The piece I wouldn't part with

Leo Webster may be a picture specialist at Bonhams, but he would choose the kilt he inherited from his paternal grandfather over any work of art, he tells Carla Passino

- Carla Passino

BEAUTY is Leo Webster's stock in trade. A picture specialist at Bonhams in Edinburgh, he has sold vibrant Scottish Colourist paintings, glorious 18th-century landscapes and adorable dog portraits (including some that had belonged to the Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts). At times, he has even sat on the opposite side of the rostrum and bought some prized works for himself, not least a fine etching by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, which was his first successful bid at auction. Yet, he confesses, 'there are other things I have that I feel much more passionately about and they're almost always related to my family'.

Descending as he does from architects and artists on both parents' sides, he has inherited architectural studies and beautiful watercolours (from his maternal grandfather, who loved to paint himself among the crowd, so the pictures double up as a family Where's Wally) and spectacular Nigerian artworks from his paternal grandfather, who lived and worked in the African country for 35 years. 'I have these incredible carved doors that he bought at some point in the 1960s and brought back. They are amazing hardwood things and have tribal war scenes on them, so they're a little gruesome if you look too closely, but they are absolutely wonderful.'

As befits a proud Scotsman, however, Mr Webster's most prized possession is his kilt. His entire dress outfit has meaningful connections: 'The Kate Macpherson sporran was a 21st-birthday present from my parents, the doublet and waistcoat were a gift from a very good friend's grandfather, shortly before he died—he had a tartan-weaving business, Macnaughtons, so it's a very beautiful thing—but the kilt itself, in slightly faded Macdonald colours, I inherited from my grandfather.'