AUCTION FOCUS
Objets de grand luxe
Lockdown has ravaged the high street, but high-end automobilia is riding out the storm. Gordon Cruickshank inspects the goods
Pullman’s London gallery may currently be closed but online activity is keeping the firm buoyant
While many businesses have been crippled by the pandemic, those which can trade online have been the lucky ones. Even a high-end specialist in automobilia with a smart shop in London’s St James’s can surf the wave, as Simon Khachadourian of Pullman Gallery told me recently.
“We can’t have visitors to the shop any more,” he says, “so we’ve cranked up our online presence, re-done our website, and we produce our digital magazine more frequently now, which is a real lifeline.”
If you haven’t seen the Pullman magazine it’s worth a look via their website. We’re not talking old petrol cans; the firm specialises in memorabilia of the highest quality. Apart from the smoking requisites, militaria and aviation objects, the car offerings may cover original artwork by Crosby and Gamy, vintage trophies, fine tinplate models, bonnet mascots and unique one-off presentation pieces. Simon lists some current favourites: “There’s a silvered-bronze model of a W125 [inset], one of four given to Mercedes team drivers in 1937. Caracciola’s and Lang’s are accounted for, so this one is either Seaman’s or von Brauchitsch’s, and as it came from a lifelong friend of von Brauchitsch the provenance is pretty good. And there’s a huge model in silver of Tim Birkin’s works Blower Bentley.”