CHAPTER XII
A Few Records
The highest priced Shires sold by auction have already been given. So a few of the most notable sales may be mentioned, together with the dates they were held—
| £ | s. | d. | ||
| Tring Park (draft), February 14, 1913: | 32 Shires averaged | 454 | 0 | 0 |
| Tatton Park (dispersion), April 23, 1909: | 21 Shires averaged | 465 | 0 | 0 |
| Tring Park (draft), February 14, 1905: | 35 Shires averaged | 266 | 15 | 0 |
| The Hendre, Monmouth (draft), October 18, 1900: | 42 Shires averaged | 226 | 0 | 0 |
| Sandringham (draft), February 11, 1898: | 52 Shires averaged | 224 | 7 | 9 |
| Tring Park (draft), January 15, 1902: | 40 Shires averaged | 217 | 14 | 0 |
| Tring Park (draft), January 12, 1898: | 35 Shires averaged | 209 | 18 | 2 |
| Dunsmore (dispersion), February 11, 1909: | 51 Shires averaged | 200 | 12 | 0 |
| Childwick (draft), February 13, 1901: | 46 Shires averaged | 200 | 0 | 0 |
| Tandridge (dispersion), October 28, 1911: | 84 Shires averaged | 188 | 17 | 6 |
These ten are worthy of special mention, although there are several which come close up to the £200 average. That given first is the most noteworthy for the reason that Lord Rothschild only sold a portion of his stud, whereas the executors of the late Lord Egerton of Tatton sold their whole lot of twenty-one head, hence the higher average. Two clear records were, however, set up at the historical Tring Park sale in 1913, viz. the highest individual price for a stallion and the highest average price for animals by one sire, seven sons and daughters of Childwick Champion, making no less than £927 each, including two yearling colts.
The best average of the nineteenth century was that made at its close by the late Lord Llangattock, who had given a very high price privately for Prince Harold, by Harold, which, like his sire, was a very successful stock horse, his progeny making a splendid average at this celebrated sale. A spirited bidder at all of the important sales and a very successful exhibitor, Lord Llangattock did not succeed in winning either of the London Championships.
One private sale during 1900 is worth mentioning, which was that of Mr. James Eadie’s two cup-winning geldings, Bardon Extraordinary and Barrow Farmer for 225 guineas each, a price which has only been equalled once to the writer’s knowledge. This was in the autumn of 1910, when Messrs. Truman gave 225 guineas for a gelding, at Messrs. Manley’s Repository, Crewe, this specimen of the English lorry horse being bought for export to the United States.
In 1894 the late Lord Wantage held a sale which possessed unique features in that fifty animals catalogued were all sired by the dual London Champion and Windsor Royal (Jubilee Show) Gold Medal Winner, Prince William, to whom reference has already been made. The average was just over £116. As a great supporter of the old English breed, Lord Wantage, K.C.B., a Crimean veteran, deserves to be bracketed with the recently deceased Sir Walter Gilbey, inasmuch as that in 1890 he gave the Lockinge Cup for the best Shire mare exhibited at the London show, which Starlight succeeded in winning outright for Mr. Fred Crisp in 1892.