John Thomson of Carlisle’s Thomson Roddick and Medcalf – who have postponed their sale of Antiques, Ceramics & Works of Art from February 4 to February 11 – said the company had lost paperwork and equipment but were relieved to report minimal loss to clients’ goods stored at their saleroom in the submerged Shaddongate area of the city.
Fortunately their building, Coleridge House, is raised on a plinth, although some parts of the office were under two feet of water.
A clean-up operation was underway last week, with TRM hoping to be open for business this week. Mr Thomson said he had already carried out a number of assessments for clients across Cumbria whose art and antiques had been damaged. Some of the major houses in the area had suffered badly, with tales of Georgian furniture floating broken in the streets.
Carlisle’s other auctioneer, H&H King, have salerooms in both Lowther Street in the city centre and at Rosehill but were pleased to report no flood damage, while Warwick Antiques on Cecil Street – one of the few retail shops in the town – were also fortunate to escape without major incident. Both remained open last week.
No major damage was reported by dealers in Penrith. Although Cockermouth High Street was flooded over the weekend of January 8-9, the town’s auctioneer, Mitchells, saw business affected only in terms of consignments and a poor attendance at last week’s general sale.
In storm-lashed Keswick, furniture dealer John Young escaped damage to his shop on Main Street although he, like many others, has lost vehicles and other possessions in the floods that hit other lower parts of the town.
Auctioneers escape worst of Cumbrian floods
By and large the Cumbrian antiques trade were counting their blessings last week after escaping the worst of the floods that engulfed the region.
