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OPULENCE & SPLENDOUR

Three of the Best: The Iron Lady goes online

The Steeple Times selects three of the best items on offer in the online auction of items formerly owned by Margaret Thatcher   Few know that Margaret Thatcher’s final resting place is in the grounds of...

What makes art sell?

The Steeple Times’ first panel debate at the Library members’ club featured four art experts and the question: “What makes art sell?”   On Wednesday 2nd December, The Steeple Times hosted the first in a series...

A cultural cottage

Cottage orné complete with its own former chapel for sale in a cultural haunt made famous by Benjamin Britten and Sir Peter Pears   In the late 18th and early 19th century, the Romantic movement sought...

Grand gardening

South Kensington communal garden offered for sale for the staggering sum of £175,000   In the Lake District, £175,000 ($264,000 or €249,000) will buy you a quaint cottage alongside a steam railway line but in South...

A practical Aston

Rare 1963 Aston Martin built with a view to be “equally suitable to drive or be driven in” to be auctioned with an estimate £377,000 higher than its 2006 £23,000 selling price   Long before luxury...

Reader Offer: What makes art sell? – A panel debate

‘The Steeple Times’ invites readers to attend its first panel debate and drinks reception where the topic will be: “What makes art sell?”   On the 2nd December, The Steeple Times will host the first in...

An ace Bentley

Bentley once owned by chocolate tycoon and flying ace Sir Egbert Cadbury to be auctioned with a guide lower than the cost of its most recent renovation   Air Commodore Sir Egbert Cadbury was best known...

Taking Aston to another level

Aston Martin to be sold in New York could fetch in excess of £10 million and become the highest priced British car ever to be hammered down at auction   Priced with a guide of £9.9...

A landmark Chrysler

Example of America’s finest era of automotive excellence, a 1953 Chrysler Special coupé by Ghia, heads to auction   Cars have shaped America like no other visual form, except perhaps for movies, and though today’s offerings...

Love at first sight

Stunning 1938 Bugatti that once formed part of the collection of the heir to Macy’s to be auctioned with a guide of £1.4 to £1.6 million   A 1938 Bugatti Type 57C Atalante owned for the...

Fitting for FitzGerald

FitzGerald Fine Arts introduces itself to London in spectacular style with a preview organised by Dellert & Associates   On Thursday 5th November, the art PR maven Elizabeth Dellert of Dellert & Associates hosted an event...

The £200k Range

Land Rover to launch Range Rover for the super-rich   Land Rover have revealed they are considering a limited-run Range Rover costing in excess of £200,000 to compete with the forthcoming Bentley Bentayga and Rolls-Royce Cullinan...

Taking bijou to another level

South Kensington studio with what are described as “two sleeping areas” hits the market for a staggering £1.195 million or £1,950 per square foot   In 1988, a 5’6” by 11’ broom cupboard opposite Harrods sold...

Marking 2 million

2 millionth Land Rover to be auctioned for charity on 16th December by Bonhams in London   Though its future has been killed off by the EU’s emissions legislation, the Land Rover Defender will forever remain...

Ruskin’s fixer-upper

Part of a Mayfair house occupied by the art critic John Ruskin and the architect Charles Tatham before him comes to the market for £1.25 million despite requiring complete renovation, having just 923 square...

Barging in

Converted Dutch barge overlooking Albert Bridge on the Thames in Chelsea for sale for £700,000 or £493 per square foot   With dark, dingy subterranean flats in Kensington and Chelsea selling for upwards of £2 million,...

Five of the Best: Ground and first floor maisonettes in London

Matthew Steeples selects five of the best ground and first floor maisonettes currently for sale in Central London   Ground and basement maisonettes are ten-a-penny in London but ground and first floor apartments of this type...

A luxury Mini

Rare coachbuilt, one owner from new 1978 Austin Mini Clubman by Wood & Pickett to be auctioned; aspiring Sloanes should most definitely put in their bids   A 1978 Austin Mini Clubman by coachbuilders Wood &...

Rock and Joel

Renowned real estate broker Joel Goodrich is marketing a San Francisco mansion that has links to both silent movies and noisy rockstars for £7.7 million   Joel Goodrich is, without a doubt, one of what Americans...

’Enry’s Ferrari

Ferrari once owned by boxing legend Sir Henry Cooper to be auctioned at the NEC Classic Motor Show sale   The late Sir Henry Cooper OBE, KSG (1934 – 2011) was a boxing legend and reflecting his...

Selling a Sellers

Continuing our look at the lots in the forthcoming Silverstone Auctions NEC Classic Motor Show sale, we highlight a 1966 Lotus Elan S2 originally owned by Peter Sellers   Delivered new to Peter Sellers in July...

Lost Range

Unusual 1973 Range Rover convertible to be auctioned at the NEC Classic Motor Show sale   Made popular when Roger Moore as James Bond drove one into an equestrian event during the opening scenes of the...

A barrack for the Beckhams

After buying a cocker spaniel, are the Beckham family about to embrace country life by moving to Gloucestershire?   David and Victoria Beckham count Guy Ritchie amongst their close friends and having attended his wedding to...

A promenade through PAD

Highlights of this year’s PAD art and design fair in Berkeley Square, London   Now in its ninth year, PAD – a tent filled with its organisers describe as “a showcase of some of the world’s...

The Yellow Peril

A car that could give the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car a run for its money heads to auction – It’s nickname is Yellow Peril   First owned by an “odd character of the American West” named...

Cleaning up

£56 million EuroMillions winners to sell their £4.5 million Cotswolds “eco mansion” – Viewers would do well to not mention cleaners   When Justine Laycock and Nigel Page won half of a £113 million EuroMillions jackpot...

Cleaning up

£56 million EuroMillions winners to sell their £4.5 million Cotswolds “eco mansion” – Viewers would do well to not mention cleaners   When Justine Laycock and Nigel Page won half of a £113 million EuroMillions jackpot...

Plated XI

Plated XI – 15 more of the best registration plates spotted by readers of ‘The Steeple Times’   Continuing our series, below we feature 15 more unusual, laughable and entertaining registration plates:     We expect readers will come...

Live above La Brasserie

Penthouse above La Brasserie offered for sale for just shy of £3 million   Crompton Court is a landmark building on Brompton Cross in Chelsea. It counts La Brasserie and Chanel as occupants of its ground...

Review: Hotel Rafayel

Matthew Steeples reviews Hotel Rafayel on London’s ‘Left Bank’   Businessman Iqbal Latif is a gent and a scholar and the hotel he built, Rafayel on the Left Bank, truly reflects his character, style and passion...

A wacky coupé

Rare 1955 Arnolt-MG coupé to be offered at auction for just £13,000 to £20,000   Just 65 MG coupés and 35 convertibles were built by the Chicago based industrialist Stanley “Wacky” Arnolt and of them only...

Not Too Late

Former Holland Park home of Pre-Raphaelite painter Herbert Gustave Schmalz for sale for £16.5 million   The Pre-Raphaelite painter Herbert Gustave Schmalz (1856 – 1935) –best known for his 1884 painting Too Late – lived at...