Monday 17 February 2014

Contents Sold Off !

My friend Andrew and I have recently been hunting down old newspaper articles relating to Balintore Castle, by searching publically available online digitised archives. You cannot find these things on google: this omnipotent, omnipresent search engine is reassuringly not quite omniscient. 

Anyhow, Andrew found a corker of a piece today. The scan below shows the details of a sale of contents from Balintore Castle in Edinburgh in 1877.  So it would appear that a substantial amount of the elegant furnishings and fittings were disposed of, only 17 years after the building was built. I knew there was a contents sale in the 1980's, so this much earlier sale is quite a surprise.


Balintore Castle contents sale details : 1st/2nd May 1877


I now have a detailed shopping list. The reassuring thing is that I have already ticked some boxes: including a "Turkey Carpet" and a "Rich-Toned Gong".  :-) I will type in a transcription for posterity and clarity!