How much would you pay for a square of carpet from Westminster Abbey at the 1953 coronation

[Barrythetimesprout]

Yes - I know this is a bizarre question. 🤣
Our church has an altar carpet which was used at Westminster Abbey for the the 1953 Coronation. The carpet was cut up afterwards and offered to nearby churches and our church was one of the recipients
We are fundraising at present and would consider pulling this up and selling (probably about 100) framed sections - possibly 9 linch squared (with proof of authenticity).

It's not exciting - just a blue carpet, but obviously has an interesting history.
No need to tell me 'nothing' if you aren't interested, just would like to know if this would be of interest to keen royalists and if so at what kind of price?
This will help us decide whether to sell it or not.

Ok, I won’t say nothing 😂

Given the interest in the RF esp with the forthcoming coronation and esp from foreign markets, I wonder if one of the auction houses might be able to help? No idea how these things work though, hopefully someone will post who knows.

I would need to know more about the carpet. What is the pile like? Is it warm underfoot?

Mightn't it be worth more not cut up 😄?

I'd talk to an expert before I go cutting it up into pieces.

Do not cut it up - auctioned as a whole piece will make you more money.

No I think you should cut it up into lots of really tiny bits to maximise profits, 1cm square

😂

I mean, even if it were to make more money cut up (it won’t), wouldn’t one feel like a philistine destroying a historical artefact? Who got that brainwave, OP?

I think it's a bit off to sell a gift like that

Yes I agree. Presumably it has some sort of significance to the church. Seems a bit off to start cutting it up for profit

But if the carpet saves the roof..??

The problem is that a 70 year old plain blue carpet section measuring 18ft by just under 4 ft is not really any use to man nor beast and honestly is no more (or less) a historical artifact than sections of it. It's only a section of one of the Westminster Abbey carpets already.

The carpet was actually going to be ripped up and binned until someone remembered it's history.
@Bimbom thank you for for you inspired idea - so how much would you like to pay for your square cm of carpet then?

Auction it as a whole! Put a reserve in for the minimum acceptable amount (and account for the auction fees) and hope for the best.

And somebody understands 👍

Okay, if it’s unsightly and won’t fetch good money, how about do a congregation “auction” or a raffle? Hype it up or merge it with a Coronation party?

Do you have provenance to include with it?

Yes

There's an email address for a royal memorabilia specialist on this auction houses page. Maybe contact him for advice on selling it and whether it's better in parts or as a whole

https://www.reemandansie.com/royal-memorabilia/#:~:text=Our%20specialist%20James%20Grinter%20is,advice%20on%20Royal%20related%20collecting.

I'm not sure what I'd pay for a square cm tbh. I'd likely be more interested if it came in some kind of royal textile lucky dip with some other stuff, like a square cm of the royal standard that was draped over the queen's coffin, square cm of Kate's engagement outfit etc

you would need to frame your squares of carpet in a very impressive way to make them feel valuable - maybe with the certificate and a photo of the '53 coronation in the frame too and gold lettering etc. so you'd need to budget £50 per piece or more for the framing. but without that the value is probably small.

Thank you - that's very helpful, I'll try them.

I hvae no desire to own an ugly piece of the coronation carpet, especially not a huge 9 inch square one. Who would want to hang a big blue piece of carpet on their wall?

On the other hand, if it were being sold to raise money for a cause, I might spring £25 for a tiny square mounted in a nice frame (more as a donation than because I want it), but the tinier the better! Say 3 inches square max. I'm not sure what I would do with it. Maybe hang it above "the throne"?

If you get it valued and it isn't worth that much, I would imagine the market for small pieces is bigger than people who would want a large piece eg people who want a novelty gift, people who buy royal collectibles like commemorative china, and people like me who would be happy to buy it as a donation.

Although I am actually in the market for a very long thin piece of carpet for my hallway 😂

I don't think you can make much money - to make it worth buying you would need to invest a lot of time and some money into the presentation, otherwise you just have a small square of old carpet.

I'd be so upset if my church did that. You're not going to get that much for it so I'd make a bit more of it within the church.

Charge people to walk on it. Lol.

If you are able to auction/sell these outside your parish as well, I think you would easily find 100 people willing to pay £20/30 for them ie £20-30K

Maybe keep a larger framed piece for the church too