe Park in Helmsley, home of the Barons of Feversham, an ultra-wealthy dynasty of landowners, politicians and art collectors.
The Feversham silver and other Duncombe family collectables are amongst the lots at the country house sale at the Duggleby Stephenson saleroom on Friday(May 27), the first of a new series of auctions that is being launched to handle the most high value antiques.
The important Feversham lots include a remarkable suite of silver fiddle, thread and shell cutlery dating from the reign of George IV and extending to eighteen table forks, eighteen tablespoons, eighteen dessert spoons, nineteen dessert forks, eighteen teaspoons, two egg spoons and two salt spoons. All of the pieces bear the Feversham crest and were supplied, it is thought, to Charles Duncombe, 1st Baron Feversham (1764-1841).
That alone is expected to make £4,000 - £6,000 but it is just one part of the spectacular treasure trove – indeed just one of the suites of cutlery.
The sale also includes the George III silver gilt fiddle, thread and shell pattern dessert service that the first baron had even before he was ennobled (expected to make £1,500 - £2,000), another suite of cutlery created for the second baron (pre-sale estimate of £3,000 - £4,000) and even more that was added by the third baron.
And the Duncombe Park entry includes examples of many of the other silver objects that were to be seen in any grand house in the 18th and 19th centuries all created by some of the finest English silversmiths of the day.
Duggleby Stephenson’s Emma Cornhill said: “Whilst there are some very fine ‘collectables’ in this treasure trove, for the most part these pieces, were not ‘collected’ as such - this is the stuff that the family used at their dinner table, had about the house, took on their travels or happened to end up with some way or another.
“Those include the remarkable travelling toilet service used by the 1st Baron on military service – a brass bound coromandel box containing an array of silver mounted jars, boxes and containers for essential lotions and preparations, as well as manicuring implements ranging from razors to a tongue scraper.”
In total the Country House Sale extends to 353 lots and includes important collections of portrait miniatures, Japanese animal bronzes, militaria and other collectables.
The furniture section of the sale is dominated by Yorkshire oak: Twenty-one Mouseman pieces – and others by Gnomeman, Beaverman, Oakleafman, Unicornman, Catman and Rabbitman.
The fully illustrated catalogue is available on line. Viewing is taking place throughout the week at the York Auction Centre at Murton. The auction starts at 11am on Friday and has live Internet bidding through DS Live or thesaleroom.com.
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