Barn find Bentley from The Steeple Times September 1, 2015

It’s in the Mail

“Barn find” 1934 Bentley owned by press magnate Esmond Harmsworth (later 2^nd Viscount Rothermere) to be sold at Silverstone Auctions sale at Salon Privé 2015

Esmond Harmsworth – later 2^nd Viscount Rothermere – led a remarkable life. Eton educated, an MP at the tender age of 21 and subsequently chairman of Associated Newspapers from 1932 to 1971 and of Daily Mail & General Trust Ltd from 1938 to 1978, Harmsworth purchased a ‘Derby’ Bentley 3½ litre three-position drophead coupé by Thrupp & Maberly new in 1934. That car, now in “barn find” condition is to be sold this week at the Salon Privé sale at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.

It’s in the Mail –1934 ‘Derby’ Bentley 3½ litre three-posiition drophead coupé by

Thrupp and Maberly. 

 

Esmond Harmsworth, later 2nd Viscount Rothermere (1898 – 1978)

The interior of the car has certainly seen better days

Harmsworth’s car – which cost him £1,100 as a bare chassis and a further £500 for its coachwork (the equivalent of a total of £102,000 today) – remained in his ownership through the war but then was not heard of again until 1952 when it was sold for £800 to the works director of the Standard Telephone Company, Alfred Mason, for £800 (the equivalent of £22,000 today). His widow sold it to the athletics administrator and anti-drugs campaigner Sir Arthur Gold CBE (1917 – 2002) in 1965 for £180 (the equivalent of £3,200 today).

Now described as an “unmolested relic”, the car has been untouched since the 1950s and is offered with a guide price of £60,000 to £80,000. It will be sold this Friday, 4^th September 2015.

To book tickets to Salon Privé, click here. Prices for full entry range from £95 to £270 plus VAT and booking fees.

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1840's English mahogany boot drying rack. After "the hunt" the sophisticated sportsmen put their boots on a dryer like these.

Over the years I have had several different types of these objects. Mostly you find 19th century English ones because the majority of the fox hunts were in Victorian English. This is another object you might see on Downton Abbey. Eventually they found there way to America and ones can occasionally be found that were made in Maryland, the Carolina's or Virginia. These are pretty rare though. The English ones were mahogany and an American one could be made of cherry or walnut. Less fancy ones I suppose could be pine or popular. I have also seen English cast iron ones and more contemporary factory made examples.

The opening of the American West and the cattle business had their own style of boot dryers. They were less fancy (furniture like) and much more utilitarian in nature. I found this folky blue one in south Texas a few years ago.

These are very popular to decorate with and use in a tack room, back porch, breezeway, mud room or entry hall. If you collect early sporting antiques or equestrian objects you must have a boot dryer. They are particularly cool when displayed with vintage riding boots.

The piece we have available right now is English, mahogany and dates to the 1840's It is available for purchase. Sorry Sold.

To see some other examples read on. (courtesy wiki)