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Important Irish Vernacular Museum Sale

Tuesday 13th May 2025

Lot 360 A RARE BREWSTER ‘GOING TO COVER’ TANDEM CART, CIRCA 1890

€8000 - 12000


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Description

Lot 360 A RARE BREWSTER ‘GOING TO COVER’ TANDEM CART, CIRCA 1890

Provenance: The Norman Brown Collection. With original cover stand and tandem harness; fully restored by the Royal coachmakers.

This exquisitely restored Going to Cover cart represents a rare surviving example of Brewster & Company’s most exclusive sporting carriages, custom-built in New York circa 1890. Likely one of fewer than twenty ever constructed, this model was designed for the sporting gentleman of the late Victorian era—specifically for tandem driving to foxhunts, a refined pursuit shared by the transatlantic elite.

The cart’s name pays homage to the celebrated 19th-century British equestrian print “Going to Cover” by Charles Cooper Henderson, in which a tandem turnout carries the whip and companion to the covert in pursuit of the day’s sport. Brewster, renowned for merging classical inspiration with American engineering, adopted the term for their own tandem dog cart—a model that encapsulated the genteel spirit of the countryside and the precision of elite horsemanship.

Crafted during the firm’s apex, the vehicle features a high-perched driver’s box for clear forward visibility over a tandem team, a slatted dog compartment beneath the seat with ventilated panels—"for the comfort of a pair of loyal hounds" as one 1890s tandem club journal put it—and a rear-facing rumble seat above the tailboard. The accompanying detachable cover stand provided both protection and structure during meets and halts. Beneath, Brewster’s patented screw-adjustable body slides allow precise balancing over the axles—testament to the firm’s mechanical sophistication.

According to coach historian Tom Ryder in The Carriage Journal, “Brewster’s sporting carts, especially the tandem types, were not just vehicles—they were statements. One did not simply arrive in a Going to Cover cart; one presented.” The current example echoes that tradition with its straw-painted body panels, red running gear with fine-line pinstriping, and large rubber-shod wheels—all restored to museum standard by the official restorers to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Brewster’s workshop records suggest that tandem carts of this configuration were strictly built to order, often for prominent sportsmen from Long Island to Newport. Anecdotal accounts from the New York Tandem Club in the 1890s describe such vehicles being driven along bridleways with “the dog-box filled and the whip alert for the blast of the horn.”

Only a handful of Going to Cover carts survive today—some in major museum collections such as the Shelburne Museum, others in private hands, seldom seen on the open market. This example’s completeness, authenticity, and royal-standard restoration elevate it to the uppermost tier of coach-built sporting vehicles.

An exceptional and increasingly elusive collector’s item, representing the pinnacle of American carriage-making at the dawn of the motoring age.

Completely restored by Croford, Coachbuilders to HM Charles III.

Provenance: The Norman Brown Collection. With original cover stand and tandem harness; fully restored by the Royal coachmakers.

This exquisitely restored Going to Cover cart represents a rare surviving example of Brewster & Company?s most exclusive sporting carriages, custom-built in New York circa 1890. Likely one of fewer than twenty ever constructed, this model was designed for the sporting gentleman of the late Victorian era?specifically for tandem driving to foxhunts, a refined pursuit shared by the transatlantic elite.

The cart?s name pays homage to the celebrated 19th-century British equestrian print ?Going to Cover? by Charles Cooper Henderson, in which a tandem turnout carries the whip and companion to the covert in pursuit of the day?s sport. Brewster, renowned for merging classical inspiration with American engineering, adopted the term for their own tandem dog cart?a model that encapsulated the genteel spirit of the countryside and the precision of elite horsemanship.

Crafted during the firm?s apex, the vehicle features a high-perched driver?s box for clear forward visibility over a tandem team, a slatted dog compartment beneath the seat with ventilated panels?"for the comfort of a pair of loyal hounds" as one 1890s tandem club journal put it?and a rear-facing rumble seat above the tailboard. The accompanying detachable cover stand provided both protection and structure during meets and halts. Beneath, Brewster?s patented screw-adjustable body slides allow precise balancing over the axles?testament to the firm?s mechanical sophistication.

According to coach historian Tom Ryder in The Carriage Journal, ?Brewster?s sporting carts, especially the tandem types, were not just vehicles?they were statements. One did not simply arrive in a Going to Cover cart; one presented.? The current example echoes that tradition with its straw-painted body panels, red running gear with fine-line pinstriping, and large rubber-shod wheels?all restored to museum standard by the official restorers to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Brewster?s workshop records suggest that tandem carts of this configuration were strictly built to order, often for prominent sportsmen from Long Island to Newport. Anecdotal accounts from the New York Tandem Club in the 1890s describe such vehicles being driven along bridleways with ?the dog-box filled and the whip alert for the blast of the horn.?

Only a handful of Going to Cover carts survive today?some in major museum collections such as the Shelburne Museum, others in private hands, seldom seen on the open market. This example?s completeness, authenticity, and royal-standard restoration elevate it to the uppermost tier of coach-built sporting vehicles.

An exceptional and increasingly elusive collector?s item, representing the pinnacle of American carriage-making at the dawn of the motoring age.

Completely restored by Croford, Coachbuilders to HM Charles III.

Estimate

€8000 - 12000

Day

Tuesday 13th May 2025

Approximate time

14:35:46

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