Haining trust set for auction windfall
Haining auction. Tom Scott - Yarrow Road
A STUFFED baby alligator, two giant clamshells and more than 10 paintings by Selkirk watercolourist Tom Scott are among nearly 200 lots from the contents of The Haining due to go under the auctioneer’s hammer next month.
McTear’s of Glasgow is selling 188 lots, comprising everything from furniture and books, to paintings, sculpture and the more bizzare, such as the tiny alligator.
Top estimates in the sale catalogue are for some of the pieces of furniture and Scott paintings, including one entitled ‘Dusk on the Yarrow Road’ (pictured), executed in 1912 and with a pre-sale estimate of £2-3,000.
An oil on paper of The Deposition, a religious scene, is also expected to reach a good price, being estimated to sell for up to £5,000, while an 18th-century marble bust of Napoleon could also make up to £5,000.
The two giant clamshells are expected to make anything up to £350 and there are almost 200 albums containing cigarette card collections, as well as a considerable number of model warships.
The auction, which will be held on July 19 in Glasgow, has already attracted considerable interest.
Former lawyer Andrew Nimmo-Smith left The Haining to the local community following his death, at the age of 85, in 2009. He stated his A-listed historic home, which has its own loch and set on 150 acres, was to be used for the “architectural, cultural or historical” benefit of the community.
Mr Nimmo-Smith’s family bought the Palladian mansion, which dates back to the late 1800s, during the 1950s. Existing documentation records that The Haining estate dates from the 15th century and was a Scott stronghold.
But while the house itself is now owned by The Haining Charitable Trust (HCT), the contents which are being auctioned do not and are being sold by the trustees of Mr Nimmo-Smith’s estate.
However, Susan Edington from the HCT, said that half of the money raised by the auction is being donated to the trust to help fund its work.
“We want to be able to do a history room, telling the stories of the main two families who have owned the house and estate, as well as the people who worked for them over the generations,” she told us.
“We are also hoping to install a kitchen, which would allow us to cater for small events such as weddings.”
Mrs Edington said the HCT was “thrilled” that McTear’s had agreed to promote the sale as a stand-alone event solely comprising the contents of The Haining.
“All the items in the auction catalogue have been photographed in situ at The Haining, which is wonderful.”
Mrs Edington also stressed that when Mr Nimmo-Smith bought the house in the 1950s, it was empty – none of the items in the auction have a link with The Haining older than that.
“If they had, and had been of more significant historical value, then we would have tried hard to retain them with the house – but that was not the case,” she told The Wee Paper.
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Weather for Selkirk
Thursday 20 June 2013
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