Bentley S3 Continental drophead coupé originally owned by brewing baron Sir Keith Showering to be sold at auction; his family created the ‘cult drink’ Babycham
Sir Keith Showering (second from left) with other members of his family and associatesThe rear of the car
One of just 75 drophead coupés produced and featuring the ‘Chinese Eye’ lights that proved popular with the likes of the broadcaster Alan Whicker CBE (1921 – 2013) also, the car offered was originally finished in Cadillac Green with a green interior and top. It now sports white paintwork, a grey/black and blue interior and a blue hood but does retain its numbers matching engine and was subsequently owned by the businessman, car collector and one-time Japanese Honorary Consul of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden Dr Soichiro Yoshida.
RM Sotheby’s will sell the Bentley with an estimate of £110,000 to £140,000 ($142,000 to $180,000, €121,000 to €153,000 or درهم520,000 to درهم662,000) at their sale in Battersea Park on 6th September.
South Kensington house for sale for £4 million in spite of being literally right next to a noisy London Underground line
Estate agents are not known for honesty but Strutt & Parker certainly neglected a key detail when preparing particulars for a £3.95 million ($5.13 million, €4.38 million or درهم18.83 million) property in Pelham Street, SW7.
In a brochure for what is termed a “fabulous five bedroom freehold house situated within a charming terrace of stucco fronted houses, set back behind a private paved garden,” the firm neglect to mention that exactly to the rear of the building is the busy District and Circle line.
The renovated 2,523 square foot terraced house offered spans four floors – and presumably the top floors rattle less than the lower ones – and includes a drawing room, dining kitchen, a cinema room, 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It has a garden to the front, a roof terrace and the London Underground directly next to it. How charming.
Lord Sugar puts his gin palace up for sale for £12.7 million after owning it for just two years; it was originally built for the controversial tycoon Alan Bond
On Monday, the Daily Mail’s Sebastian Shakespeare revealed that Lord Sugar – of The Apprentice fame, in case you didn’t already know – is trying to sell his motor yacht, the ‘Lady A’, for £12.7 million ($16.5 million, €14 million or درهم60.6 million).
The 181-foot long gin palace accommodates 12 guests in 6 cabins and has a crew of 15. Built in Japan in 1986 for the subsequently disgraced and now dead Australian tycoon Alan Bond (1938 – 2015), the vessel passed through various other hands before being bought by Lord Sugar in 2015. Originally known as ‘Southern Cross III’, the boat was renamed ‘Indian Princess’ during supposed ownership by the brewing tycoon and ‘King of Good Times’ Vijay Mallya and ‘Emihar Chios’ whilst owned by the Greek shipping tycoon Harry N. Vafias.
Totally refitted over 10 months in 2016 by Burgess Marine and then renamed in honour of Lord Sugar’s wife since 1968, Lady Sugar (originally Ann), the ‘Lady A’ is described as a “unique market opportunity” and “one of the most distinctive yachts on the water” by brokers Edmiston.
A rare thing – A Pacific Heights, San Francisco house with a 9-car garage that has been dramatically reduced in price by £1 million
Extending to 7,580 square feet in total and on a corner plot, 2190 Vallejo Street in San Francisco is a detached 5-storey residence with a private garage with space for seven to nine cars.
Built in 1912, the year the Titanic sank, to the designs of Edgar Mathews (1866 – 1946) – an architect responsible for a number of Arts and Crafts style houses in the sought after Pacific Heights area of the city – the property includes 4 reception rooms, 7 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms and a wine cellar. It also has three areas of outdoor decking and a small front garden planted with English roses.
Not many single family residences in any city come with garaging for 9 cars
Presented in good but shell condition and including many period features, 2190 Vallejo Street is effectively a blank canvas. It is listed by Michael King Estates and has recently been reduced in price from £7.5 million to £6.5 million.
