A world-renowned polo player who has taught the sport to royalty is selling the contents of her country mansion for £250,000.
Victoria Grace Day, who also competed against Prince Charles in her youth and was awarded a prestigious trophy by Princess Diana, is offloading hundreds of items of furniture, paintings, ornaments and rugs from her former home, Alderley House, in Gloucstershire.
She has relocated to the U.S. with her husband and sold the Grade II listed 19th century property for £6m in 2017, with the items from her home placed in storage.
A world-renowned polo player who has taught the sport to royalty is selling the contents of her country mansion for £250,000. Above: The living room at Alderley House, in Gloucestershire. Above: Items on offer from the drawing room include a mahogany grand piano, with a guide price £6,000; a silk upholstered settee for £4,000; a pair of modern armchairs for £6,000 and a George III-era mahogany secretaire bookcase for £1,500
Victoria Grace Day competed against Prince Charles in her youth and was awarded the prestigious Dorchester trophy aged 13 for her polo efforts by Princess Diana (centre), is offloading hundreds of items of furniture, paintings, ornaments and rugs at Alderley House
Mrs Grace Day has relocated to the U.S. with her husband and sold the Grade II listed 19th century property for £6m in 2017, with the items from her home placed in storage
She is auctioning off high value items that also includes tapestries, mirrors and a grand piano and the sale is being conducted by Sworders, of Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex.
Ms Grace Day served as vice chairman of the International Women’s Polo Association.
With her father, Peter Grace, she also co-founded the Ascot Park Polo Club, and has become a respected instructor, teaching the sport to royalty including the King and Queen of Sweden and Prince Talal of Jordan.
The marquee item in Ms Grace Day’s entire collection is the Steinway mahogany ‘Model O Boudoir’ grand piano, which has a guide price of £6,000. Right: A pair of A pair of rouge veined marble table lamps have a guide price of £600
Some of the items being auctioned from the entrance hall include a Victorian gilt and painted gesso wall mirror with a guide price of £1,000, a beautiful glass-fronted cabinet for £500 and an ornate chess board for £400
Ms Grace Day served as vice chairman of the International Women’s Polo Association. Above: The library boasts items including antique books; two modern leather Chesterfield settees, both estimated to sell for around £2,000; and a Bakhtiari Western Iranian carpet, predicted to sell for around £5,000
With her father, Peter Grace, she also co-founded the Ascot Park Polo Club, and has become a respected instructor, teaching the sport to royalty including the King and Queen of Sweden and Prince Talal of Jordan. Above: One of the kitchens in the property features two George III oak dressers, estimated to sell for around £1,500; two 17th-Century oak wainscot chairs for £500 and a Japanese table lamp for £300
Left: This Victorian carved giltwood and gesso overmantel mirror, which hung in the library, has a guide price of £1,000. Right: A Bakhtiari Western Iranian carpet could sell for £5,000
On offer in the other kitchen (pictured above) is the oak draw-leaf dining table, which is estimated to sell for £600
The boot room boasts a doorway settle, estimated to sell for £500, and a French kitchen table, with an estimated sale price of £600
Twenty-one first editions of ‘English Botany’ by James Sowerby, which date from 1791, have a guide price of £1,500. Right: This George III mahogany bookcase has a guide price of £4,000
The staircase area features a Victorian rosewood stretcher table, which could sell for £1,200 or more, and a Kashan carpet which has an estimated sale price of £800
The mahogany extending dining table took pride of place in the dining room and has an estimated selling price of £4,000. The set of mahogany Hepplewhite-style dining chairs which go with it are predicted to sell for £1,500. Its Persian Mahal carpet could sell for £3,000 or more
Left: The mahogany extending dining table from the dining room. Right: A French bureau, which has a guide price of £5,000
Items on sale from this area of the entrance hall include a Flemish verdure tapestry, estimated to go for £3,000, and a continental three-seater settee, which is predicted to sell for £600. The large Kashan carpet could sell for £1,000
The Flemish verdure tapestry, which hung in the entrance hall of Alderley House, has a guide price of £3,000
She said: ‘My husband and I have relocated to the U.S. where he is from and the collection was in storage.
‘There was the possibility of bringing some of the furniture over here but in the end we decided we wanted to keep it together.
‘I think splitting it up would have meant it lost some of its value.
‘There are some fabulous items in it.’
The marquee lot in the sale is a Steinway 1924 mahogany ‘model O Boudoir’ grand piano which carries an estimate of £6,000.
A circa 1920 Iranian carpet with a central flower head motif is valued at £5,000.
An early 18th century Flemish tapestry is expected to fetch £3,000, while a George III mahogany breakfront book case is set to sell for £4,000.
Also going under the hammer are other examples of Georgian and Victorian furniture, English and French mantel clocks, giltwood mirrors, Chesterfield sofas and sets of hunting prints.
Guy Schooling, auctioneer at Sworders, said: ‘During the tenure of the Day family, the house was impeccably furnished in the English country house style with ample quantities of Georgian and Victorian furniture, Brussels tapestries, English and French mantel clocks, giltwood mirrors, Chesterfield sofas, sets of hunting prints and Persian carpets.
‘When the house was sold in 2017 the furnishing and chattels were placed in storage.
‘They will now be sold as the Day family are relocating to the United States.
Grade II listed Alderley House was designed by the English architect Lewis Vulliamy and converted into a school at the outbreak of World War Two, remaining one until 2009 when it was purchased by Ms Grace Day. The home was sold for £6.5million in 2017 and Ms Grace Day has since moved to the US
‘The sale will be remarkable for the sheer quantity of good quality period furnishings: more than 66 container loads of art and antiques formerly at Alderley House are coming to Sworders.’
Grade II listed Alderley House was designed by the English architect Lewis Vulliamy and converted into a school at the outbreak of World War Two, remaining one until 2009 when it was purchased by Ms Grace Day.
The home was listed for £6.5million before it was sold in 2017.
The sale takes place on July 23.