J. W. Lennon, Esq., M.B.E., Kenwood, Wood Lane, Cavendish Road, St George's Hill, Weybridge, Surrey.
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Kenwood: a map with bottles in etc.
Extreme trivia this may be, but many of the fixtures and fittings from the Lennon-era Kenwood have appeared on the open market - largely as a result of Cynthia's "car boot sale" in the early '90s. Above can be seen the Asprey's globe cocktail cabinet (or, in John's words, the "map of the world that has bottles in it") that sat from 1965-1968 in the den; in-situ in Cathy Kelleher Sarver's snapshot from '68, then, below that, over Tony Wilson's shoulder as he interviewed Cynthia at home in the mid-1980s, and finally at auction in 1991, where its estimate was £600-800.
Cynthia also interviewed Julian chez...err...Penrith around this time, and one or two bits of Kenwood detritus can be seen floating about (not literally). For example, the lithograph after Basilus Besler, which used to hang in the dining room at Kenwood; for a second time, to the rear of Julian:
At one point, the pair are pictured going through some old scrap-books of family snaps, some of which are instantly recognisable to anyone who follows this guff:
...and some of which, intriguingly enough, aren't.
Cynthia's Kenwood residue was sold over three auctions at Christie's, and included one or two other very familiar bits and pieces, such as the Persian rug from the sunroom, as pictured on June 29, 1967:
Julian has been re-buying a lot of these items, and a book is soon to appear on this very subject.
I always thought it was weird when Julian was insisting Yoko ought to give him some of his father's things (a guitar or jacket) when his own mother had been selling hers for cash at auction...? Ask yer Mum for some of that!
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