1931 Bentley Tourer nicknamed ‘The Harem Saloon’ because of its first owner’s penchant for taking spins with his lady friends for sale for £1.15 million
A 1931 8-litre Bentley Tourer that got the nickname ‘The Harem Saloon’ because it was first used by a Chinese Mau owner to take his girlfriends to the races in Singapore is on sale at a price of £1.15 million ($1.54 million, €1.30 million or درهم5.67 million).
The magnificent machine, which was subsequently kept in a mine during the Second World War and then eventually rebodied as a gentleman’s tourer in 2002, retains its original bonnet and scuttle but has effectively been completely rebuilt.
Described as having “very good long legs on the motorway and also around the country lanes without the need of an overdrive,” the car is said to have “behaved impeccably with no problems” on “numerous trips down to Le Mans” and is now offered by Richard Biddulph of Vintage & Prestige Classic Cars of Grays, Essex.
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Vast Greek Revival style Pennsylvania mansion for sale for 56% less than it was marketed for in 2014; it comes with a pub in the basement
An extravagant and somewhat over the top estate in Pennsylvania is on sale for £2.96 million or 56% less than the £6.75 million sum it was listed for back in 2014.
Extending to some 11,377 square foot and consisting of 7 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms, Greek Revival style ‘Fatland’ – originally known as ‘Vaux Hill’ and known as such once again since 1990 – in Lower Providence, Montgomery County dates to circa 1843 and stands on the site of an earlier stone farmhouse. That building served as the headquarters of General George Washington in 1777 and also was used by General Sir William Howe.
Now set on a plot of just 11.29 acres, the Fatland Estate used to be significantly larger but was reduced by land sales to make way for an express highway, a housing development and 154 acres towards the expansion of the Valley Forge National Historical Park.
Barbara Safford speaking at the time of the 2013 sale of the contents of ‘The Fatland Estate’The house as previously furnished
“Decorated in the rich French taste,” the house was stuffed to the brim with European antiques by an insurance tycoon named Robert Safford after he and his wife, Barbara, purchased it in 1990. The couple also altered ‘Fatland’s’ original asymmetrical composition with the addition of a west wing and end pavilion that mirrored the east wing and end pavilion and even added a pub to the building’s basement. After Mr Safford’s death in 2011, the property – which also includes an outdoor pool, tennis court and barn – was put up for sale in 2014 whilst separately, in 2013, Freeman’s auction house in Philadelphia held a sale of contents that netted £2.9 million.
After three years on the market and now with a significantly reduced asking price, Terese Brittingham and Tom McCouch of Keller Williams Realty Group are the agents currently handling ‘The Fatland Estate’s’ listing.
The Fatland Estate – The Numbers
November 2017 – For sale at a reduced price of £2.96 million ($3.95 million, €3.31 million or درهم14.50 million) after a pending sale in June failed to complete through Keller Williams Realty Group.
October 2016 – Relaunched to the market for £2.96 million ($3.95 million, €3.31 million or درهم14.50 million) through RE/MAX Elite.
August 2016 – Reduced to £3.7 million ($5 million, €4.2 million or درهم13.4 million).
February 2016 – Relaunched to the market for £5.248 million ($6.999 million, €5.866 million or درهم25.699 million).
September 2014 – For sale for £6.747 million ($8.999 million, €7.542 million or درهم33.042 million) through Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty.
July 1990 – Sold to Robert Safford and Barbara Harvey for £1.6 million ($2.1 million, €1.8 million or درهم7.7 million).
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Well-equipped 0.5-mile harness racing track in Yorkshire for sale for £1.5 million; it was the scene of an “ear biting incident” by a traveler in 2009
A dream property for harness racing enthusiasts has been put up for sale in Yorkshire. Its star feature is a 0.5-mile all-weather racetrack and it also comes with 26 acres of land, a spectator stand, a trackside club house with bar and catering facilities, 50 stables and a horse walker.
Created by former boxer Michael Welling with what he described as “very little or no help from the racing fraternity” and built-up over ten years from 2006, York Harness Raceway and the Camden Stud was closed in 2016. It had been a destination with harness racing enthusiasts and was also the setting of a well-thought of annual horse sale.
