OTTAWA — They didn’t even know they had them until after they sold them off.
Officials at Rideau Hall say the first time they saw thousands of dollars worth of antique silver and china — some of it on loan from Buckingham Palace — was when Sun Media reported it had been sold.
“It was a surprise and quite honestly it was a shock because we had no notion at that time that there was anything like this in that shipment,” said Sheila-Marie Cook, secretary to Governor General Michaelle Jean.
Breaking her silence in an exclusive interview with Sun Media, Cook said the incident alerted Rideau Hall and the National Capital Commission to a problem they hadn’t realized they had — one they are now taking steps to fix.
In May, the government accidentally sold off heritage silver and china from Rideau Hall on the Crown Assets government disposal website usually used to off load old desks and filing cabinets. The government has since paid $95,150 to get back pieces it sold for $3,934.
Several other valuable pieces were at Crown Assets about to be picked up by buyers or about to be put up for sale when the story broke.
Cook said one of the biggest challenges was that the current staff at Rideau Hall had never seen the pieces before.
“We had issued a directive to stop the sale and return everything that had not been sold and it was then, of course, that we started to recognize that there were all these items that we didn’t recognize.”
Consequently, when three sterling flower baskets inscribed to the Duke of York were retrieved, Cook didn’t realize they weren’t the same ones on loan from Buckingham Palace that had been put up for sale.
Cook said what exactly happened might never be known. The antiques appear to have been packed away in boxes and put in Rideau Hall’s basement about six or seven years ago where they lay forgotten.
When staff cleared out a storeroom, the boxes of silver were sent off to Crown Assets along with boxes of old tablecloths, ashtrays and Christmas decorations.
Cook said the antiques appear to have fallen through a crack.
Rideau Hall is responsible for cutlery, china and glassware. The NCC has an inventory of things like artwork and furniture. Many of the pieces sold were heritage antiques but also practical serving pieces.
Cook said Rideau Hall and the NCC are now drafting a new agreement. Buckingham Palace has provided it with a list of 17 items on loan and Rideau Hall is considering hiring a curator or historian.
Meanwhile, staff are scouring Rideau Hall and finding other things they hadn’t known were there such as a cigarette box engraved with the names of several governors general.
Cook said if it weren’t for the story, part of Canada’s heritage could have been lost.
elizabeth.thompson@sunmedia.ca
