Questions have been raised over Highland Council’s decision-making process relating to the 1728 marble bust of Sir John Gordon, Invergordon’s namesake, by Edmé Bouchardon. The bust could now be imminently sold to a mystery buyer and has been valued at £3.1mn.
Conflicting accounts over the bust’s past treatment
The council has allowed it to be reported that the bust had been lost, forgotten, even repurposed as a doorstop in a Balintore shed. According to Colin MacKenzie, the former Highland Council insurance officer who personally cared for the bust for over four decades, this is inaccurate. As he explained in a recent Invergordon Museum talk, it was in a ‘Locality Office’, a designated, secured storage facility, along with 284 other local museum-related objects. He claims that its whereabouts had always been known and documented.
“He [sic] was never forgotten about”, Mackenzie stated, referring to the bust of Sir John.
Until retiring in 2024, MacKenzie remained silent because he felt he had to “bite his tongue” as an employee, and he defended the earlier council’s storage efforts.
“If it was just put in a skiff and forgotten about, why would we have had everything inventoried?” He held the records up to the screen: “That is the two inventories that were done … That is for the records (pointing to one) … and that is for all the items (pointing to the other).”
Experts advising the UK government have found the bust to be of “outstanding cultural and historical importance to Britain”, with commentary emphasising its significance to Scottish history; its export has therefore been deferred until tomorrow, 8 April, to allow a UK institution the chance to retain it.
From local storage to national significance
Beyond the disputed narrative, the council’s process has been described by critics as flawed. According to some commentators, the Highland Council Area Committee deliberations contained little informed discussion of the bust’s historical significance or of its importance to Highland culture.
Indeed, the consultation has been criticised as inadequate; only one auction house’s advice was sought, despite the bust’s value exceeding the £50,000 threshold that may typically trigger a public procurement process. No other expert advisers appeared to be referenced in the consultation documents and there was little public transparency about the Sheriff Court hearing in Tain.
Most residents of Invergordon are focused on their own immediate financial pressures, understandably so – and they have neither time nor energy to find solutions for their town’s finances, let alone make sure the council is behaving as it should. But responsible stewardship of cultural heritage exists precisely to protect what individuals, in difficult times, cannot.
Concerns raised over the council’s handling of the sale
For all its claims to have taken advice, this council has continued, according to critics, to demonstrate a lack of awareness in certain respects. The Black Isle and Easter Ross Area Committee meeting on 26 January 2026 left some commentators with the impression that not all councillors were cognisant of the details of the UK Reviewing Committee report – and therefore arguably lacking in establishing collective due diligence. The UK Reviewing Committee’s referred to the bust as being “of major significance to Scottish history”. The reviewing committee’s experts, including a former director at the National Galleries of Scotland, agreed unanimously on the bust’s national importance.
Given such a spectacular announcement, why are we not all celebrating? The stewardship of the Gordon bust has now acquired a whole new dimension for Scottish cultural and political history. In 2028, the bust will be 300 years old. Nowhere will it be more meaningful than in the Highlands, and this should prompt the council’s immediate reconsideration of its own stewardship of the bust.
Is the Highland Council capable of such introspection? Last year, it did not publicly respond to a proposal from The Invergordon Naval Museum and Heritage Centre. It has been reported that objections to the sale were raised by the Invergordon Museum, and the case was subsequently considered under the UK export control process, leading to scrutiny by the reviewing committee.
Thus, thanks to the Invergordon Museum Trustees’ commitment and due diligence, the national scope of the Gordon bust has been brought to light. Ironic that it is a group of unelected volunteers, as opposed to our elected Highland Council, that is championing our Highland culture.
A gap between expert findings and local response
Rather than pursuing the sale as though it knows better than anyone else, the council should reconsider its strategy and seek assistance in good faith. Has it considered its responsibility to proceed with humility regarding a work of national importance? Has it thought to ask the Scottish government for help?
Has it consulted Scotland’s culture secretary Angus Robertson for advice regarding philanthropic mechanisms and fiscal solutions? Has it sought to mobilise and encourage local and/or national partners who might consider sponsoring a cultural and touristic strategy integrating the bust’s story into our Highland history?
Councillor Sarah Atkin of the Black Isle has characterised the sale as “cultural vandalism”. At the Highland Council General Meeting in June 2024, she emphasised the “historical, cultural, and artistic importance of the bust and felt that time-limited efforts should be made to ensure that, if it was sold, it remained in the country”.
On 14 February, I wrote to the Highland Council leader Councillor Raymond Bremner and the Black Isle & Easter Ross Area Committee to ask if they were not concerned that their treatment of the bust may constitute an extraordinary disservice to an outstanding historical and cultural asset of Highland heritage.
Councillor Atkin, who opposed selling off “this important and historic work”, affirmed in an email and subsequent interview that she felt selling the Gordon bust was “an act of cultural vandalism”.
Calls for reconsideration and wider engagement
If no UK buyer comes forward by tomorrow, 8 April, the bust is effectively sold. The council’s decision to proceed with the sale will not just be a tragic loss for the Highlands and for Scotland. It will be a staggering indictment of this Highland Council itself, an indictment reflected in the parting words of Colin MacKenzie:
“That’s what it is … selling ourselves for the highest bidder”.
I asked him if he was sure I should quote him on that, and he looked straight back at me.
“Quote me!” insisted MacKenzie, not without anger. “What do you say when you sell your culture?”
It has been claimed that the Highland Council is committing “cultural vandalism” by selling the Bouchardon bust – perhaps it can only redeem its handling of this by rescinding the sale and finding a way to preserve this heritage.
Statement from the council
In communications with the writer, a Highland Council spokesperson issued the following statement:
“The decision to sell the Bouchardon Bust (the Bust) has gone through a thorough and transparent process in full compliance with the statutory requirements of the Community Empowerment(Scotland) Act 2015.
“A public consultation was launched in January 2024, and, based on the feedback received, Members recommended to sell the Bust. The associated Committee Report (13 May 2024) is linked for reference.
“This recommendation was subsequently considered by Full Council, who agreed to proceed with the sale. A key condition attached to the sale was that a museum-grade replica would be commissioned, with the cost incorporated into the selling price. Sheriff Court approval was then granted.
“As part of the sale procedure, an export licence application was submitted. The Bust was assessed as meeting the Waverley Criteria, meaning that, before the sale can proceed to the private buyer, UK institutions or equivalent bodies must be given the opportunity to acquire it. This is the stage where this process is currently at.
“If no such organisation comes forward within the permitted timeframe, the sale will be completed with the private buyer. There is a contractual agreement in place between the Council and the overseas buyer.”
There is a Change.org petition to keep the Bouchardon bust in Scotland which can be signed here.
