Over £500,000 was raised and 85% of the lots were sold when the contents of Reydon Hall, Suffolk went under the hammer at Bonhams in Knightsbridge, London on 6th December. A similarly large scale work showing ‘Wool Pit Fair, Portrait of Mr R E Lofft Esq’ made a new world record price for the artist at auction of £39,650. Both pictures had been estimated at £15,000-20,000.
There was also a world record price of £3,500 for a pastel by Edward Robert Smythe. Other highlights included 8,125 for a pair of Edwardian silver candelabraand a 19th Century French life-size terracotta model of a turkey which was gobbled up for £2,500.
Reydon Hall, a large 17th Century country house near Southwold, was home to the Le Grys family who established and ran a turkey production firm in North East Suffolk which was sold to the well known entrepreneur, Bernard Matthews, in the 1970s. Raymond Le Grys and his brother John had a passion for Suffolk art.
