Le 24 août 1922 dans le ciel : Norman MacMillan et Geoffrey Malins retrouvés air-journal.fr - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from air-journal.fr Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Unique private collection of rare pianos to go up for auction
The pianos have been collected by one of the worlds foremost piano restorers, David Winston.
LONDON
.-Dreweatts auctioneers is to offer an exceptional private collection of rare pianos in a landmark sale on September 23, 2021. The collection was amassed by David Winston, who holds a Royal Warrant as Restorer and Conservator of Pianos to HM the Queen. It is comprised of 26 unique instruments dating from the 18th century to present day.
Amongst those expected to achieve the highest bids is a rare 1925 Pleyel grand piano fitted with an original Auto Pleyela self-playing mechanism, in a spectacular Chinoiserie Louis XV case (estimate £40,000-£60,000) and a remarkable double piano from Pleyel, which is one of only 50 ever made. This model, which has a guide price of £30,000-£50,000, was once owned by the concert pianist wife of French writer and minister of culture André Malraux.
I think it has become,” said Compton Mackenzie, “if I may say so, a kind of folk tale. Rather like Dick Whittington or Aladdin or something. Because it goes on and on… that’s the fantastic thing.” This was how the writer, whose novel Whisky Galore went a long way towards creating that folk tale and exporting it, via a classic Alexander Mackendrick Ealing comedy, to the world, described the story of the wrecking and plundering of the SS Politician when it was lost off Eriskay. It’s been 80 years since the vessel ran aground and spilled the contents of its Hold Number 5 – not just 28,000 bottles of whisky but also £290,000 Jamaican ten-shilling notes (worth around £3 million now) – and it’s a folk legend that keeps on growing and giving.