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Carriage used in TV show Victoria up for auction

Katie RadleyYorkshire
News imageKatie Radley/BBC A woman in a dark coloured dress is leaning against an old-fashioned looking carriage. The carriage is black and stands on the floor of a large warehouse with a blue wall to the left hand side.Katie Radley/BBC
Coralie Thomson, auctioneer at Duggleby Stephenson in York, says the town coach is "glamorous" and "aristocratic"

A historic carriage, which featured in the television drama Victoria, starring Jenna Coleman, is going under the hammer.

It is one of 26 horse-drawn carriages and carts being auctioned in York later.

Auctioneers Duggleby Stephenson said the vehicles had come from the private collection of a businessman in North Yorkshire.

Coralie Thomson, auctioneer and specialist valuer, said the carriage used in Victoria is a town coach and is what most people imagine when thinking of a "period drama with carriages and everything".

"It's got a beautifully enclosed roof, beautifully Chesterfield padded interior all in leather, lovely condition and just a really glamorous, aristocratic piece," she said.

News imageKatie Radley/ BBC A dark coloured historic looking coach with large wheels and a seat on the front of the carriage stands on the floor of a large room with a blue wall to the right and a sign reading exhibition hall.Katie Radley/ BBC
The town coach was used in the TV show Victoria, starring Jenna Coleman

Among the other carriages and carts being sold is a 19th Century London fire engine.

"I believe 22 men were needed to use all the hoses and everything," Thomson said.

"Steel and painted in its original rustic red with the crests on the side. You've got all the pipes and everything."

News imageKatie Radley/BBC An old fashioned looking rustic red fire engine that was pulled by horses in the Victorian era. It has large wheels and a metal hose running down the side above the wheels.Katie Radley/BBC
The Victorian London fire engine is among 26 carts and carriages being auctioned off

The collection was amassed by Ian Smith, who died in 2016.

Will Duggleby, the managing director of the auctioneers said Smith's interest in coaching and historic carriages began in the early 1990s after he moved to a farm at Cropton.

"Ian bred and reared horses and put together champion coaching teams," he said.

Duggleby said the collection Smith created was "simply astonishing"

"These superbly renovated and maintained vehicles, which date back as early as the 1820s, were never just static museum pieces.

"Ian and his family drove them through Windsor Great Park into Royal Ascot and competed with them in events at the Great Yorkshire Show, Royal Windsor and elsewhere."

The sale is an automated online auction which ends later on Thursday.

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