Vicar’s £10,000 Find in Attic

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 175, 27 July 1935, Page 9

Vicar’s £IO,OOO Find in Attic

MASTERPIECE BOUGHT TOR A SONG AMONGST JOB LOT

LON DON, June 15. Stored away for years in an old bos in an unlighted attic, "a quantity of leaded stained glass,’’ bought for a trilling sum by an antiquarian vicar, has been discovered to bo worth £lO,000. 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 lias ever come out of the auction room was told by the fortunate clergyman, the Rev. Richard Ridge, Vicar of Doddington, in whose vicarage the beautiful glass is now hanging. Keen Student Mr. Ridge, an elderly man, is a keen siudent 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 wero being sold. 110 bought £175 worth of goods at the sale, and although he would not tell mo 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 allic were coming up. "There were many dealers at the sale, but just before this lot came up ' for auction they had discovered a rare Chippendale wine cooler, and their at* tention was fixed on this, "with, the result that I was able to get the glass very, very cheaply. Noticed one Detail “After 1 had bought it, I noticed one detail —a foot —and was so impressed that ! bought up everything else that was in the "attic. “The rest of the stuff proved to be a lot of rubbish. “One of the theories is that the glass may have been a portion of a window designed for the west cud of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge.” Mr. Ridge called in another expert, who stayed eight hours examining the details of the glass minutely, lie put its dato at 1510. Tho masterpiece is “Ift. high, and consists of three lights each 26in. wide.