York Harness Raceway owner Michael WellingA photograph of racing on the circuit
In 2009, a traveler turned harness racer named John Harrop was jailed for 4.5 years after biting off part of the ear of an official at the track whilst on steroids, but of it, in 2013, Welling more positively told The Yorkshire Post:
“This was where I fell in love with the sport. It is the first harness racing track I ever came to. I was intoxicated by the speed, the excitement and the atmosphere… It’s a speed thing in the same way as having a fast car and once you’re hooked you start setting aims.”
“I’m throwing everything into making the track the success it deserves to be. This place has my heart and soul and I am determined to make it work as a realistic business. When I first started racing in 1993 it was only a hobby for me but it has now taken over my time and I’m here 24/7. When I was a kid I was brought up with horses and carts so it’s really in my blood. This place holds so many happy memories and the people who come here are salt-of-the-earth families. I’m certain that if more people came to see what we offer they would be hooked in much the same way I was.”
Additional features at the property include an “almost brand new” 3 reception room, 5-bedroom detached house extending to 3,222 square foot and a large modern barn with a wash bay and tack room.
Agents Jackson-Stops seek offers over £1.5 million ($2 million, €1.7 million or درهم7.3 million) for the property. An additional 75 acres of land is available by separate negotiation that is partly prone to flooding.
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1966 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III drophead coupé used by Colin Farrell in 2010 crime noir film ‘London Boulevard’ to be auctioned
A 1966 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III drophead coupé first owned by the Malaysian royal family and more recently used in the 2010 crime noir motion picture London Boulevard – starring Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley and Ray Winstone – is to be auctioned in London in December.
Professionally restored and featuring ‘Chinese Eye’ slanting headlamp nacelles, the car offered was the last off the production line to be registered and delivered new to Malaysia in June 1966. It remained there until the 2000s and was then registered in the UK by the managing director of the official Bentley dealership in Exeter in June 2009.
The 6.2-litre V8 car – chassis number CSC81C – will be sold by Bonhams at their Collector’s Motor Cars and Automobilia sale on 6th December at London Olympia. It will be offered with an estimate of £300,000 to £350,000 ($397,000 to $463,000, €338,000 to €395,000 or درهم1.5 million to درهم1.7 million).
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Former Wiltshire home of ‘Lord of the Flies’ author Sir William Golding for sale for 562% more than he sold it for in 1985
The one-time home of the author and Nobel Prize in Literature and Booker Prize winner Sir William Golding, CBE (1911 – 1993) has gone on sale for £795,000 ($1.1 million, €891,000 or درهم3.9 million) in spite of needing modernisation.
Ebble Thatch at Mead End, Bowerchalke, near Salisbury was the residence of the Lord of the Flies author in 1940 and between 1958 and 1985 and it was here that he met his fellow villager, the scientist James Lovelock CH, CBE, FRS. He sold the house in 1985 on deciding to move to a Georgian mansion in Cornwall for £120,000 (the equivalent of £334,000, $441,000, €374,000 or درهم1.6 million today).
Consisting of 4 reception rooms, a kitchen with AGA, a conservatory, 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms the main house is described as “flexible” and “well-configured” and in addition there is a detached 1 bedroom cottage on the property’s 0.7 acre plot.
Featuring 9 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, ‘The Owlwood Estate’ or more simply 141 South Carolwood Drive is described as “easily one of the city’s most iconic and historically significant properties.” Built in 1937 to the designs of Robert D. Farquhar in a “classic European Italian Renaissance” style, the estate was owned by Tony Curtis and Sonny Bono and Cher in the 1960s and has also been home to Joe Schenck, the first president of United Artists and a chairman of 20th Century Fox.
Now offered with designs for redevelopment by Bob Shapiro, the head of Sturmer Pippin Investments and CEO of Woodbridge Luxury Homes, the property offered also includes a sunken tennis court, a swimming pool and two guest houses.
Adam Rosenfeld of Mercer Vine is the realtor handling the sale.
The Owlwood Estate – The Numbers
July 2017 – Placed on the market for £136 million ($180 million, €153 million or درهم661 million).
