Tag: New York

A Working Rolls

1959 Rolls-Royce estate car owned by late industrial tycoon Orin Smith to be auctioned; it was bizarrely designed to include beds and a loud air horn to “blast” cattle off the highway

Florida based businessman and retired CEO of the Engelhard Corporation Orin Smith (1935 – 2016) was passionate about cars and next month, those with deep pockets will be in with a chance to purchase 58 vehicles from his collection that will be sold, mostly without reserve, by RM Sotheby’s at their annual Amelia Island sale on 10^th and 11^th March.

Amongst the eclectic selection of classic and contemporary cars from the late industrialist’s collection is a 1959 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I estate car by H. J. Mulliner and Radford. One of just two examples, this immaculate short-wheelbase shooting brake was originally supplied to a Robert L. McCormick of Wichita, Kansas and transported to New York on the Cunard flagship Queen Elizabeth.

McCormick kept the car – which features a luggage space that can accommodate items up to 6-foot long – until 1965 and on selling it to a Palm Beach based judge named Lewis M. Schott, penned the new owner a letter that read:

The Radford conversion is a “complete job”. I will explain to your chauffeur and secretary how it makes into beds, etc, etc.

I’ll explain the 3-way horn switch to your employees. I used the loud horn for “blasting” livestock off the Mexican highways.

Finally, I hope you have as much fun out of the car as I have had. It should go 200,000 miles without work on it… A serious sacroiliac precludes long motor trips for me for a few years, and I’m an unhappy warrior when I think about it.

Sold again in 2007 to Florida Roll-Royce expert Richard Gorman, the shooting brake was then subject to an 18-month renovation. It is now presented in velvet green and a sage with parchment leather interior piped in velvet green and features upgraded air conditioning.

Of the overall collection to be sold on behalf of Smith’s family, Don Rose of RM Sotheby’s remarked:

I had the great pleasure of knowing Orin Smith and found him to be a true gentleman in every sense of the word.

In addition to his impressive gathering of some of the finest Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles, Orin displayed an eclectic taste with a keen eye for other icons of style, including sporting machinery from pre-war to the best of the contemporary.

The common thread here is beauty, in both design and engineering; fitting for a man of generous spirit devoted to excellence. Because of those qualities, Orin Smith was beloved to the Amelia Island crowd, which makes the offering of his collection at our Amelia Island venue all the more poignant.

Of the shooting brake itself, the auctioneer adds:

Numerous Rolls-Royce shooting brakes exist, but many of them are crude later conversions. This car is a true and authentic coachbuilt original, created to the exacting specifications of its original owner, and restored to that same high standard – air horns and all. Errant cattle, consider yourselves warned.

February 6, 2017
Trumping Wildenstein

‘Catwoman’ Jocelyn Wildenstein puts her Trump World Tower apartment on the market after recent court appearance for “clawing” her boyfriend’s face

“No showings before 12pm” shouts the listing on realtor Douglas Elliman’s homepage and given how the owner of the property they’re currently selling no doubt looks of a morning, one need not wonder why. Welcome to the 8-bedroom, £10.36 million ($12.95 million, €12.08 million or درهم47.56 million) home of billionaire divorcee Jocelyn Wildenstein (AKA ‘Catwoman’ or ‘Bride of Wildenstein’).

Situated towards the top of the 72 floor, 376 apartment Trump World Tower residential skyscraper at 845 United Nations Paza in Midtown Manhattan, Wildenstein reportedly bought and combined the three apartments offered for $6 million in 2001 (the equivalent of £6.51 million, ($8.14 million, €7.59 million or درهم29.90 million today). She is said to have “spent millions more on lavish renovations and an opulent Art Deco interior” to create a look that featured “shark-skin gaming tables, chairs made from ostrich leather and zebra-skin couches” but now, the 5,160-square foot space is being marketed as “ready to be created to the buyer’s specifications”.

Feline-like Wildenstein, a seriously wealthy woman thanks to her 1999 divorce from art dealer Alec Wildenstein, was arrested on 6^th December for digging her finger nails into the face of her now ex-boyfriend, fashion designer Lloyd Klein, during a “cat fight” in the apartment. She is reportedly selling up as “she just doesn’t feel comfortable there after what happened”.

