Antique Mens Wallet Purse 1776 Famous Owner

Here we have a wallet from 1776 belonging to or belonging to one of the head staff to Lord Le D'espenser also known as Baron Francis Dashwood. See Wikipedia as there is lots of info on him and what he got up to...naughty man.

The wallet is one of only two examples. The other one is in the Royal Museum of Scotland and is about 30 to 50 years later than this one. This is a genuine 1776 piece.

Size: 16cm x 12cm

There are approx 5 pages in there with a double wallet.  There are two pages of text and carbon pages of which you could read some info with more research.

The text is the most interesting thing.  This lists a load of furniture and items belonging to a gentlemen including furniture, wardrobes, Dutch Ovens and other items that were moved from the mansion at West Wycombe of Lord Le Despencer to Hanover Sq in London in 1776.  I have checked with the current Lord and they did have a residence in both West Wycombe and in Hanover Sq until the late 50's.  The London house being the main residence and the West Wycombe one being the country retreat.

Lord Le D'espencer

Here is the colourful character.  He was one of a few who set up the "Hellfire Club" in caves in West Wycombe.  Here they dressed up in strange costumes, drank and were generally considered to be practising witchcraft.  Other members were "William Hogarth" the artists, Byron the poet, William Pitt the Elder (prime minister), Benjamin Franklin,  etc etc etc.

The wallet does mention a thousand or so paint brushes and coals which one would presume were for Hogarth who was his great friend or for the Royal Academy of Art in Hanover Sq to which he was a partron.

There is a small amount of wear but suprisingly good condition for 234 years old.  The text is very readable and i understand that the current Lord would be interested in seeing this and may have other information on who it may or may not have belonged to.

We did do some research on wallets of this age and most would have been cloth sacks. This would have belonged to a fine gentleman and is the only one of two in that era that we could find.  Auction starts at just 99p but bear in mind that ones from 1800's without this providence sell regularly at costume auctions and general antique fairs for more than £800.00

There is a wealth of info on the web about the hellfire club and this character that is referenced here so please do your research before bidding. Our guess after research is that this either belonged to Lord Le D'espencer or someone very close to him.

Post is a couple of quid or cost of recorded delivery.  Will post worldwide at cost.

The colourful gentleman in the photo is the Lord.