An Introduction from the 8th Earl of Leicester

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I undertake this exercise with mixed feelings. I am, like some of my ancestors, something of a hoarder, though equally appreciate it is wonderfully cathartic to be able to say goodbye. Over the centuries, items have been replaced at Holkham as fashions evolved or as rooms changed use. However, there has always been a reluctance to dispose of the unneeded straight away and so inevitably 'stuff' accumulates. As you can image in a house like Holkham Hall, there is plenty of space to store the myriad of items that, for whatever reason, are no longer used. Over the past few seasons, we have opened these spaces to visitors for guided tours around our attics and cellars, and this has meant a great deal of 'housework' to make the passages and walkways safe for people to pass through. It is time to declutter, but what is more, it’s important that these items – many of which have not been seen by the public for decades, or ever – will attract interested buyers who will give them a new lease of life by incorporating them into their own homes.

After our initial thoughts of an attic sale, we saw what Sworders did at Elveden [The Guinness Sale at Elveden, September 2023]; my team liked the way things were set out there and we were impressed by the catalogue and the amount of interest that was generated. Choosing items to sell was fairly simple, in as much as the attics and cellars were full to bursting with furniture stacked high on top of each other that hadn't been used by many of my predecessors and their families, so we're talking over seventy years. Our Collections Co-ordinator did the majority of the work, cataloguing category by category, then my wife and I went through those lists, actually going around the house and selecting what would be good in the sale, combining really special and historically important items with more everyday, useable pieces, to create a nicely varied ‘attic sale’.

^{© Grahame Mellanby}

Some lots in the sale hold strong memories for myself and my family. For example, there's brown furniture which was in my bedroom when I was growing up here, and the Etruscan nenfro head of a female was part of a grotto arrangement in the arboretum. My father [Edward Douglas Coke, 7th Earl] had an art historian friend - maybe John Cornforth - who suggested it might be a good idea to get it into the house, so it has sat in my office until now.

This is the first auction of its kind in my memory, and judging by the amount of traditional furniture, light fittings and things like that, probably the first in the hall's entire history. A large number of pieces have been in the family for up to three hundred years, including some from the 1st Earl’s collection and lots of Victorian furniture which would have been bought by the 2nd Earl. The family also owned Longford Hall in Derbyshire - sold over a hundred years ago - so a few pieces would have come from there, as well as a large house in London. As a result, this sale presents a unique opportunity for collectors to take home a piece of Holkham Hall’s legacy; I know that a fresh pair of eyes will see value in these unique items, and I hope their new owners will treasure them for years to come.

Thomas Edward Coke, 8th Earl of Leicester

Tuesday 11 February | 10am

privatecollections@sworder.co.uk | 01279 817778

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