The Ex-Maharajah of Bharatpur and Robert Gove’s 1931 Horch Cabriolet to Headline Auction on Sunday 3 May 2009
This fascinating car was presented to to Robert Gove of Victoria from the Maharajah of Bharatpur in the 1930s in exchange for horses. The Gove family had supplied the Maharajahs with fine horses of all kinds – polo mounts, race horses and many thousands of horses for the Indian Army. The Australian horses, known as walers, were renowned in India and Gove’s father, Julius Gove, had been supplying them to the Indian government and it’s aristocracy for two decades before he passed away in 1922.
In late 1933 or early 1934 Robert Gove and the then 17 year old Maharajah made an unusual deal in which Gove took possession of a 1931 Horch 480 from the Maharajah’s garage as a gift or in part payment for a prize horse.
The extremely rare and valuable automobile created a sensation upon its return to Melbourne. Following the depression years, luxury cars were few and far between and rarely seen in public. The Horch was the 25th car built out of a total production of a few more than 50 cars in its two-year production life, so even in the 1930s these were rare cars indeed.
The Horch is being sold as a part of the Peter Briggs collection which also includes a 1926 AC Royal Roadster, a 1933 Aston Martin Le Mans 1 1/2 litre ‘Long Chassis’ Sports Tourer, a 1947 MG TC Roadster and a 1910 Napier 10hp Colonial Model Roi de Belges Tourer.
www.bonhamsandgoodman.com.au