Jocelyn Wildenstein and Lloyd Klein in happier times

The entrance to The Trump World Tower

Lloyd Klein in the gaudy apartment that is now for sale

Jocelyn Wildenstein poses with a cat

A dining area illustrates Mrs Wildenstein’s curious taste in decor

Mrs Wildenstein is said to be a collector of all manner of curiosities

The current floor plan of the apartment offered

The original floor plan of the apartment offered

The proposed floor plan of the apartment offered

Jocelyn Wildenstein’s face

Lloyd Klein’s face after he was “clawed” by Jocelyn Wildenstein

January 25, 2017
Quote of the Week – A Moron in the White House

Donald Trump’s presidency was worryingly first predicted in July 1920

In ten days time, on 20^th January 2017, the world will watch in horror as a reality television “star” is sworn in as the 45^th President of the United States of America.

Bizarrely, this was predicted in July 1920 by H. L. Mencken, a journalist known as the ‘Sage of Baltimore’, in a column for the city’s Evening Sun newspaper. He wrote:

The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre – the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.

The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

Mencken plainly foresaw the Presidency of Donald Trump and he equally surmised how Twitter would play its part in his rise. America has ditched reason and its chosen deviousness and mediocrity. God help us all.

January 10, 2017
Panic Over The Price

Vast New York triplex with three bullet-proof panic rooms at The Heritage at Trump Place reduced in price by 47%; Is the Trump connection a factor?

In 2012, a Saudi royal placed a fifth, sixth and seventh triplex he “rarely uses” on the market for £61.7 million ($75 million, €71 million or درهم275.5 million). It didn’t sell and now it’s back for sale for just £32.9 million ($40 million, €37.9 million or درهم147 million) through Elizabeth Mercedes Berk of Mercedes/Berk.

Featuring three bullet-proof panic rooms and extending to a total of 10,500 square foot over three levels, #6A at 240 Riverside Boulevard – alternatively known as The Heritage at Trump Place – is a combination of six units in what is described as “one of New York’s finest full-service condominiums”. It is currently configured to provide 3 bedrooms but comes with plans to turn it into a 5-bedroom home.

Enjoying 120 foot of “contiguous, unobstructed park and Hudson River views”, the Upper West Side property – which is within a building that was completed in 2005 – features three private terraces, a restaurant quality kitchen with a sushi bar, a billiards room, a hair salon, a ventilated cigar room, a six-person Jacuzzi and a saltwater aquarium. Two adjacent units that currently provide staff accommodation can be included in the sale for an additional sum.

The current owner, Prince Nawaf bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, is 82 years old and said to be confined to a wheelchair. He was Director General of Saudi Intelligence from 2001 to 2005 and is described as “a close ally of the late King Abdullah”.

One has to ask: “With Donald Trump’s name associated with the building, will panic set in and will the price drop further?” We’re guessing the answer is “yes”.

January 10, 2017
A Catty Catastrophe

‘Bride of Wildenstein’ got her claws out in New York; her boyfriend learns a lesson about playing with cats

Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes once remarked: “Those who’ll play with cats must expect to be scratched” and now, it seems, 76-year old plastic surgery obsessive and feline lookalike Jocelyn Wildenstein’s boyfriend has ended up getting exactly that.

The former wife of the now deceased billionaire Alec Wildenstein – and the lucky recipient of £2 billion ($2.5 billion or €2.4 billion or درهم‎‎9.2 billion) and £79.5 million a year ($100 million or €94.6 million or درهم‎‎367.3 million a year) for 13 years after their 1999 divorce – was arrested early Wednesday after gouging her boyfriend’s face with her nails and stabbing him twice in the chest with her scissors at the Trump World Tower apartment they’ve shared for the last 13 years.

Jocelyn Wildenstein’s mugshot following her arrest on Wednesday 7th December 2016

An injured Lloyd Klein in New York this week following Jocelyn Wildenstein attacking him

Mr Klein tweeted a picture of himself with Donald Trump in November and congratulated him on his victory over Hillary Clinton; he has over 5,000 followers on Twitter

Swiss born Wildenstein, née Périsset, appeared in court later in the day charged with felony assault charges in the second degree. She is accused of inflicting injuries with a weapon against 49-year old Canadian couturier Lloyd Klein and allegedly poured hot wax over him, “went for his face with her nails” and “grabbed some scissors and stabbed them twice into his chest”. The cat-like woman is to said to have been provoked into the violent frenzy after Klein allegedly failed to “pay her enough attention” after an evening meal, according to an unnamed source who spoke with the Mail Online.

