As a regular on daytime television, Ian “The Duchess” Towning is the best-known antiques trader in Chelsea. The medallion-festooned wheeler-dealer has, however, managed to upset one of London’s most prominent socialites.
Basia Briggs, a friend of Prince Michael of Kent, left an unwanted heirloom in Towning’s care. She was, however, horrified to discover that not only was the statue unsold, but that it was damaged.
“Just before Christmas, I took him a statue that belonged to my dead mother but wasn’t quite to my taste,” she tells Mandrake. “He promised he’d be able to sell it, so I left it with him on trust.”
Recently, Basia, who owns Hyde Park Stables with her husband, Richard Briggs, popped in to Towning’s shop off to check on the statue.
“It was very dirty and a finger of the harlequin had broken off,” she says. “I was very upset, so I rescued it. When I asked about insurance, he turned very nasty and said it was my responsibility. I was very taken aback by his manner, I left it there in good faith.”
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20 Oct 2013Towning, who has featured on David Dickinson’s Real Deal programme, admits that the statue was damaged. “There was a tiny chip on it, a little nick,” he tells me.
The dealer insists: “It didn’t happen in my shop, to my knowledge.” However, he claims: “We didn’t examine it before it came in.”
Towning refuses to claim for the damage on his insurance. “I won’t insure it, as I didn’t want it in the first place,” he says, adding: “Not a single client of mine in 35 years has ever said I’ve acted incorrectly in business.”
Basia adds that she is not motivated by money. “I’m going to throw the blinking thing in the bin,” she declares.
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