Interesting Finds. Hidden in a Mirror Mrs Bamberger Shocks London!
Meandering around Ford market near Arundel last Thursday, I happened upon a very lovely 1920s mahogany inlaid oval mirror. The glass was loose so it was only £5, it was a bargain but a project. Now, with projects these days I know if I don't deal with them immediately then they will start to pile up in my workshop and after decades in the trade I have finally worked out I deal with the object now or it will end up in a huge ‘needs attention’ pile, that I have recently worked my way through.
In order to reset the glass within the frame, I had to remove the back. This immediately revealed an old piece of newspaper covering the back of the silver behind the glass.
I was drawn to the headline about a Mrs Bamberger. ‘A London Scandal Mrs Bamberger’s Case.’
I'm not somebody who takes any interest in salacious tabloid gossip but as someone who takes huge interest in vintage things I read the headlines and got a gist of what it was all about and I was hooked.
In short, Mrs Bamberger was a bit of a one, a very naughty one.
She was a society beauty who, at the age of 27, had already built up an array of former husbands. Her marriages never lasted long due to her frequent infidelities—very frequent, by all accounts, especially a long-term relationship with the famous Robert Wemyss Symonds a British architect, and "the pre-eminent 20th century scholar and authority on English furniture"
It was when he demanded she get divorced that, during the court proceedings, widely reported, she repeatedly lied under oath. By all accounts, a real character, she played the court like a film star.
However, amongst huge press and public interest, it became clear that she had perjured herself by denying her romantic indiscretions and was chucked in the clink for nine months.
The actual newspaper cutting was taken mid-trial, her shenanigans were very amusing as her personal private life unravelled. I discovered the denouement of the story through artificial intelligence no less!
It is one of the privileges of the trade, I suppose you would call it, and a curious mind, that this hidden gem of the story, which I enjoyed investigating, simply fell on my lap in such an odd manner as I tried to restore a mirror.
The immorality of Mrs. Bamberger has now been tucked away for maybe one day someone else to discover. It isn't just a story though, is it? It transports you back to the actual time; it is not just like reading it in a book because a craftsman made this mirror in 1926, put that piece of paper down on it, and pinned a board over it. As I saw it for the first time it was a matter of seconds since it was seen last by the craftsman. Somehow or the other you feel a special bond back to that time. In seconds 1926 is transported to 2024.