The Mountbatten house sale is awash with history

House sales have always been among the things that the major auctioneers do best, especially when those sales involve dispersing collections amassed by ‘great’ families that have spent generations living in equally ‘great’ properties. In the halcyon years they happened on site, the viewing days giving the local proleteriat what might have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to infiltrate ‘the big house’ in order to discover how the other half lived. And even if the way they lived wasn’t especially interesting, the auctioneer could usually create the image of a charmed existence simply by dragging a few forgotten objects from dusty attics, applying liberal helpings of sweet-smelling beeswax to long neglected furnishings and generally ‘dressing’ often long-abandoned rooms to make them feel lived in. 

With the contents of many such homes now scattered as far and wide as the families they once belonged to, really good house sales have become a rarity – but on March 24, Sotheby’s will stage one that sits with the very best ‘end of an era’ auctions, both in terms of the diversity of the objects being offered and the people who amassed them.