GIRLS AT DUCAL SALE

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 December 1934, Page 4

GIRLS AT DUCAL SALE

MEMENTOES O.F SERVANT DAYS Two young women who had formerly worked as servants in the ducal - mansion were among the keenest bids ders for certain modest lots when t household treasures of the late Duke ) of Marlborough and wines from his , famous cellars were sold by auction, t -writes a correspondent in an exchange. The sale was held in the handsome 5 cream and gilt drawing-room ou the > first floor of 7 Carlton House Terrace, J so often the scene of brilliant balls ? and receptions during the lifetime o'i • die late duke. 5 Furniture dealers and connoisseurs filled the room, and standing shyly in ■ the background, were the two former 5 maids, who had come determined to 1 take away with them some memento ■ of their service. I The first lots had but. little interest ' for the professional buyers, but were ■ of paramount importance to the two 1 girls, for they were taken from the 1 servants’ bedrooms. Strips of linoleum, old-fashioned fenders, rather worn but eminently comfortably.easy chairs, plain white wash-hand ba/sins and ’small enamel dressing tables were among them, with printed linen curtains, deal tables, and tiny chests of drawers. Bidding was slow, most of these lots starting at 5/- or 10/-, which delighted the two girls. It gave them a chance of securing little things that had been their household treasures for 12/6 and 15/ —and thus they got such things as small carpet squares and a 4ft wardrobe. “I would like to buy some of the really good things—that cabinet, for instance. I have often polished that,” one of them said, “but it is almost as good getting something from our own part of the house.”