Offered by Keys (20% buyer’s premium) on April 6, the Sir Malcolm Arnold Collection proved to be a problematic one.
An ‘Integrity of Provenance Statement’ inserted in the catalogue advised that the bulk of the pictures and general lots may not have been owned by the British composer, but did come from his former home.
Of those 111 lots, 62 did sell, but while that notice did not apply to the 93 music lots, only 13 of them found buyers.