Editor of The Steeple TimesMatthew Steeples remarked: “At a time when the San Francisco market continues to boom and median house values are currently listed at £928,000 ($1.2 million) – up 7.2% on last year – in the Bay Area according to Zillow.com, this dramatic reduction is definitely indicative of initial overpricing. Just as in London, buyers at this level are extremely choosy but maybe, just maybe now a seriously rich car lover will choose 2190 Vallejo as the location to house their collection.”
The Numbers – 2190 Vallejo Street
June 2017 – Reduced in price by £963,000 ($1.25 million, €1.06 million or درهم4.59 million) to £6.5 million ($8.5 million, €7.2 million or درهم31.2 million).
May 2017 – Listed for sale for £7.51 million ($9.75 million, €8.23 million or درهم35.81 million).
Previously listed last year for £225,000 as part of the £2.3 million sale of a 344-acre farm – where then agents Carter Jonas ultimately received 18 offers – Newbiggin Hall Farmhouse at Newbiggin is now marketed by Eden Estate Agents simply with its gardens.
The 4-bedroom house is in need of complete refurbishment but with 2,291 square foot of accommodation and a price that thus equates to the paltry sum of £127 per square foot, it does indeed seem like a genuine bargain.
The selling agents comment: “The property is Grade II listed and has retained many charming period features, including exposed beams, paneling, feature windows and sandstone flags and stairs. This is a fascinating renovation project with a great deal of potential.”
Billionaire founder of Netscape has failed to sell his Palm Beach mansion in a year; it remains on the market for £105 million (or 754% more than he paid for it in 1999)
Four times married, a father of four and a collector of rather large gin palaces, Texan James H. Clark founded Netscape in 1994 and earnt $2 billion (the equivalent of $3 billion, £2.3 billion, €2.6 billion or درهم11 billion today) from that project when it was sold to AOL in 1998.
Clark paid just $11 million for a Palm Beach mansion named ‘Il Palmetto’ in 1999 (the equivalent of $16.2 million, £12.3 million €13.8 million or درهم59.5 million today) and spent four years renovating the 5.46-acre property. He placed it for sale for $137 million (£105 million, €117 million or درهم503 million) last August but has plainly failed to attract a buyer.
Built to the designs of the Swiss architect Maurice Fatio (1897 – 1943) as an “Italian Renaissance-style palazzo” in 1930, the house – which is also known as 1500 South Ocean Boulevard – is described by selling agents Sotheby’s International Realty as “without peer in Palm Beach.” The building was subjected to a four year renovation by Mr Clark, reportedly extends to around 44,200 square foot and aside from including 10 bedrooms, 14 full-bathrooms and 12 partial-bathrooms, also comes with a 20,000 bottle wine cellar and a second cellar for an additional 1,000 crates.
Architecturally “a series of pavilions connected by cloisters,” the main house is dominated by formal entertaining areas with 16th century carved ceilings and accessed from a private tunnel underneath the road is a 2-bedroom beach house with an infinity pool that “blends into the turquoise waters of the Atlantic Ocean.” To the other boundary, on Lake Worth, is a boathouse with motorised launches for two vessels and a 2-bedroom apartment above.
Designer Reed Krakoff slashes the price of his Hamptons mansion; Jackie Kennedy Onassis spent her childhood summers there
A Hamptons mansion named Lasata – meaning: “Place of Peace” in Native American – where Jacqueline Bouvier (later Kennedy and later Kennedy Onassis) spent her childhood summers has recently been reduced in price from £41.5 million to £36.1 million.
121 Further Lane, East Hampton, New York, NY 11937, United States of AmericaJacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929 – 1994)Reed and Delphine Krakoff – Mr Krakoff was at one time tipped as “the next Tom Ford” but reportedly “walked away” from his eponymous brand after supposed differences of vision for it with investors
Alternatively and more simply known as 121 Further Lane, the property concerned is situated in East Hampton and currently owned by the fashion designer Reed Krakoff and his wife Delphine. It extends to 8,500 square foot and includes 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms and stands on a plot of 11.54 acres.
