Most important item to be auctioned is an important Old Master painting by Peter Paul Rubens titled, “A Commander Being Armed for Battle,” that is expected to sell for between 8MM and 12MM British pounds. It was painted about 1613, and has been in the family collection for 200 years. This art masterpiece has been at Althorp, the Spencer family’s 14,000 acre country estate, occupied now by Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer, Diana’s 45-year old brother. The estate is undergoing a 10MM pound restoration and renovation. Diana, former wife of Prince Charles of England, who died in an auto accident, is buried on the grounds of Althorp, where there is an exhibition about her life.
Included will be 19th C. carriages, including one used at the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902, other paintings, furniture and porcelain, items owned by the family such as harnesses, saddles, furniture, snuff and cigarette boxes, military uniforms, coachmen’s uniforms and butler’s trays, some from Spencer House, which overlooks London’s Green Park. The trustees said they decided to sell off items “that were not core to the collection.”
It is anticipated that Earl Spencer will add 30MM pounds to his 100MM pound fortune with this sale of items from the ancestral home in Northamptonshire and the Spencer House, the family home in St James’s which is one of London’s last remaining private palaces. These auctions will be held for three days.
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