This is a report from a London newspaper published after the five days' auction, from 4 to 8 November 1919, conducted by Christie's in London, by authority of the Trustees of the late 12th Duke of Hamilton, of the most important of the contents of Hamilton Palace.

The sale demonstrated the contrast between the great landowners, desperately needing cash to maintain their estates burdened by the Great War (World War I) which had ended a year earlier, and those in the United Kingdom, Europe and especially in the USA who had made fortunes out of the war.

Many of the treasures of Hamilton Palace had come from the collection of William Beckford who designed and built Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire, and whose daughter Susan married the 10th Duke. 'Fonthill was a dream; Hamilton evidently became a nightmare. In a few months the Scottish Palace will be a memory'.