At home, I am fortunate to have several pets – two dogs and a cat.
Betty the cat is the one who rules the roost, and yes, we are all a little afraid of her, especially when her tail starts to swish side to side or her ears are pinned back.
She is prone to attacking her hoomans without provocation, with her favourite place to catch us out being on the staircase – she does love to bite an ankle or two, but despite this, we all love Betty.
Truffle, our miniature Dachshund, can often be seen at the salerooms. Her chief role is “Head of Security” and she loves nothing more than to bark at something, or nothing. She is fearless, even with Betty or the two Rhodesian Ridge Back dogs which live next door, size is not a word in her vocabulary.
And finally, we have Lulu the Working Cocker Spaniel. Lulu is “Head of Customer Service”. She greets everyone with muddy paws at work first thing after her morning walk and always with a very waggy tail.
Over the past 35 years, I have always owned Spaniels. My Dad always had Spaniels, and I was hooked by the breed at an early age.
First up was Coco, a Show Cocker, then Biggles a Working Cocker, followed by William the rescue Springer Spaniel and now Lulu.
At home, I probably have more pictures of the dogs on display than I do photo’s of the kids.
I am also fortunate to have several watercolour drawings of Biggles painted by a friend who would dog-sit when we had busy auctions or went away on holidays. I’m very grateful to her as he was a well loved dog, and like all our animals over the years, sorely missed today.
Last year, I was asked to value the contents of a Somerset property for probate. Not unusual as this is what I do most days, but what struck me was the similarity of the contents to that of my own home, probably with the exception it was not full like my house.
She had clearly been an animal lover before she passed away. There was a vast array of animals in art dotted throughout the house, but for me, one picture stood out heads and shoulders above the rest – a painting of a dog.
A typical Victorian painting on canvas, the dog is not painted by a leading artist of the day such as Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, but more likely by the owner or even a friend of the owner.
The dog, called Merry, is painted sitting patiently, maybe waiting for a tasty treat.
We know the name of the dog is Merry as there is an inscription to the middle of the canvas “Merry at 8”
Quite whether Merry was called Mary or was even a happy present at Christmas we will never know, but Merry is now looking for a new home and is being sold in our auction of Pictures & Sporting Items on Thursday 17th September.
Estimated at £200-300 I am sure Merry will have many admirers at the auction and will be quickly re-homed after the sale.
Charterhouse are now accepting further entries for our busy program of autumn auctions, with viewing for this auction all this week, with auctions on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Richard Bromell and the team at Charterhouse, The Long Street Salerooms, Sherborne are available for valuations on single items, collections or complete house contents on 01935 812277 or via enquiry@charterhouse-auction.com
The Victorian oil painting of Merry at 8 being sold by Charterhouse on Thursday 17th September in Sherborne £200-300