A Curio for the Count - The Family Silver

Auction day at the Bridges’ sale room brings a mixed bag of items up for disposal from the simply unwanted to goods being converted to desperately needed cash.

Impoverished nobility was not uncommon at any time in history – unfortunate circumstances or poor judgement could leave wealthy and titled families ‘on their uppers’ at any time.

Jane Austen wrote about it in her novels Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion. In the former, the Dashwood sisters and their widowed mother lose the family estate due to bereavement; in the latter, a family’s lavish spending leaves them in disastrous debt. In the late 19th century and into the 20th century, declining income from estates and sweeping societal changes led to the inability of the nobility to maintain lavish houses.

The 1935 romantic comedy film The Ghost Goes West is an amusing take on the struggles of a laird besieged by creditors.

Find A Curio for the Count by Elizabeth Ellen Carter on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3BHvQdI
The Ghost Goes West on Archive.org: http://bit.ly/3HxSetc

Audio: Take Your Time by LiQWYD. Used under license from Storyblocks.
Image used under license from Ingram Image.