Brian Looks Back at 2013...

In advance of the first Auction Events Preview of 2014 this Friday, this month's 'From The Rostrum' feature from director Brian Clements looks back briefly at last year's events.

On the back of a year that saw McTear's named as Britain's favourite auction house, a look back to 2013 brings to mind numerous highlights, with one auction specifically standing out. The Terry Howson Auction, a sale of the personal collection of Peter Howson sketches belonging to the former wife of the celebrated Glasgow artist, saw a record attendance at the 'white glove' (every lot sold!) auction, with the proceeds helping greatly towards the purchase of a property for Terry and Peter’s daughter, Lucie.

The internet continues to attract an ever increasing international audience, with the last twelve months seeing considerably more sold online to overseas buyers than ever before. Additionally,

we were proud forerunners of 'timed bidding' auctions for The-Saleroom.com, a state of the art and innovative facility that allows an efficient auction style for collections and individual objects,

often too bulky, numerous or awkward to be sold in a conventional way.

We cannot start this year off without mention of our auctioneer, Natasha Gemini Raskin, and her new found ‘celebrity’ status! Snapped up as an onscreen expert by BBC'S Bargain Hunt late last year, Natasha has already shown, with an abundance of natural charisma, that auctions are great entertainment all round. In the impending battles of red versus blue, we hope that she will record more wins than losses in this year's busy filming schedule. C’mon Gemini!!

Lastly, a huge thank you to everyone who has purchased this auction catalogue, once again every penny raised through catalogue sales goes to McTear's chosen charity, this month The Little Sisters of The Poor in Greenock. We are continuing our support of local charities this year and hope that we can exceed last year's total raised. In 2013 McTear's staff participated in sponsored events, raffles, auctions and other fundraisers, helping to raise well over £100,000 for charities throughout Scotland.

Don't forget to purchase a charity raffle ticket from the office, up for grabs this month is an iPad2 tablet.

Best wishes to everyone for a happy, successful and peaceful 2014.

The Brain Game

Compete to be the Brainiest Company in Glasgow with Marie Curie at a fantastic event sponsored by McTear's.

For many years McTear’s have supported Marie Curie and this year is no different as we sponsor their Brain Game event on Thursday 25th October 2012.

Do you think you have what it takes to grab the title from ‘Thales’ the 2011 Champions? In the wonderful surroundings of Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, you’ll be in good company at this prestigious event. Not only will you be supporting a great cause, but you and your guests will enjoy a Black-Tie dinner, an 8-round celebrity-led quiz, a champagne reception hosted by Glasgow’s Lord Provost and a big prize raffle & auction.

A fantastic night is expected to be had by all and we would be delighted to see you all there to help raise vital funds to ensure local Marie Curie Nurses can continue to provide totally free end of life care to terminally ill people in our area and give much needed support to their families.

IF you are interested in attending this event you can book your table directly by phoning Paul Cockram on 0131 561 3946 or email paul.cockram@mariecurie.org.uk

In the meantime, to keep up to date with what McTear's are up to, keep an eye on our Website, Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

The Haining

McTear’s is thrilled to be managing the auction of the contents of the amazing Borders country house under order of the Executers of the late Andrew James Nimmo-Smith. With half of the proceeds going to The Haining Charitable Trust, this will help to fulfil the wish to open a history room in the Haining and also future use of it as a creative arts hub and a catering kitchen.

Susan Edington of The Haining Charitable Trust comments:

“The contents of the Haining were all purchased by our benefactor Andrew Nimmo-Smith. Although there are some very fine examples of artwork and antiques in the property, such as a number of watercolour paintings by Selikirk’s own ‘son’ Tom Scott, nothing in the auction was originally part of the property. All family portraits, from both Mr Nimmo-Smith’s father’s family and his mother’s family the Pringle-Pattisons are being retained at The Haining, along with items from the pageant and hunt etc and family war diaries that we hope to publish but of course keep the originals at the house. The heritage of the families will remain in the house and form the focus of the History Room. We wish for the Haining to form part of the local community, to provide fun, education and employment and not only be a regular part of the community’s lives, but also to be a come-to venue for people from further afield who will hopefully visit and use the premises thus allowing it to be retained for the purpose Mr Nimmo-Smith envisaged, that is for the Haining to be used to provide culture and recreation to the people of Selkirkshire and the wider public. It cannot be stated strongly enough that for The Haining to succeed we will require funding on an international level and we have raised in excess of £700,000 since the inception of the Trust towards these ends including an international grant of £354,000. We are on the shortlist to house the Tait Modern Artist’s rooms in 2015 and we are already working with a local group to have the Haining as the hub for an Arts Festival in September next year. We are used for arts projects at the moment and have already worked with Chance for Change, Knowepark Primary School, The Royal Scottish Academy, Borders Youth Theatre, and CABN bringing arts to The Haining.”

This auction is made even more exciting as it will be filmed by the producers of The Antiques Roadshow who are making a new prime time series for BBC, with John Foster, BBC Antiques Expert, commenting on the Haining as 'a fascinating Scottish Country House with important connections to Scottish Border history'.

From beautiful paintings to unique pieces of furniture there will be something for everyone in this special auction. If you are interested in being part of this auction, viewing will commence with a drinks reception on Saturday 14th July from 3pm till 6pm with the auction taking place on Thursday the 19th of July.

The online catalogue is also available to view on our website to allow you to see what will be going on sale.

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