$10,000
Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000
The Collection of Amb. & Mrs. Alexander Weddell - The Virginia House Museum
Auction: April 10, 2019 11:00:00 AM EDT
Provenance: By repute William Murray, first Earl of Mansfield, (English, 1705-1793).
Purchased in London, 1930.
The Collection of Ambassador and Mrs. Alexander Weddell, Richmond, Virginia.
Deaccessioned by The Virginia House Museum to benefit future preservation, acquisitions, and care of collections.
According to Alexander Weddell, this bookcase was "bought in London in about 1930 from a reputable dealer who declared that it once stood in the library of the mansion in Bloomsbury Square, the home of William Murray, first Earl of Mansfield, (1705-1793), England's great Chief Justice. If true this would indicate that members of the mob who sacked and burned the house during the Lord George Gordon riots in 1780 were like to John Gilpin's wife, (who, 'though on pleasure...bent' yet 'had a frugal mind'), and took pains to remove this massive piece to safety with a view to sale! But [we] bought the bookcase without regard to its possible historical associations."