23/06/2020 General News
Stephen Reginald Topp Wicks was a true Dorset gentleman, with family roots in the Isle of Purbeck stretching back many generations. Born in the 1930s, he developed a passion for collecting from the 1950s onwards, and remained a lifelong collector with a keen and inquisitive mind.
His early interests in natural history, antiquities, books, world history, and botany laid the foundation for a broad and curious intellectual life. Over the decades, he assembled an extensive and wonderfully eclectic collection, characterised by personality, scholarship, and an appreciation for the unusual.
A particular enthusiasm for early English oak furniture runs through the collection. Many pieces were acquired through his family’s removal and house clearance business in Boscombe, Bournemouth, which gradually evolved into a shop dealing in antiques and second-hand furnishings. Countless remarkable objects passed through his hands, some sold, but many treasured and kept.
The time has now come for the collection to be shared once again, allowing others to enjoy the quirky, characterful, and engaging items that Stephen so loved.
His collection features as the first 110 lots in our November Interiors.