Antique Picnics

Welcome to our Hemswell Antique Centres web page you will find our dealer display on the first floor, Room 5 in Building 1.
We specialise in vintage automobile picnic baskets.

As an avid enthusiast and owner of vintage motor vehicles, my interest in early picnic sets grew from a desire to carry a period picnic set on the rear of my vehicles when attending rallies and club gatherings. It was also important to me that any picnic set I owned, had to be complete, and more importantly, still capable of being used to make tea!

As happens with a lot of collectors, I collected more picnic sets than I had vehicles, and as each picnic set I discovered was different to the previous acquisition, the collection grew…to a point where I had amassed the largest private collection of picnic sets in the UK, consisting of over 200+ sets! 

The earliest set in my collection is a 4 person, leather-cased set, made by Drew & Sons of Piccadilly Circus in London, and dates back to 1898.

The largest set in the collection is an exquisite 1920’s Rexine-cased 8 person set by Coracle (G W Scott & Sons) that was originally supplied by Harrods of London, and is very large, very heavy, and absolutely stunning! 

The collection covers each decade from 1900 to 1950, with examples by the aforementioned Drew & Sons, plus G W Scott & Sons (Coracle) J C Vickery, Aspreys of London, Sirram, Garrison, and Ilat.

Having collected such a vast range of sets over the years, from single person sets to 8 person sets, I have decided that it's time to sell off my collection, to give fellow enthusiasts the opportunity to purchase some of the finest examples of British made picnic sets available, in the hope that those new custodians will cherish and continue to use these bygone motoring artifacts, for many more years to come.

Since offering my sets for sale through classic car magazines and various internet-based platforms, many have been shipped to new owners across the globe, including buyers in the USA, China, France, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia, Dubai, and many more countries…as well as the UK of course!

Here, you will be able to see up to 50 various picnic sets, from wicker baskets, leather-cased sets, and Rexine trunk sets, all in one area.