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As described in a previous blog post, the auction of paintings and other items from the estate of the late Lady Soames was held at Sotheby’s in London in December. The auction of the 255 objects realized over 15 million pounds, several times the pre-sale estimates. The bulk of the proceeds came from the sale of Churchill’s paintings, with his The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell fetching the most of any item auctioned at £1,762,500. One other Churchill painting went for over a million pounds, with Tapestries at Blenheim selling for £1,082,500. Other interesting items in the auction were Sir Oswald Birley’s portrait of Churchill, which sold for £1,426,500, and Edwin Arthur Ward’s delightful painting of Churchill as a young man which was auctioned for £122,500. Also, Churchill’s despatch box as Colonial Secretary sold for £158,500 well over the pre-sale expectation of £7,000. The list of items auctioned is available at the Sotheby’s web site. News reports on the sale are available from the Guardian and the Daily Mail.