Two blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and three blocks from the Maidstone Club, Lasata was built in 1917 to the designs of Arthur Jackson and bought by Jackie Bouvier’s paternal grandfather, John Vernou Bouvier Jr. (AKA ‘The Major’), in 1935. The future President’s wife is said to have learnt to ride there and aged ten, wrote a poem about her time at the estate:
When I go down to the sandy shore
I can think of nothing I want more
Than to live by the booming blue sea
As the seagulls flutter around about me
I can run about when the tide is out
With the wind and the sea all about
And the seagulls are swirling and diving for fish
Oh-to live by the sea is my only wish
The Arts and Crafts style property was subsequently sold and most recently bought by Mr and Mrs Krakoff for £15.3 million in 2007. The pair – whose other homes have variously included residences in Paris, New York’s Upper East Side and the former New Canaan, Connecticut residence of the eccentric recluse Huguette Clark – carried out extensive renovations and are said to be selling in order to move to a more contemporary beachfront Hamptons property.
North Yorkshire mill conversion with 120-foot chimney and cast iron water wheel for sale for £975,000
A converted mill in the Yorkshire Dales National Park has gone on sale for £975,000 ($1.3 million, €1.1 million or درهم4.7 million). It has not only its original 120-foot chimney still in-situ but also an original cast iron water wheel.
Spindle Mill near Embsay was built circa 1820 and now provides a 6 bedroomed family home, two adjoining cottages and various outbuildings. It stands in walled gardens and enjoys long distance views.
Agents Harrison Boothman have the listing and describe the property as: “Imaginatively planned” and “set amidst beautiful open countryside.”
Rare “ugly duckling” seven-seat 1967 Mercedes-Benz shooting brake to be offered at auction; it will generate the same reaction as Marmite
An extremely rare yet somewhat ugly 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230S ‘Universal’ is to be sold at auction this month with an estimate of £35,000 to £40,000 ($45,000 to $52,000, €39,000 to €45,000 or درهم167,000 to درهم191,000).
Just one of three examples ever produced for the UK market and converted to a shooting brake by IMA of Mechelen, Belgium, the special-order vehicle is said to have cost “three times the price of an equivalent estate from Ford of Vauxhall” when new. It features an original Ivory steering wheel, and seating for seven.
A representative of the firm comments: “This stylish estate is a true performer… It is a beautiful, timeless classic and has to be the ultimate seven-seater estate. Original and usable, get the picnic sets out let’s get off to Goodwood!”
One of Ireland’s finest country houses, Castletown Cox, may (or may not) be sold for £16 million; all depends on the outcome of a legal case next week
A Palladian country house in Ireland is either to be sold (or not) depending the outcome of an inter-family legal dispute next week. It is currently occupied by the Anglo-Irish Conservative peer Lord Magan and his wife, Wendy.
Lord and Lady Magan
Offered earlier this month for £15.7 million ($20.4 million, €17.5 million or درهم75 million) by agents Knight Frank, Castletown Cox in south Kilkenny has been described as “one of the most beautiful houses in Ireland”, is currently owned by the Eaglehill family trust and in the hands of DW Trustees. It is said to be rivalled only by Abbey Leix in County Laois as “one of Ireland’s most important country houses” in the plus £15 million category.
Said to be worth £60 million ($78 million, €66.9 million or درهم287 million), Lord Magan was born in Dehli in 1945, educated at Winchester and was one of the founders of Hambro Magan, a private equity firm. He became a life peer in 2011 and took the title Baron Magan of Castletown, of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and purchased Castletown in “poor repair” in 1999.
Set in 513 acres and including 36,630 square foot of accommodation, Castletown Cox was built in 1767 for the protestant Archbishop of Cashel, Michael Cox. The 10 bedroom sandstone and blue Kilkenny limestone house passed through various owners – including “the self-styled Baron Brian de Breffny,” the bisexual son of a London taxi driver turned bookie and one-time husband of an Indian princess – before the Magans took up occupation.
Though the Irish Times reported on DW Trustees’ attempts to sell Castletown Cox on 13th July, a later article on 18th July suggested Knight Frank will now “hold off on the active marketing” of the mansion after a hearing at the High Court in Dublin until resolution next week.
