Stuart Triggol of Greenslade Taylor Hunt.
The veteran of the saleroom began his career helping out at a country house sale at West Bagborough in the school holidays of Easter 1974.
“It was my first foray into antiques,” explains Stuart, who joined WRJ Greenslade & Co in October 1975, age 17. “That was my first full-time employment and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
He had already formed connections with the firm, growing up in a farming family, while his sister, Dolly also worked for the company.
In the 1970s it had two offices and ran the livestock markets at Taunton and Bridgwater – very different from today’s organisation which operates as a firm of chartered surveyors, auctioneers, property specialists and letting agents in the West Country and now has a network of 17 branches across Somerset, Devon and Dorset.
Back then there was no antiques saleroom; instead auctions were conducted on site – everywhere from grand country houses to unremarkable terraced properties. Stuart also helped out at all types of agricultural auctions.
In the late 1970s The Priory Saleroom was opened and antiques auctions were conducted there, while general sales were then held at the rugby clubhouse in Taunton every three weeks.
Stuart can still vividly recall his first time on the rostrum.
“It was a bakingly hot summer’s day. It was the contents of a farmhouse at Lydeard St Lawrence.
“There was no warning, my boss at the time just told me to take over the rostrum. It was probably the best way as there was no time for nerves. I just got on with selling.”
The firm merged with FL Hunt & Sons in the 1990s and the antiques department moved to Magdalene House in Church Square, Taunton, in 1992.
Stuart has lost count of the number of sales he has presided over as an auctioneer. However, a career highlight was the sale of the Joy Barnes Collection in 2012. He was on the rostrum when the hammer came down at £325,000 for a Barbara Hepworth sculpture – it remains to this day the highest individual price ever achieved at a Greenslade Taylor Hunt antiques sale.
Detail of the front page of ATG No 2060, covering the Barbara Hepworth sculpture that Stuart Triggol sold for a hammer price of £325,000 in 2012, still a house record.
Stuart had gone on a routine house call in east Somerset with a colleague having been told that “mother” had “a few bits and pieces” for sale.
“We went in and there were all these priceless articles. It was a once in a lifetime experience,” he recalls. “Mother” turned out to be Barnes, a respected artist in her own right and an inveterate collector of art over four decades. Her keen eye translated into a sale of 165 lots.
“The amazing thing about the sale is that it was us who sold the whole collection. None of it was creamed off to the London auction houses. We were extremely pleased we were able to offer the collection as a whole and for it to be sold in the West Country, the vendor’s home,” says Stuart.
Barnes, who turned 100 a month after the sale took place, attended the auction and was thrilled with its success. Shortly after the sale she moved into a care home in Wincanton where she lived until her death aged 106.
“We had put an estimate of £50,000-£80,000 on the Barbara Hepworth sculpture,” adds Stuart. “Determined bidding in the room drove up the price, but it was an anonymous phone bidder who emerged successful and I brought the hammer down at £325,000. It was a special moment, but it could have been any one of our auctioneers on the rostrum. Auctioneering is very much a team effort.”
Big country sales
Stuart also enjoyed the big country house sales such as those at Gerbestone Manor, West Buckland, near Wellington, and Uphill Manor at Weston-super-Mare.
Uphill featured a number of Pugin rooms – the famed architect behind the design of the Palace of Westminster. Indeed, a number of the sale lots were snapped up by the palace for the parliamentary buildings.
The only way to attend a sale back then was to be there in person; now people can enjoy the thrill of the saleroom from the comfort of their own homes. “Online bidding allows would-be buyers to join the auction from anywhere in the world. As an auction house it was something we welcomed but needed to adapt to – room, phone, commission and online bids, whichever suits the potential buyer,” says Stuart.
More recently the antiques department had premises at the Octagon in East Reach, Taunton, before moving to its current base at Junction 24, Sedgemoor Auction Centre, North Petherton.
Stuart enjoys the variety of the role and the camaraderie of the saleroom. Retirement is not on the agenda because he continues to relish the buzz of the saleroom and the thrill of uncovering unexpected finds.
“Living and working in the area I grew up in, I have enjoyed the contacts I have built up over the years – colleagues and clients,” he says.
He has a soft spot for the biannual West Country sporting sales, which he used to painstakingly oversee. These featured works by Snaffles, Lionel Edwards and Cecil Aldin.
Now working part-time as a consultant valuer, age 67, Stuart has more time for his involvement in a number of hobbies. He is chairman of Cheddon Fitzpaine Flower Show and a regular participant in drama productions by The Cheddoners. He also enjoys the countryside and walking with his fox red labrador retriever, Benson, and attending horse trials.
Readers who would like to submit brief highlights of their own experiences in the antiques trade are welcome to do so including, where appropriate, high-resolution images, via editorial@antiquestradegazette.com.
