Rod Stewart sale hits Essex auction house – Antique Collecting

Items from the collection of Sir Rod Stewart are coming up for sale at Essex auction house Sworders this December.

Following the success of two similarly star-kissed dispersals in 2018 and 2019, there will be a third bite of the cherry for those who wish to share in Sir Rod’s distinctive taste for art and interior decoration. The 40 lots included in the auction house’s December 12-13 Fine Interiors sale comprise a mix of modern, vintage and antique pieces from his family home in Essex. Most have been in storage for some years. 

As befitting a successful singer-songwriter whose number one hits include Sailing from the studio album Atlantic Crossing, two yachting paintings by recognised 20th-century marine artists lead the offering: Hispania Leads at the Gybe Mark, Western Solent, 1912, an anachronistic oil by John Steven Dews (b.1949) is guided at £15,000-20,000, while Britannia Racing in the Clyde, a late work by artist David Brackman (1932-2008), is expected to bring £10,000-15,000.  

Both the marine paintings were purchased at Christie’s and, in fact, most of the pieces in the sale were bought by Sir Rod himself at auction houses, galleries and antiques shops in the UK and the US. A set of six 18th-century Italian engravings of classical statues were purchased from Christie’s, South Kensington, in October 2014 and carry a current estimate of £600-800, and a George II-style carved pine pier table, with an associated marble top, was acquired at Sotheby’s in October 2018, with hopes it could fetch £2,000-£4,000 in the sale. 

Sworders’ director John Black has managed the three sales for his famous client and said: “I think you’ll agree, we all feel the need for a declutter once in a while, and that sentiment is no different for Sir Rod. He has accumulated many things over his lifetime and has decided it is again the time to have a bit of a clear-out. He lives locally to us and it is a pleasure to be selling these items, with pieces that range from the glitzy and glamorous to the more restrained.”