A retired city banker is selling nearly the entire contents of his posh country home – for an estimated £300,000.
The anonymous seller is flogging everything from extravagant paintings and huge rugs, to garden furniture and pretty plates.
His family are downsizing from their Gloucestershire pile and simply can’t fit their hoard of heirlooms into their new smaller home.
The 185 lots of treasure were amassed by the London-based collector from auctions all over the world during the 1960, 70s and 80s – including Monaco, Paris and New York.
The colourful collection includes marble candelabras, a huge exotic painting of a tiger, a Cambodian silver elephant and handmade Liberty carpets.
Experts at Gloucestershire-based auctioneers Dominic Winter reckon the mass could go for more than £300,000 – but admitted it could be far more.
Auctioneer Henry Meadows said: “Basically we are look at the principal contents of a very nice Gloucestershire country house.
“The owners are downsizing and the items are surplus now so it has all had to come to auction. They are moving to a much smaller house.
“The man who owns it was quite prolific at buying from Sotheby’s and Christie’s in the 1970s to the 1990s in particular.
“He was no stranger to an auction house and bought from all over the world – Monaco, London, New York.
“It is certainly very nice to get this size of collection, amassed from all of these places, right here in the Cotswolds.
“People really could pick up quite a bargain with this one. I mean, a huge mahogany table and chairs for four grand, that is a bargain to be had.”
Among the most prized items in the collection is a pair of gilt bronze wall-mounted Louis XV candleholders which were bought for #10,000 from Sotheby’s in Monaco.
The rare 18th century intricate decorations have a guide price of £6,000.
A striking 17th carved wooden Chinese head marking the points for acupuncture is priced at £3,000 and a huge copy of the George Stubbs oil painting of a tiger – identical to one hanging in Blenheim Palace.
Also up for sale are revolving bookcases from India, a pair of Victorian terracotta garden urns and a pair of Neo Classical cherub-topped torches.
It took a team of specially trained hauliers and removal workers two days to load truck after truck of precious belongings from the home.
“When one was being unloaded another was being loaded up,” added Henry.
“It was quite the military operation.”
The items go up for auction on Friday.