History

Corby Castle

A landmark three-day auction of art, antiques and silver from Corby Castle, Cumbria, which drew bidders from across the world. Single-owner country house auctions are enormously attractive to buyers, and the Corby Castle sale was no exception; the sale realised a total hammer price of £1.48m - 55% over the top estimate - and an extraordinary 99.6% selling rate.

Charity Gavel Sculpture Sells for £10,100

Tennants were delighted to sponsor a gavel sculpture, painted by Jonathan Armigel Wade, which was auctioned as part of the Gavel Art Trail to support three vital charities, The Brain Tumour Charity, The National Brain Appeal, and the International Children’s Palliative Care Network. The auction was organised by Bidpath, inspired by George Wade, a longstanding friend of Tennants, who was diagnosed with two brain tumours in 2024. After fierce bidding, Tennants' gavel sold for an extraordinary £10,100.

A New House Record for Silver

A new house record for a piece of silver was achieved with the sale of the Sir Bache Cunard Testimonial, a life-size model of a fox by renowned Victorian taxidermist James Rowland Ward. The fox sold in the Fine Jewellery, Watches and Silver Sale for £100,000 (plus buyer's premium).

Victorian Huia Set World Auction Record

A very rare Victorian cased pair of extinct New Zealand Huia sold for £220,000 (plus buyer’s premium) in the Natural History & Taxidermy Sale on 8th September 2023, which is thought to be a world auction record for a single piece of taxidermy.

‘The North Sea’ by L.S. Lowry Sells for £1.07m

“The North Sea”, an important seascape by Laurence Stephen Lowry, sold for £1,070,381 (inclusive of all fees) in the Modern & Contemporary Art Sale on 15th October 2022. The painting was last seen on public view in an exhibition in 1967, the year after it was painted, and has since been in private hands.

25 Years in Harrogate

Tennants celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Harrogate office.

The Princess Royal Visits Tennants

HRH The Princess Royal visited Tennants Auctioneers on Wednesday 17th April as part of a day of official engagements in Wensleydale.

An American Collector

The first major sale held in The Garden Rooms, an important American collection of art and antiques

The Garden Rooms at Tennants was opened

A 40,000 sq ft extension to The Auction Centre, housing galleries, auction and event spaces, a restaurant and a cafe

The £2.6m Vase

A Chinese Blue and White Porcelain Bottle Vase, bearing the six-character mark of Yongzheng sold for £2.6m - the first individual lot to make over £1m

A new board of Directors

A team of new directors was appointed; Rodney Tennant's daughters Caroline, Alison and Jane were brought on board, along with Jeremy Pattison as Managing Director and Audrey Fall as Finance Director

The Kenneth Whitehead Deer Collection Sale

Rodney Tennant was awarded 'Auctioneer of the Year' at the British Antiques and Collectables Awards

The first regional office was opened in Harrogate

The Aske Hall Sale

Held over three days on site at Aske Hall, North Yorkshire

The Auction Centre, Leyburn, was opened

The new 40,000 sq ft salerooms and head office was opened by Sir John Harvey-Jones

The last sale was held in the Middleham Salerooms

The first £1m sale was held in Richmond, the contents of Otterington Hall

The Water Park Sale

Selected contents of Water Park, Cumbria was sold on site over two days

Tennants of Yorkshire Antique and Fine Art Auctioneers Ltd. was formed

The estate agency side of the business was sold, and a new company formed focussing solely on art and antiques

The Newby Hall Sale

Selected contents of Newby Hall, North Yorkshire were sold on site over the course of three days

The Richmond Saleroom was opened

Specialist and Fine Art Sales were held in the salerooms opened in an old Methodist Chapel

Rodney joins the business, running the salerooms

A new company J.E. & R.M. Tennants Ltd was formed

The first Catalogue Sale was held

Regular Saturday auctions were held in the Grain Store in Middleham

John. E. Tennant Chartered Auctioneer and Estate Agent was established in Leyburn

Rodney Tennant was born

Rodney worked at Sotheby's for three years in the late 60s, training under Senior Director A. J. B. Kiddell, and got his taste for international auctions

John Tennant was born

John studied Property and Auctioneering at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. He went on to establish his own estate agency in the late 60s, and auctioneered for both his father and for Thirsk Auction Mart

Edmund Slinger Tennant Junior was born (pictured as a baby)

The younger Edmund Tennant took over his father's business, expanding and venturing into auctioneering

Edmund Slinger Tennant was born

Edmund was a stonemason, grocer and agricultural merchant in Middleham, near Leyburn