Bidders hoping to secure a piece of the oldest church in England still in use, helped push the total sale value to £210,000 at the auction on September 24, above the £100,000 pre-sale estimate.
The stone had been removed from the Great South Window during major conservation work after serious structural problems were discovered in 2009. The pieces sold were a range of shapes and sizes and it was suggested they could be used as book ends and garden sculpture.
Auction Will Fund Future Conservation Work
The auction was organised by Canterbury Cathedral Trust – the independent charity which supports the cathedral and has helped meet the cost of replacing a window by raising £2.5m from private and charitable sources. The money raised from the auction will go towards future conservation work.
Canterbury Auctions and thesaleroom.com waived buyer’s and seller’s premium and bidding platform charges for the charity.
Extensive work by the cathedral’s stonemasons and stained-glass conservators is nearing completion and the team has restored the structure to one that will again hold the world-renowned, early medieval stained glass depicting the Biblical ancestors of Christ.
ATG understands the Archbishop of Canterbury was delighted and had watched the sale online.
