Lot #134 - 1936 Rolls-Royce 25/30 Sedanca De Ville by Gurney Nutting

$0.00

Chassis no. GHL10
Visually appealing Freestone & Webb Sedanca De Ville

Mechanically sound, strong driver
Out of 20 year ownership
Offered with luggage and tool set
Accompanied by its chassis card
Known chain of ownership

In the summer of 1936, England and much of Europe were resolutely whistling past the all-too-fresh graveyards of the Somme and Flanders Fields.
It was a time of frenetic energy, spent as Tolstoy dictated in War and Peace: “We must live, we must love, we must believe that we are not only living today on this clod of earth, but have lived and will live for over there in everything.”
How else to explain a famous young woman’s purchase of a Rolls-Royce Sedanca De Ville, with the specification that it be fitted with red wire wheels — 19-inchers, six in all, the four on the road and the two mounted as spares on the enormous front fenders?
The woman was Nina Zakhari Mdivani, one of the famous “marrying Mdivanis,” daughter of General Zakhari Mdivani, aide-de-camp to Tsar Nicholas of Russia. She already knew too much of war — her family fled Georgia with nothing during the Soviet invasion of 1921. But by 1925, the stunningly beautiful Nina had risen from refugee poverty to marry wealthy American lawyer Charles Henry Huberich.
That summer of 1936 was a pivotal time in Nina’s life. When she placed the order for the Rolls-Royce with famed dealer Jack Barclay of Berkeley Square in Mayfair on June 17, 1936, she had been divorced from Huberich for barely a month. By September, she would be married again — to Denis Conan Doyle, son of Arthur Conan Doyle, creator and author of the Sherlock Holmes detective stories. She would help to administer the Conan Doyle literary estate for many years.
The fleeting period between the wars in Europe was almost over. The same day Nina ordered the Rolls, Heinrich Himmler was named to lead Hitler’s secret police. Exactly a month later, in the Canary Islands, the first shots of the Spanish Civil War would be fired — just as Rolls delivered the car’s chassis to J Gurney Nutting & Co., coachmakers to the royal family.
Gurney Nutting & Co worked their magic. Even for a Rolls-Royce, this car was astoundingly luxurious. The divided saloon featured dramatically raked pillars and the aforementioned dual side mounts, creating a dramatic, elegant silhouette. The Sedanca’s convertible-topped driver’s cabin — making it a true town car — adds to the elegance.
This very special historic Rolls was in the collection of William G. Brigiani, Esq., a prominent New Jersey attorney, for nearly four decades until Mr. Brigiani’s passing earlier this year. It has been well-treated and is completely original. It would not surprise us to see this car on the lawn at Pebble Beach during its next ownership.

Chassis no. GHL10
Visually appealing Freestone & Webb Sedanca De Ville

Mechanically sound, strong driver
Out of 20 year ownership
Offered with luggage and tool set
Accompanied by its chassis card
Known chain of ownership

In the summer of 1936, England and much of Europe were resolutely whistling past the all-too-fresh graveyards of the Somme and Flanders Fields.
It was a time of frenetic energy, spent as Tolstoy dictated in War and Peace: “We must live, we must love, we must believe that we are not only living today on this clod of earth, but have lived and will live for over there in everything.”
How else to explain a famous young woman’s purchase of a Rolls-Royce Sedanca De Ville, with the specification that it be fitted with red wire wheels — 19-inchers, six in all, the four on the road and the two mounted as spares on the enormous front fenders?
The woman was Nina Zakhari Mdivani, one of the famous “marrying Mdivanis,” daughter of General Zakhari Mdivani, aide-de-camp to Tsar Nicholas of Russia. She already knew too much of war — her family fled Georgia with nothing during the Soviet invasion of 1921. But by 1925, the stunningly beautiful Nina had risen from refugee poverty to marry wealthy American lawyer Charles Henry Huberich.
That summer of 1936 was a pivotal time in Nina’s life. When she placed the order for the Rolls-Royce with famed dealer Jack Barclay of Berkeley Square in Mayfair on June 17, 1936, she had been divorced from Huberich for barely a month. By September, she would be married again — to Denis Conan Doyle, son of Arthur Conan Doyle, creator and author of the Sherlock Holmes detective stories. She would help to administer the Conan Doyle literary estate for many years.
The fleeting period between the wars in Europe was almost over. The same day Nina ordered the Rolls, Heinrich Himmler was named to lead Hitler’s secret police. Exactly a month later, in the Canary Islands, the first shots of the Spanish Civil War would be fired — just as Rolls delivered the car’s chassis to J Gurney Nutting & Co., coachmakers to the royal family.
Gurney Nutting & Co worked their magic. Even for a Rolls-Royce, this car was astoundingly luxurious. The divided saloon featured dramatically raked pillars and the aforementioned dual side mounts, creating a dramatic, elegant silhouette. The Sedanca’s convertible-topped driver’s cabin — making it a true town car — adds to the elegance.
This very special historic Rolls was in the collection of William G. Brigiani, Esq., a prominent New Jersey attorney, for nearly four decades until Mr. Brigiani’s passing earlier this year. It has been well-treated and is completely original. It would not surprise us to see this car on the lawn at Pebble Beach during its next ownership.