A Very Gentlemanly
AUCTION
Huntsman was proud to play host to the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride auction last Monday night, which helped to raise over £77,000 for the Movember charity.
The house threw the event together with men’s style magazine The Rake, to add to the money raised by the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, which had taken place the previous Sunday. The event saw groups of men in cities around the world take to their motorbikes for a mass ride, to raise money for Movember, which funds both prostate cancer research and suicide prevention programmes. To add to that total (DGR aims to raise $5 million this year), Huntsman and The Rake auctioned all manner of luxurious experiences and items at the house’s Savile Row headquarters.
To place their bids, auction-goers – among whom were the adventuring twins Hugo and Ross Turner, tattoo artist Mo Coppoletta, and Made in Chelsea stars Fredrik Ferrier and Francis Boulle - waved their invitations, which came in the form of a silk pocket square, printed with an illustration of the motorbikes by artist Liam Wales.
Among the lots auctioned by Alex Branczick, European head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s, was the experience of designing one’s own house tweed with Huntsman, along with a trip to the Isle of Islay mill that house works with, to see the cloth woven. The fabric is then made into a Huntsman piece of the client’s choice. The experience attracted a winning bid of £8,500 on the night, while tickets to the Ralph Lauren Wimbledon Experience at the 2017 Wimbledon final fetched £6,000 (compared to a reserve of only £700.)
And alongside the bidding, there was plenty to entertain guests. Archie Manners, a magician who’s performed for the royal family and former Prime Minister David Cameron, was on hand to mystify the crowd with his sleight of hand tricks. Mark Hawwa, the Australian founder of the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, was also in attendance, with The Rake magazine and DGR offering a Triumph Street Twin motorcycle for auction, which fetched £18,000.
Drinks, meanwhile, came courtesy of Mumm Champagne; Sailor Jerry rum, who created a ginger Dark & Stormy; Monkey Shoulder, who blended an Old Fashioned, poured from a wooden barrel; and Hawthorn’s Gin, who made their Chelsea Blossom cocktail, a blend of gin, rose liqueur, amaro, and orange and honey blossom.
As for the food, there were brioche lobster rolls, tempura fish and chips, and blackberry meringues to fortify guests for the evening’s bidding.
In all, the silent auction and lots auctioned that evening raised £77,705 for the Movember Foundation.
Photo credit: Richard Young