A renowned Matlock collector is set to sell his entire collection of art and antiques after 50 years in business in a two-day auction.
The sale will take place on May 13 and 14, exactly 50 years after Paul Atkinson opened his first antiques shop in Derbyshire.
Sworders fine art auctioneers will be hosting the auction titled “Paul Atkinson | The Nomadic Collector”, which will see more than 500 objects for sale, ranging from Grand Tour bronzes, Anglo-Indian furniture and Ottoman swords to tribal art, Chinese and Buddhist works of art and classic European furniture.
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Mr Atkinson opened his first antique shop in Matlock on a rent of £6 in 1975 after leaving his career in journalism to follow his passion for trading with antique objects. The following year, he first sold to the US and established a gallery in Michigan. In 1979, he celebrated another success of opening a gallery in the Louvre des Antiquaires in Paris, specialising in period oak.
Throughout the 1980s, he travelled all across Europe to seek out the rarest and most remarkable objects before acquiring Sydnope Hall in Derbyshire in 1987. The Grade II listed building was built by the uncle of Charles Darwin and underwent a five-year restoration after Mr Atkinson purchased it.
In 2007, Paul Atkinson and his wife Vivien relocated to Mallorca, where they opened a gallery and four warehouses to sell antiques and decorative items to local collectors, including Peter Stringfellow, Hollywood actor Mads Mikkelsen and Abba’s Agnetha Fältskog.
Paul Atkinson’s auction will include objects worth thousands of pounds and marks his retirement from decades of trading. Some highlights include a George III japanned kneehole desk, an Ottoman gold-damascened steel kilij sword, a gilt bronze bodhisattva and a pair of large Baroque carved oak herald angels.
