Discoveries and house clearance

This topic is a fashionable one with the public. In social company at some time, or all of the time, a valuer will be asked if they have discovered anything recently.

It is in the nature of a valuers/appraisers work to make discoveries on a regular basis. These may be of high value or they may just be of academic interest, nonetheless they stimulate the valuer as well as the owner.

Vost’s, over thirty-five years have had their fair share. One that encapsulates the whole idea of a discovery was the William Burges cabinet we found a few years ago on a routine probate valuation and subsequently sold for £250,000. Despite being obscured by rubbish and cobwebs (see below) it was immediately identified as being by Burges. Research revealed it had not been seen since exhibited in London in the International Exhibition of 1862. The cabinet now graces a museum in the USA.

Another, a picture by Frederic, Lord Leighton was thought by the owners be a print and almost worthless. It was hung high up in a stair well and could only be reached with an extending ladder. Having decided it should be investigated the valuer ascended and on closer inspection saw that it was in fact an extremely good oil painting by the celebrated Victorian artist (see right). It subsequently sold for £120,000. This painting had lain unidentified for many years and had last been on the market in 1916. If it had sold then the family’s idea was to give the funds raised to the war effort, as it was it failed to sell.

Valuers/appraisers are used to an excited client contacting them to say they have an important item they would like you to look at. On making a visit the client is usually given disappointing news.

One such call was received by Vost’s where the owner said she had a painting by John Constable, this is not unusual and 99 times out of 100 turns out to be a wrong attribution. However, on this occasion one can imagine the valuers surprise when he visited the property to discover the painting was indeed by John Constable.

The painting, a conversation piece, depicted the three Mason Sisters (see right), their mother and their dog. Mason was the name of Constable’s solicitor in Colchester and the painting had come down through that family on the husband’s side to the widow client. It now hangs in Ipswich museum.

A house clearance is usually required when someone has died or gone into a care home. Before discarding anything from the property it is essential to get advice. Stories abound about ‘finds’ in rubbish skips that translate into often large sums of money when sold, the same applies to giving items to charity shops, get them checked first so that you have some idea of the value of items you are throwing or giving away before doing so.
Ask an auctioneer to cast his eye over the items and take his advice, after all that advice will probably be free of charge and you will probably get a nice surprise to boot!

Be extremely cautious of those offering to do free house clearances and especially those knocking at the door offering to do this.

Burges Cabinet

Leighton Painting

Constable Painting