by Christopher Hessman
This is a story of unimaginable wealth, the highest social position in the land. It is a story of palaces and prime ministers and master craftsmen. It is the story of another Kennedy tragedy you don't know about and of monumental taxes and forced sales. It is the story of murder.
And it is the story of me, who now has en route from New York, two massive silver dishes, captivating, their "wow factor" apparent to even the most obtuse and least perceptive. Even such people can feel that these are something very special...and so they are.
First, the man who commissioned them.
In 1811, a young man named William George Spencer Cavendish succeeded to the title and fortune of the Dukes of Devonshire. Born in 1790, he thus became at a stroke the richest peer in England. He was already a master in the art of burning through money quickly. His father's man of business, Mr. Heaton, warned the 5th duke, his father, thus:
"My Lord Duke, I am sorry to inform your Grace that your son appears disposed to spend a great deal of money."
The 5th duke's laconic reply was "So much the better, Mr. Heaton, he will have a great deal to spend." We could all wish for a father so sensible and so rich.
Now master of the largest fortune in England, the young man... spent it. On everything you could think of... and then on things, very expensive, eccentric things, which only the very, very rich can even imagine. One of those things was the grandest fountain in Europe, which shoots its spray up to 300 feet. It was built for the intended visit of Tsar Nicholas I to Chatsworth, the duke's country place. But the Tsar didn't come after all and never saw it. It didn't matter... the money kept rolling in.... and out.
In the mid 1820s, this prince of purchasers got around to silver. And like everything this seasoned connoisseur touched, it had to be not merely grand but opulent, excessive, in your face, and of course "unique, Your Grace, quite unique." So he went to the master silversmith Robert Garrard.
When Robert Garrard took over the firm in 1802 it already had a long history with sovereigns and princes. It had started in 1722 with George Wickes. Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of King George III was a major patron. Where princes buy, trendy lesser folk will buy, too. And so it proved with the family Garrard. They knew the secret of entrancing fickle potentates. Such grandees wanted things unique, finely crafted, and excessive. Garrard was an expert in satisfying even the most difficult... and so he and his master craftsmen set to work on a silver service that was, quite simply, the finest in Europe, which meant the finest in the world. Both the 6th duke and Robert Garrard knew what they were about... and of course cost was never, ever a factor.
The duke wanted one thing and one thing only: perfection...
... and he got it!
In due course, pieces from this lavish service began to arrive at Chatsworth, the focus of the Cavendish empire. Each piece was hallmarked. Each piece featured the splendid ducal coat of arms... and all the serving dishes featured the ducal coronet with the strawberry leaves meant for dukes and dukes only. The most discriminating aristocrat in Europe was satisfied... or as satisfied as a restless man with a connoisseur's eye and the means to gratify could ever be.
And so the story might have ended here, with a splendid silver service doing its bit to create an ambiance fit for a duke and his suitably impressed guests. But the story does not end here because humans do end. We die... and our possessions... migrate to others, all of whom have stories, too. Fast forward, then, to Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire.
Born in 1895, succeeded to the dukedom -- and of course the still complete silver service designed by Robert Garrard in 1825 -- in 1938.
Still rich, still powerful, still owning and living with an overabundance of things rich, famous, astonishing, Cavendish and every other aristocrat now had a very potent enemy: taxes, especially death duties. These could be circumvented but only by establishing trusts. These could pass properties largely intact to eager heirs... but only if the strict requirements were met. But things went wrong, disastrously wrong. The Cavendishes and their world were vulnerable.
First the heir, Lord Hartington along with his wife "Kick"" Kennedy, JFK's favorite sister, was killed in a plane crash (1944). Both families, a la "Romeo and Juliet", had bitterly opposed the marriage; like "Romeo and Juliet" the lovers married anyway... and died together tragically.
Then the duke died, amidst a background of murder and scandal. The duke's sister, Lady Dorothy, wife of Harold Macmillan (my distant cousin) and future British Prime Minister (1957-1963) was having a notorious affair with another Tory politician Robert Boothby, enfant terrible and practised bi-sexual seducer.
Conspiracy theories abound about the 10th duke's death. Why was the death certificate fudged; why had the coroner not been contacted as by law he should have been? What had the freemasons to do with the matter... and, most of all, was he murdered... or die naturally?
Whatever the facts (and they are suggestive and controversial to this day), the duke was dead (1950), a few months before his asset-saving trust became operational. Mourning, devastated, the House of Cavendish now needed mountains of cash. The result was Christie's auction of "Highly Important Old English and French Silver from the Chatsworth Collection" (June 5, 1958) A large part (but not all) of the 6thh duke's magnificent silver service went on the block, including two over-the-top meat dishes, 5,038 grams of silver, hallmarked by Robert Garrad, with the resplendent ducal coat of arms, the finial with ducal coronet and strawberry leaves.
These are now wending their way to me, and the next part of their destiny, the next part of the story, but only the next. For these glorious items have a life long beyond mine. The saddest thing of all is I will not be here to know it.
But for now, for now, they are mine all mine. I shall enjoy them immensely and tell all those who dine from them the story I have just shared with you, for now I am part of their story, gladly so, forever more.
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About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also an avid art collector and author of 18 best-selling business books.
Republished with author's permission by Christopher Hessman http://ProvenAutomatedBiz.com. Check out Six Figure RENEGADE -> http://www.ProvenAutomatedBiz.com/?rd=ah1KoXDx
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