The source spoke of what happened at length and commented:

“She can blow up anytime, anywhere and absolutely no reason. He says she is a truly beautiful person when she’s on her best behavior. But when flies into one of her incredible rages – look out”.

“… He was very scared, he asked her to calm down but she just got angrier and angrier and threatened to kill him”.

“Lloyd just pushed her inside [a walk-in closet in their Manhattan apartment] o get her to calm down. He told her this couldn’t be happening and this was wrong but he didn’t lock her up [as she claimed at the time]”.

“She started calling her agent, calling 911, calling security, calling anyone she could to say she was being attacked and held prisoner”.

“But when the cops arrived it was patently obvious that she could have opened the door herself”.

“By now Lloyd’s face was all scratched and swollen, he had two scissor stabs to his chest. The police took one look at the blood and realized he was the victim”.

“He knows it will happen again if they live under the same roof. Lloyd is very private and focused on protecting his image and his brand but Jocelyn gets a kick out this”.

“The remarks about her facial features don’t worry her. She likes a good scandal”.

Here, indeed, is a cat that needs to be caged: Jocelyn Wildenstein should be locked up for her and everyone else’s safety.

Catty Quotes:

“Artists like cats; soldiers like dogs” – Desmond Morris

“The problem with cats is that they get the exact same look on their face whether see a moth or an axe murderer” – Paula Poundstone

“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals” – Winston Churchill

“Cats have a scam going – you buy the food, they eat the food, they go away; that’s the deal” – Eddie Izzard

“Mad women and cats. The two always end up together” – Unknown

Jocelyn Wildenstein through the ages:

December 9, 2016
Crook Bankrupt

PR man of fat Australian Clive Palmer who wanted to rebuild RMS Titanic goes broke; appropriately his surname is ‘Crook’

In 2013, a larger-than-life Aussie gave a press conference at The Ritz, London after hanging out with a now deceased jailbird Astor scion in New York. He tastelessly announced he was rebuilding the RMS Titanic and when I asked him: “Will it sink it the same place?” he furiously had me banned from his party later that evening at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

In late November, this somewhat now reduced tycoon’s very own PR, a man named Andrew Crook went bankrupt and frankly, given his project to recreate that disastrous voyage in 1912 has come to nothing, one has to ask: “Was it all one big crook?”

That the fat man and failed politician Palmer got nowhere with his boat is one thing but that his sorry old henchman filed for bankruptcy is another. Crook, 50, of Brisbane, is said to have debts of AU$800,000 (£472,000 or $594,000 or €557,000 or درهم‎‎2.2 million). Who’s got that sinking feeling?

December 2, 2016
Video of the Week – The Spirit of the Daredevil

Video of teenager climbing New York’s tallest landmarks is a must watch

Justin Casquejo is a teenager who is utterly fearless. The 18-year old from Weehawken, New Jersey was sentenced to 30 days of community service, ordered to attend counselling and forced to write a 1,200 word essay in 2014 after climbing to the top of the 1,776 foot tall One World Trade Center building and now he’s at it again according to the New York Post.

In a series of photos and videos posted to Instagram and YouTube, he has recently broken into a series of buildings including 220 Central Park South and the Time Warner Center.

This video of his antics is not for the faint hearted, but it truly reveals the spirit of the daredevil is still alive and well.

December 1, 2016
A Tremendous Triangle

Iconic modernist house in Connecticut by renowned architect John Black Lee reduced in price by 60%

Award winning architect John Black Lee (1924 – 2016) was born in Chicago and took influence from the ‘Harvard Five’ architects Marcel Breur and Philip C. Johnson. He built, for his own occupation, a house 48 miles outside of New York at 160 Mill Road, New Caanan in Fairfield County, Connecticut and now, following his death at the age of 91, it is for sale.

A Quaker and Brown educated, Black Lee, is often referenced as the ‘Sixth of the Harvard Five’ and is best known for the ‘Desilver House’ he built in 1961. He worked as an apprentice carpenter for Walter Gropius, was a father of three and also wrote a book about free diving.

