Covering the period from the Wall Street Crash of 1929 to the early days of the Depression,a plastic bag of battered and torn British newspapers came our way ,providing interesting reading . For example, the price of desirable stoles made from skunk pelts , trimmed with tails and lined with silk, had been slashed.
Daring young women who travelled in airy automobiles were offered a range of Louvre ( Paris and London ) leather " motor coats" ranging in price from seven and half to fourteen and a half guineas,in colors that included nigger, wine, bottle , Lido , beige. Storm cuffs , stand up collars and scarf collars came in handy when driving about in the rotten Pommie weather.
An item in The Observer of October 13,1929,headed RIGHTS OF A FIANCE reported the" peculiar lawsuit " involving a young man from the upper class demanding the return of a valuable engagement ring from a well known young lady in Budapest society ,
Soon after the engagement was announced, he heard rumours that his fiancee was suffering from serious heart trouble , and had asked her to be examined by a doctor, which she refused to do .
As the man's friends continued to insist she was " organically unhealthy ", he had decided to trick her into a medical examination.This involved her seeing a surgeon to supposedly have a small scar removed from her neck
When she discovered that the surgeon had been instructed to first carry out an inspection of her "heart, lungs, etc.", she refused to proceed . After this , the man considered himself justified in breaking off the engagement.
