At Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) of Dorchester on September 10 a leather-bound picnic set for a classic car sold for a mid-estimate £380. Marked Devereux, the textured and angled top suggested it was probably used as a footrest while in the car.
Duke’s specialist William Batt said: “This was a personal favourite of mine. The set came from a private collector, who used to interchange this piece between his numerous classic cars when day-tripping. The buyer was a new purchaser for Duke’s. We are aiming to grow our automobilia department and clearly the quality and these picnic sets appealed to some of our new audience.”
Royal approval
Picnic set produced by Barrett & Sons, £400 at Duke's.
Another example in the same sale, which took a low-estimate £400 from a London buyer, was produced by Barrett & Sons, picnic set suppliers to the royal family.
Batt said: “In the same auction we had a Land Rover Discovery, likely used by Prince Harry on his tour of Africa (as shown by supporting documentation). The Barrett & Sons picnic set did seem to fit quite well in the Discovery boot…”