Construction of 160 Mill Road – or the ‘Triangle House’ as some have referenced it – commenced in 1990 and though it is “unfinished”, Black Lee lived there for 25 years. It stands above the Silvermine River and is built on its banks and into the hill. Made entirely from concrete, the 1,980 square foot property features an open floor plan with a cantilevered terrace, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

Of the property, which stands in 2.54 acres of land, Black Lee once remarked: “This house is the only one in New Canaan that you enter through a skylight” and amongst its features are a massive triangular brick fireplace that anchors the building, a skylight that floods light throughout and views across the surrounding wilderness.

In August 2016, selling agent Susan Blabey of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty spoke about the house to The Hour. She commented:

“You could never duplicate this house, but it could be finished. They wouldn’t let you build it like this today, this close to the water. It just needs someone who wants to roll up their sleeves and polish the apple”.

On the market for at least 138 days and close to the Silvermine Golf Course, 160 Mill Road was originally priced at £1.2 million ($1.5 million or €1.4 million or درهم‎‎5.5 million) and has now been reduced by 60% to just £471,000 ($750,000 or €658,000 or درهم‎‎2.8 million). Taxes stand at £9,028 ($11,409 or €10,740 or درهم‎‎41,900) per year – which will unlikely trouble the eventual purchaser: New Canaan has the highest median family income in the United States.

The likely buyer? A modernist design fan looking for a truly unique weekend retreat.

December 1, 2016
Smashing a “Star”

YouTube “star” has his ridiculous gold wrapped BMW smashed with a baseball bat during a photo shoot in New York whilst blocking traffic

Though he has 2.7 million subscribers to his feed on YouTube and 201,000 followers on Instagram, New Yorker Coby Persin is someone most of our readers will unlikely ever heard. He likes showing off his “ripped abs”, pretending he is the reincarnation of Zac Efron and making videos where he shows girls to be “ultimate gold diggers”, but yesterday he shared a video of himself getting a dose of his own medicine (or simply performing a stunt to get more followers for his pretentious self).

In a 41 second clip, Persin was filmed with his hideous gold wrapped BMW in New York doing what he describes as “a quick photo shoot to get some cool pictures” whilst inconsiderately blocking a lane of traffic. Posing like the true prat he plainly is, this “YouTube star” is then interrupted by a man with a baseball bat who proceeds to smash the vehicle and then walk off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9D5fF5_9dc

Though Persin is now offering a reward of £806 ($1,000 or €944 or درهم‎‎3,700) for the arrest of the man concerned, most in the media simply decided to mock him. Of him, for example, Jack Moore of GQ remarked:

“[Coby Persin] stopped traffic so he could take some douchey pictures with his douchey car. And then New York City did its magical thing and made a perfect, brilliant, beautiful moment happen”.

“Now, sure, the ‘law’ might say that he ‘damaged property’ or ‘wielded a baseball bat like a maniac’ but that’s looking at this the wrong way. (Maybe it’s even a stunt?) But I’d argue that this is New York City at its best. I mean that dude HAS A BAT WITH HIM IN HIS CAR AT ALL TIMES. And that decision paid off, because he was there to remind this guy that the city doesn’t care if you have a fancy car. You f**k with people trying to get where they need to go and they will f**k with you right back”.

November 28, 2016
Trump to Profit from Presidency

Donald Trump claimed he would not profit from being President; it seems that was just another of his lies

Braggart and President-elect Donald Trump was very keen to announce he wouldn’t take the £456,000 ($569,000, €537,000 or درهم‎‎2.1 million) salary and expenses that goes with his new job, but now it looks as if he’ll make a hell of a lot more if what the New York Post is suggesting comes true.

According to the paper, it is expected that Trump – whose daily security bill is already topping £801,000 ($569,000, €944,000 or درهم‎‎3.7 million) – will lease two floors of vacant space within Trump Tower to the Secret Service to house upto 250 agents and cops.

Given the prevailing rental rates in the building, Mr Trump looks set to rake in £2.4 million ($3 million, €2.8 million or درهم‎‎11 million) in rent; so much for not profiting.

November 26, 2016