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Duncan Chilcott is the Company's joint Founder. Chilcotts' Principal Auctioneer and Valuer, most of Duncan's time is spent visiting clients, private and professional, appraising items for sale or carrying out Probate Valuations; Duncan also advises customers at our Valuation Days. Duncan gained his expertise during a career which started in 1978 at the top London Auction Houses: Christies, Phillips and Bonhams. Appointed as Managing Director of Bonhams West Country in 1991, Duncan's move to Honiton eventually led him, in 2004, to establishing his own auction house; he is the longest serving Fine Art Auctioneer in East Devon. Duncan has a wealth of experience and a wide breadth of knowledge of Fine Art, Antiques and Collectors' Items. Duncan has written, and contributed to, several books including 'The Which? Guide to Buying Collectables', 'The Hamlyn Guide to Football Collectables', and 'The Letts Guide to Buying 20th-Century Toys'; he has also been a specialist on The Antiques Roadshow. Recently, he identified an important antique Chinese Vase among boxes of various ceramics; it went on to sell for over £400,000 for our vendor. In his spare time Duncan can be found on the terraces of St. James' Park (Exeter City FC) or exploring the Devon countryside in his beloved MG!

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Elizabeth Chilcott is the Company's joint Founder. Liz is responsible for the Company's business development, marketing and day-to-day operations, however, time spent helping and interacting with our customers forms the favourite part of her day. After her Degree in Fashion Design and Marketing, Liz joined Marks and Spencer's Head Office as a Buyer. She ensures that lots are clearly and attractively displayed, has high standards of customer care, and is keen to de-mystify the Auction process. With her background in fashion, Liz values and catalogues textiles and rugs. Outside the saleroom, Liz's homelife revolves, with Duncan, around their four children (now young adults), walking in Devon's beautiful countryside, and trying to establish a wildflower meadow with a 'Connemara Hedge-bank' in their garden; she loves visiting National Trust properties when she has time.

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Jennifer Bell will be familiar to many as one of Chilcotts' three auctioneers. Already an experienced and respected silver valuer, in January 2022 Jennifer Bell took on the additional responsibility for Chilcotts' jewellery auctions. Jenny's knowledge of jewellery was gained over several years, while assisting Diana Hollis, our former jewellery valuer. In 2023 Jenny started cataloguing watches and coins; Jenny's other areas of interest include vintage vinyl records and militaria. Among a large number of career highlights, carefully cataloguing and auctioning an important collection of early West Country Silver Spoons, and selling an oil painting by Duncan Grant for £42,000 (the highest price achieved for the artist at auction outside London) particularly stand out. Away from the Saleroom, Jenny follows a wide variety of sports, loves track-days, and is creating a wild-life pond.

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Mary values and catalogues ceramics and glass. Mary's knowledge has been gained over several years of working with Duncan, and visiting museums and exhibitions; recently she viewed the 'Henry Sandon Study Collection' at Chorleys. She has a passion for studio pottery, with a special interest in works by Waistel Cooper. Taking to the rostrum aged at just eighteen, Mary's top lot, so far, has been 'The Menagerie Clock', a Doulton Lambeth clock-mount by George Tinworth, which she catalogued and then sold for £9,200. In 2022 Mary appeared as the specialist and auctioneer on Bargain Hunt, filming four episodes with Natasha Raskin Sharp. Outside work, Mary is studying for a Degree in History of Art at The University of Bristol; she loves live music, cider, walking on Exmoor and historic buildings.

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Barnaby Willis catalogues our auctions of Good Antiques & Mid 20thC Design. Joining Chilcotts in 2022, Barnaby is enthusiastic about the business; in addition to having formal training, he works alongside Duncan and other team members, and has quickly learned about the items that we sell and their ever-changing markets.

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Joanne Neale is likely to be your first point of contact with Chilcotts - working on Reception, Jo assists telephone and in-person enquirers. With her main roles of vendor and valuation client liaison and diary management, Jo also looks after buyers' invoicing and arranging P&P. A very accomplished baker, Jo often shares her delicious cakes with the team!

Having been part of Chilcotts' team for several years in a receptionist and admin role, Gail is now also one of the viewing team, assisting customers at our Silver and Jewellery sales, and at our auctions of Collectors Items. Out of office hours, Gail enjoys travelling and exploring new places, DIY and walking her dog.

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Courtney Round is mainly responsible for the Company's Social Media. Since joining Chilcotts in 2022 Courtney has brought her creativity to the company's Facebook and Instagram posts, encouraging engagement and introducing new customers to our auctions; her reels have been much admired, or, more accurately, 'liked'! A talented photographer, Courtney also takes most of the images that illustrate our online catalogues, and assists Liz Chilcott and Press Officer, Sue Cade, with photographs to accompany press releases.

Chris Henley helps to set up the auctions, and works on viewing and auction days assisting customers - cheerfully answering queries and helping carry and load their purchases. Chris has a wide range of interests and is a hugely enthusiastic railway buff - his knowledge of train-related objects has proved invaluable to the Company.

Marianne enjoys assisting people viewing the Jewellery at our quarterly Silver and Jewellery Auctions. Before joining the Chilcotts team, Marianne worked at The Grove Antique Centre in Honiton High Street and is very knowledgeable about the world of Antiques and Fine Art. Marianne is a very talented gardener, is the Tower Captain of her Parish Church's bellringers, and very involved in arranging community events.

Katie joined the Company before our first auction, coming to the 11:00am interview with freshly made Millionaires Shortbread! Katie loves auctions, bringing bags of energy and enthusiasm to her role of saleroom assistant. Away from the saleroom, Katie is a Francophile and for years ran a ski chalet with her husband.

Very sadly, Diana Hollis has died (6 November 2024). I first met Diana in 2004, when, at the end of our inaugural auction she approached me and emphatically said, “You need me”! Diana went on to explain that, before retiring to Devon, she had previously worked at London auction houses Sotheby’s, Phillips, Bonhams, and West End jewellers. She was right – Diana proved to be invaluable in helping to establish Chilcotts, the two of us holding valuation days together – with Diana valuing and cataloguing the jewellery. From 2014 Diana started training Jenny Bell, her successor in the business, generously and warmly imparting her knowledge; we have recently learnt that Diana has gifted her large collection of reference books to Chilcotts. After she retired in 2022, Diana continued as a counter assistant at our silver and jewellery sales, working until March 2024. She relished the trade; when I visited her recently, Diana was keen to know all the news and any gossip from the previous auction! Diana brought her sense of fun and spirit to the business; she loved cricket - we often enjoyed listening to Test Match Special together, and she regularly arrived at work with a packet of Borders Dark Chocolate Ginger biscuits to share with the team. Accurately described by one of my colleagues as ‘indomitable’, it is difficult to comprehend that Diana is no longer with us – we will miss her and will always be grateful to her. Duncan Chilcott.

Sebastian Morey-Weale has supported Chilcotts with all our computer requirements since the early days of our business, way back in 2004. He is with us every auction day, relaying the online bids from the-saleroom.com and giving us the confidence that, if anything crashes, he will be around to sort it out. Seb runs his own business: https://www.smwtechsupport.co.uk/ and is a Martial Arts Instructor.

Sue Cade has been helping to promote our business since 2015. Sue works closely with us to uncover and write up interesting stories based around our auction items. She then sends these to relevant publications including local press, tv stations, and national titles such as ATG and Medal News. Sue’s PR agency In The Right Order is based close by, just outside of Honiton. www.intherightorder.co.uk/