07-05-2025
‘I'm selling £300k mammoth fossil to restore my stately home'
A music entrepreneur is selling a 10ft-tall woolly mammoth fossil to help fund the restoration of his fire-damaged stately home.
James Perkins, a former rave promoter, bought the burnt-out shell of Parnham House in Dorset for £2.5 million in 2020 and estimates that the restoration will cost 10 times that amount.
Now, he is auctioning his eclectic collection of rare fossils, taxidermy animals, unusual artworks and furniture.
The 448 lots, which are being sold with the Newbury-based auctioneers Dreweatts, are expected to fetch £1.66 million.
They include entire prehistoric skeletons, including a woolly mammoth fossil found in Poland that is at least 11,700 years old and is in exceptional condition. It is valued at £300,000.
Mr Perkins said: 'This sale ... marks an important milestone in Parnham's evolution ahead of some major structural repair, as the proceeds will help us restore the estate to its former glory and establish a unique destination for lovers of art, design and grand entertainment.'
Parnham House is a Grade I-listed historic property dating back to the 1400s and one of Dorset's oldest stately homes.
The property was ravaged by fire in 2017 and its owner, the Austrian banker Michael Treichl, was found dead in Lake Geneva two months later.
At the time of his death, Treichl was on bail following his arrest for starting the fire and he is thought to have taken his own life.
Mr Perkins, 57, who previously bought the 17th-century Aynhoe Park in Northamptonshire and turned it into a party and events venue, hopes to create something similar with Parnham Park.
Among the collection being sold by Mr Perkins is a complete 180-million-year-old ichthyosaur skeleton, which is about 9ft long and expected to fetch £180,000.
Another ichthyosaur fossil embedded in rock has an estimate of £80,000 and a fossil of a Cretaceous predatory fish that swam the seas 90 million years ago is expected to sell for £150,000.
Among the art works of four prints by Damien Hirst with an estimate of £18,000 and tables created by Jacques Duval-Brasseur, including an £18,000 low table made from a petrified tree and gilt bronze.
There is also art created by Mr Perkins, including an oil-on-canvas painting of a full moon valued at £8,000, and The Model, a skeleton of a giraffe in heels that has an estimate of £15,000.
An ostrich-feather four-posted bed has an estimate of £12,000, while a large royal coat of arms is expected to fetch £10,000.
The sale takes place on May 13.
