Comedian Alan Carr Retains Unique Item After Castle Contents Auction
Comedian and recent winner of 'Celebrity Traitors,' Alan Carr, is set to keep a concrete cow sculpture, which was the sole item that failed to sell during an auction of various contents from his recently acquired Ayton Castle. Carr purchased the Scottish Borders castle, a detail that emerged in February.
Auction of Residual Contents
On Sunday, hundreds of items deemed 'residual' – unwanted by both Carr and the castle's previous owners – were put up for auction. The event, held at Ayton Castle following viewings on Friday and Saturday, offered a diverse range of goods, including furniture, paintings, and textiles.
Auctioneer Jim Railton confirmed that despite the successful sale of almost all lots, the concrete cow, part of a larger collection of sculptures, did not attract any bids. Consequently, Carr plans to keep it as a memento.
"Seven-and-a-half hours of selling non-stop and we only had one item that was unsold, which is quite a good record," stated Jim Railton of Railtons Auctioneers.
He further elaborated that the unsold item was indeed the concrete cow from the Branxton Menagerie. "For some reason we couldn't get a bid for it," Railton explained, adding, "So Alan Carr, who has bought the castle, is going to keep it as an ornament or a memory of all the animals that were at Branxton and then went to Ayton."
Highlights and Sales Figures
The auction's top sale was a five-seater Bentley Mulsanne, which fetched £24,000. Among other notable items were creations from the Branxton Cement Menagerie, a collection of Northumberland folk art sculptures. These pieces were originally crafted by a retired joiner in the 1960s to entertain his disabled son and later became a popular visitor attraction. They were relocated to Ayton Castle in 2021 before being put up for auction.
The Branxton animal sculptures collectively achieved approximately £28,000. Railton expressed satisfaction with their performance, stating, "I was quite pleased with the Branxton animals because that was a bit of an unknown quantity, how well they'd do. But it seemed to have taken off and it sold well."
Overall, the auction is expected to generate around £100,000, with the proceeds going to the former owners who sold the castle to Carr.
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