I live in a very small town in SW Idaho, a long way away from almost everywhere. Imagine my surprise when I dropped something off at our local thrift shop (run by the hospital’s ladies auxiliary) and saw a scarlet tail coat with Millbrook Hunt colors and buttons.
It was left by a man who said it belonged to his great uncle, so it may be quite old. Millbrook was recognized in 1909.
Would anyone with Millbrook be interested in this?
You might want to check with Eleanor Hartwell. Her Mom was huntsman for Millbrook for many years.
email her at Amazon444@hotmail.com
Did you pick it up? If not, someone’s going to grab it for a Hallowe’en costume and like as not RUIN it :mad:.
I did have to go back and get it, of course. There is a tag sewn into the inside pocket which says:
Mr. G.H. Davison
8/9/09
Brooks Brothers, Broadway, New York
Imagine the pleasure of taking the train down to the city for the final fitting of your new coat, ready for the first season as a recognized hunt.
That is sooo cool!
What condition is it in after a century?
It’s in extremely good condition - Brooks Brothers should be very proud of it. The lining is shredded and the collar is frayed at the neck. But the fabric of the coat itself is lovely, still.
I’ve a mass of livery that’s a lot older than that and there’s no reason at all why it shouldn’t be in excellent condition.
I’ve hunt coats that belonged to my grandfather and side saddle habits that my mother inherited. Mum died when she was 97 and that was 6 years ago!
The driving livery I wear is all original and many of the hats and drivers coats I have go back to the turn of the 19th century. In the main they’ve got no frays or damage at all.
Here there’s a market for them and it’s a good market. As such over the decades I’ve been inclined to purchase whenever something in good condition comes on the market. That means I’ve acquired a lot of original stuff but you can for sure turn a profit on it if that’s what you want to do and PROVIDING the price is right when you buy and there’s provenance and the conditin is reasonable
I’d strongly recommend you buy it if it’s cheap in a charity shop and then go about finding a buyer or putting it in a specialist auction.
p.s. To inspire you. The last original livery coat I sold I made over £400 profit on!
Wow. I had no idea! It’s hard to imagine anything I’m wearing now will even be in existence for 100 years, let alone wearable by my great-grandchildren. (I suspect things used to be a little better made.)
Much as I would love to turn a profit on the coat I don’t think the market exists here. The provenance is excellent and the condition is reasonable, but the coat is very specific to the Millbrook Hunt - complete with green facings and all the MH buttons - so it could not be worn elsewhere without significantly altering it, and that would certainly reduce the value.
If anyone in the US knows differently please let me know. It would be such a refreshing novelty to make money on something horse-related.
I’d honestly love to see it as a museum piece of sorts but that’s just me. I don’t think negatively of anyone using it as a coat.
Here’s a photo of 
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/flodden_edge/Driving/DSCF0029-1.jpg)
Maybe the Millbrook would like it - as it is their centenary year ?
[QUOTE=Tho
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/flodden_edge/Driving/DSCF0029-1.jpg)[/QUOTE]
Are you trotting up the road towards Bamburgh Castle in the second picture, Thomas?
I will forward the info to someone in Millbrook. What a find! I “recued” a fine hunt whip in a thrift store and my daughter rides in a lovely, vintage, Irish wool coat. They just don’t make 'em like they used to!
Thomas, how splendid y’all look!
I just forwarded the info to Millbrook Pony DC, Barbara Meyer. I’m betting they will be very interested. I would gladly pay for your trouble and the shipping to have this wonderful find rehomed. Please PM me with details.
As noted, good huntin’ clothes can last forever. When I was required to obtain a red coat to whip in, in 1985, I purchased a used one from a retired MFH- he’d had it made in Ireland in 1952. It is still in my closet, still just fine- tiny frays on the ends of sleeves, maybe, but you can’t notice those when I’m galloping across a field, say. I also was given, in the 1990s, a mystery pair of wool canary breeches- a friend had them in a trunk and didn’t know whose they were. The waistband said, made by a tailor on Farragut Square in Washington, D.C. in 1936. They were, and are, in magnificent condition- I was too crushed when they fit me everywhere but too tight below the knee, go figure, that’s the only skinny part of my body left. I gave them to my skinny sister and the legs are too tight even for her- but I noticed when visiting her a couple of years ago she still has them in the inventory.
I also still wear a pair of field boots that date from the early 1920s, that a friend found in his grandmother’s attic and gave to me in the mid 1980s. They have about had it, but they’ve served me well!
[QUOTE=Ro
How do you know the area? Do you know which castle this one is:
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/flodden_edge/Driving/DSCF0019.jpg)
[QUOTE=Tho
How do you know the area? Do you know which castle this one is:
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/flodden_edge/Driving/DSCF0019.jpg)[/QUOTE]
You’ll laugh - I recognized the big trees on the left (west) of the road!
Is the second picture Berwick? Looks like the sort of windy cliff road one would want VERY obedient horses on. :eek:
You have a pm. 
Second picture is Lindisfarne Castle at Holy Island just south of Bamburgh.
The road up to that is indeed very “airy”. One of my grooms has slight vertigo and hates that one!!!
If it’s a scarlet TAIL coat, wouldn’t it be more for formal dinners rather than regular hunting? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anyone hunting in a tail coat, but I have seen a few pictures of hunt balls, etc. where they are worn. Perhaps he was a Master and had his coat made for the annual MFHA Master’s Ball.
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