VICAR’S LUCKY BID

Evening Star, Issue 22085, 19 July 1935, Page 3

VICAR’S LUCKY BID

ANTIQUE BOUGHT FOR A SONG Stored away for years in an old bos in an unlighted attic, “ a quantity of leaded stained glass,” bought for a trifling sum by an antiquarian vicar, has been discovered to be worth £IO,OOO. It is a magnificent specimen of early sixteenth century work, glowing with rich colour, exquisite in design, and in practically perfect condition. One of the most romantic stories that has ever come out of the auction room was told by the fortunate clergyman, the Rev. Richard Ridge, vicar of Doddington, Cambridgeshire in whose vicarage the beautiful glass is now hanging. Mr Ridge, an elderly man, is a keen student of antiquities, and this is by no means the first of his finds. He said that the glass was bought about a year ago when the contents of a mansion in Suffolk were being sold. He bought £175 worth of goods at the sale, and although he would not state the exact figure, the price of the glass was only a small percentage of this. “ It was the last day of the sale,” he said, “and I was attracted by an announcement in the catalogue that the contents of an attic were coming up. There were many dealers at the sale, but just before this lot came uj> for auction they had discovered a rare Chippendale wine cooler, and their attention was fixed on this, with the result that I was able to get the glass very, very cheaply. “ After I had bought it I noticed one detail—a foot—and was so impressed that I bought up everything else that was in the attic, JThe rest

of the stuff proved to be a lot bf rubbish. One of the theories is that the glass may have been a portion of a window designed for the west end of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge.” Mr Ridge called in another expert, who stayed eight hours examining the details of the glass minutely. He put its date at 1510. The masterpiece is 24ft high, and consists of three lights each 26in wide.