September 2016 – Sold for £68 million ($90 million, €76 million or درهم331 million) to developer Bob Shapiro.
July 2012 – Placed on the market for £114 million ($150 million, €127 million or درهم551 million) by Dawn Arnall, “the widow of subprime mortgage profiteer Roland Arnall.”
2002 – Sold for £25 million ($33 million, €28 million or درهم121 million).
1999 – Listed for sale for £44 million ($58 million, €49 million or دره213 million) by Ghazi Aita complete with an adjacent property.
1978 – Sold to a “shadowy businessman” named Ghazi Aita for £3.2 million ($4.2 million, €3.6 million or درهم15 million).
1970 – Sold to Sonny and Cher for £568,000 ($750,000, €636,000 or درهم2.8 million).
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Shaped like a seashell and of a style akin to something out of either The Hobbit or Teletubbies, ‘The Seashell’ was built to make the most of the views it enjoys over Loch Sunart and the Morvern Hills beyond.
The wood clad building is primarily formed from natural materials, including honed tree trunks from local forests, and an eco friendly turfed roof dotted with wild flowers. Accommodation consists of an open plan living-sleeping-dining-kitchen with a double spa bath, a separate wet room, cloakroom and utility room.
Aside from 0.2 acres of surrounding land, The Seashell is available either with or without an additional 0.5 acre plot that that comes with full planning permission for an additional dwelling.
A larger adjoining 3-bedroom contemporary house on a 1.19 acre plot, Aspen Lodge, is also for sale. Offers over £450,000 ($596,000, €506,000 or درهم2.2 million) are sought for it and a closing date of Tuesday 21st November at 12 noon has been set for offers for both properties by agents the Galbraith Group.
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Futuristic 1952 Chrysler styling prototype to be auctioned in New York; its “wild technology” includes a hydraulically operated spare wheel
Concept cars don’t generally go far and most end up sidelined to the world of dreams, but a 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance by Ghia headed to auction in December is something quite to the contrary.
Described as an ‘Idea Car’ and the product of a collaboration between Chrysler’s Virgil Exner Sr. (1909 – 1973) and Ghia’s Felice Mario Boano (1903 – 1989) – the designer of the Ferrari 250 GT Boano – the D’Elegance was built on a shortened 292 centimetre chassis and comes with two comfortable armchairs, power steering and electric windows.
What makes this car standout, however, are its gunsight taillights, distinctive egg-crate grille and “wild technology” such as a rear deck lid with a hydraulically operated full-size spare wheel that raises and lowers at the touch of a switch.
Described by Virgil Exner Jr. as “one of my father’s favourite cars” in 2011, the D’Elegance now comes with a 1956 vintage 354 Hemi V8 engine and a pedigree that includes ownership in the Blackhawk Collection, winning a special class of Chrysler Concepts at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance and having been driven through the Alps from Monaco to Venice as part of the Louis Vuitton Classic Serenissima Run.
RM Sotheby’s will sell the fully restored car with an estimate of £682,000 to £834,000 ($900,000 to $1.1 million, €771,000 to €943,000 or درهم3.3 million to درهم4 million) at their ‘Icons’ sale in New York on the 6th December.
Off-the-wall 24-carat gold 1958 Austin Healey that would appeal to Liberace to be sold at auction in New York with an estimate of £420,000
A truly bonkers one-off 1958 Austin-Healey 100-Six that was given the monikers ‘Goldie’ and ‘The Golden Child’ is to be sold at auction in December.
For sale for 165% less than it was offered for in 2013 but 781% more than it was valued at in 1958, ‘Goldie’ is capable of speeds of upto 120 miles per hour but what makes her unique is that all brightwork – including the trimming washers and screws, wire wheels, disc brakes, bumpers and instruments – are plated in 24-carat gold.
The car’s interior is trimmed in champagne Connolly kid leather and champagne diadem mink by London furrier Lorna Doon Snow adorn the inserts and back squabs of the bucket seats and the key ring comes complete with a solid-gold scale replica of the car itself.
