Christie's auctions Maharaja of Patiala's Dinner Service
July 31, 2013: Whoever said you can't eat like a royal clearly didn't know the how, when and where of possibilities. A dinner service commissioned by the Maharaja of Patiala in honour of a tour of India in 1922 by Prince Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor, sold for £1,965,875 ($2,995,994), at Christie’s in London, setting a new world auction record for an English dinner service. Expected to sell for £1-1.5million, it was bought in the room by a private collector who did not wish to be identified.
The extensive George V silver-gilt dinner-service comprised over 1,400 pieces and was ordered from London to honour a three-day Royal visit which culminated in a magnificent banquet on 24 February, 1922. The Maharaja, said to be a colourful character, was Captain of the Indian cricket team, the first man in India to own an aircraft and is said to have travelled in a fleet of 20 Rolls Royces. Whew! Royal banquet anybody?
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