The estate of the Sixth Baronet of Lindertis, Scotland is being auctioned by the Boston auction house Skinner. Normally, that wouldn't arouse much interest in Vermont, but Sir Alasdair Munro of Lindertis lived in Waitsfield for around 60 years, where he skied and pursued a second career.
Munro died last March.
"I’d describe it as just very 'Downton Abbey,'" Kerry Shrives, senior vice president and senior appraiser at Skinner, Inc., says of the estate. "Really, [it's a] sort of cohesive group of material that evokes life in Britain at the turn of the 20th century."
The baronet's estate includes "everything from Georgian chests of drawers to silver for the table, porcelain, decorative artwork and collections of typically Scottish souvenirs called mauchline ware – souvenirs that were manufactured in Scotland in the 19th century and sold all over the world, depicting local points of interest," Shrives says. "And there were a fair number that had Vermont scenes, which was kind of a nice tie-in of both past and present."
Shrives says for many people, an antique's provenance holds a certain allure. "I think people have an interest in the rich life items have had prior to them owning them," she says, "and the idea that items came from a castle in Scotland, and they have a storied history."
Learn more about the Skinner auction here.