The brainchild of Donald Healey’s then PR manager, Ken Gregory, in association with the Daily Express’s then motoring correspondent, Basil Cardew, ‘Goldie’ was the show-stopping car exhibited at the entrance to the 1958 London Motor Show at Earl’s Court. She reportedly wowed audiences and no doubt would have been dubbed a ‘dream machine’ by the motoring world’s most extravagant doyenne, Lady Docker.
Sold immediately to the paper the Daily Express dedicated a page to the promotion of a reader competition to win ‘Goldie’ on 22nd October 1958. Of her, they remarked:
“[This is] the world’s most flirtatious car… The Daily Express has bought it… You can win it. She’s elegant… she wears mink… and she adores champagne. No, not the girl… the car!”
“The real stuff… The most sumptuous… A vintage squirt… The biggest sensation of the [Motor Show at Earl’s Court]… Yes, you could call it the car that was born with a golden spoon in its mouth!”
“In the whole of the land there isn’t anything to match it.”
Surprisingly, the winner of the competition decided to sell the vehicle immediately. She was first road-registered in February 1959 and then passed through various owners until being completely restored by Bruce and Inan Phillips of Healey Surgeons of Washington, D.C. between 1983 and 1986.
Speaking of what the current marketing catalogue entry describes as “the most spectacular Austin Healey ever produced,” Inan Phillips is said to have remarked: “[‘Goldie’ was] one fantastic running and driving car… The smoothest driving Austin Healey we’ve ever owned.”
In time sold to a wealthy businessman and Jeep restorer named Dennis Collins from Wylie, Texas, ‘Goldie’ was offered for sale first on eBay and then at auction in Houston, Texas for £758,000 in 2013 and 2014. It appears no sale went through and now an estimate of £265,000 to £417,000 has been set for this striking creation.
RM Sotheby’s will sell ‘Goldie’ at their annual New York ‘Icons’ sale on 6th December. They list the vehicle as being “without reserve.” If only Liberace were still around to put in a bid.
‘Goldie’ – The Numbers
December 2017 – Offered for sale at auction with no reserve and an estimate of £265,000 to £417,000 ($350,000 to $550,000, €300,000 to €471,000 or درهم1.3 million to درهم2 million) in New York.
January 2014 – Offered for sale with a ‘buy-it-now’ price of £758,000 ($1 million, €857,000 or درهم3.7 million) on eBay.
March 2013 – Offered for sale for £758,000 ($1 million, €857,000 or درهم3.7 million) in Houston, Texas by Collins Brothers Jeep owner Dennis Collins.
October 1958 – Valued at £4,000 (the equivalent of £86,000, $113,000, €97,000 or درهم417,000 today) prior to being sold to the Daily Express and offered in a reader competition in London.
“One of Britain’s finest 20th-century country houses” has been placed for sale for £20 million; it comes with 530 acres and was built by the late businessman Sebastian de Ferranti in the 1980s
One could imagine being in the early 18th century or in Italy even on first taking a look at the Palladian style Henbury Hall, near Macclesfield in Cheshire. However, as Moliere said: “One is easily fooled by that one loves” and in reality this 12,496 square foot beauty was actually constructed between 1980 and 1986.
The vision of the buccaneer businessman and patron of the arts Sebastian de Ferranti (1927 – 2015) and based upon Palladio’s Villa Rotunda at Vizenza, the 6-bedroomed main residence stands on the site of an earlier mansion demolished in the 1950s. It was designed by the architect Julian Bicknell in conjunction with Felix Kelly and David Mlinaric, was constructed by Tarmac Construction and is faced with warm-toned limestone from north east France. The estate also includes a Grade II listed dower house, five further houses and cottages, a Grade II listed and stable block and courtyard.
The late Sebastian de FerrantiHenbury Hall during constructionA depiction of the original Henbury Hall in 1707The front elevation of the current Henbury Hall with parkland beyond
Aside from 12 acres of immaculate gardens with a series of lakes, there is a 200 year old landscaped park, woodland, agricultural land, a beautifully designed swimming pool, a tennis court and a polo field.
Selling agents Savills offer the Henbury Hall Estate as a whole for a guide price of £20 million – a world away from the £9,000 sum the estate sold for in 1872 (the equivalent of £934,000 today).
