Treasures from the attic

FROM the five-day auction held by Phillips at Cliveden in 1967 to the house sales of the mid or late 1990s, every year, from late July to early October—when the London art market was aestivating—there was likely to be at least one, and perhaps half a dozen, contents sales organised in situ at British and Irish country houses. There were still notable dispersals on the premises in the first decade of this century, but the pace slowed and now they are rare. Some were at truly great houses with extraordinary collections, others less well