First purchased in 1920, the “humblest Christmas tree in the world” remained in Dorothy Grant’s family for more than 100 years.
HansonsThe 31 - inch “ humble ” Christmas tree .
The “ humblest Christmas Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in the macrocosm , ” a 31 - inch unreal tree diagram with 25 arm , just sold at auction for more than $ 4,000 .
The price astonished even the auction bridge planetary house , Hanson Auctioneers , who had assumed it would fetch anywhere between $ 76 and $ 102 . In astatement , Charles Hanson , owner of the auction sale household , chalked the cut-rate sale up to “ the deception of Christmas ” — and a young girl ’s nostalgic account .
HansonsThe 31-inch “humble” Christmas tree.
The tree originally belong to Dorothy Grant , whose family unit first buy it back in 1920 when she was eight age old . While it may not be as spendthrift as advanced stilted Christmas tree , to young Dorothy it was the most beautiful affair she had ever seen . She loved it so much that she kept it throughout her entire life until she die out at 101 years old .
“ The magic of Christmas lives on ! ” Charles Hanson said . “ The humble Christmas tree diagram in the world has a novel home and we ’re beguiled for both buyer and seller . It would have been buy for pennies originally but it ’s sold for thousands and that ’s astonishing . I think it ’s down to the tycoon of nostalgia . Dorothy ’s story resonated with the great unwashed . ”
Dorothy Grant was bear in 1912 , so much of her former childhood aim place during World War I. When the state of war come to an end , the world was a very different position . Baubles and other ornaments were consider an prodigality , so Dorothy decorated her modest petty Christmas tree with cotton wool , fashion it to take care like nose candy .
HansonsShirley Hall poses with her mother’s photo and Christmas tree.
When she passed aside in 2014 , the tree — now something of a family heirloom — was inherited by her daughter , Shirley Hall .
“ As mere as it was Dorothy sleep with that tree . It became a staple part of family celebration for decades , ” Hanson say . “ The fact that it contribute her such joyousness is chagrin in itself . It reminds us that prodigality and overindulgence are not required to get the spirit of Christmas . For Dorothy it was enough to have a tree diagram . The wastefulness - not want - not generations of the past continue to teach us a valuable example . ”
Shirley Hall secernate the auction firm that her nanna , who was birth in 1891 , had purchased the tree in 1920 , likely from a department computer storage in London . Though it resemble some of the earliest mass - raise Christmas trees sell by Woolworths , the red pigment used on its base is a notably unlike color than that seen on Woolworths ’ Tree .
Hall provided Hansons with the tree as a mode to “ abide by her female parent ’s memory ” and to empty the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree along as a “ humble reminder of 1920s life sentence . ”
HansonsShirley Hall perplex with her mother ’s photo and Christmas tree .
Hansons has sold interchangeable trees before , but none with quite such a high price tag . Four years ago , in 2019 , the auction house sell a Woolworths Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree that was first purchased in Scotland in 1937 for around $ 190 . That tree diagram had belonged to a woman name Catherine Smith , who purchased it to celebrate her young son ’s first Christmas just before the first of World War II .
That tree , like Grant ’s , was cherished by the family and clear down from parent to child , until it reached Claire Barnett , Catherine ’s granddaughter , who donated it to the auction bridge theatre .
Barnett say the tree had been significant to her father James , tellingthe auction house : “ When dad was little , he remembers the excitement when the tree went up in the middle of December . Sadly , he lost his founding father in 1938 when he was only 18 month old . accordingly , pop grew up as an only child but his mum did her best to make Christmas special for him . ”
Barnett suppose her parent had re - discovered the tree diagram while cleaning out their loft . It had n’t been used by the family since 1995 , and they donate it in hopes that “ someone else might care it to remember how the festive season used to be . ”
Dorothy Grant ’s tree diagram serves as a like souvenir of a foregone era , before the days of online shopping and excess .
“ Despite the devastation of the First World War and Spanish flu pandemic , there was renewed optimism , ” Hanson say . “ The Roaring Twenties saw major progression in skill and engineering science . But the decennium also brought the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression . Sadly , state of war , the backwash of a pandemic and economical instability are still with us . But , then as now , Christmas pleasure will never be dampened . ”
After read about this humble Christmas tree , learn all about the surprising origins of theChristmas tree diagram — and the pagan tradition that enliven it . Then , exploreChristmas during World War IIthrough our picture gallery of 44 nostalgic motion picture .
