Theatre and Entertainment, MAYFAIR, The Playlovers Academy & Stage Institute, 1925, silver, legends highlighted in blue, by J.A. Restall, the first exhibition of the history of concerts by the contemporary records of two centuries, named (H. Stead), rev. lionel powell & harold holt around to inaugurate the opening of their new premises for concert tickets at 161 new bond st. london w.1 1925, hallmarked Birmingham 1924, 57mm, 62.27g. Very fine and extremely rare £100-£150

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Tickets and Passes of London from the David Young Collection.

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Provenance: Bt R. Gladdle October 2013.

Harold Holt (1885-1953), England’s leading theatrical impresario in the 1930s and the son of a Jewish diamond merchant from Kimberley, South Africa, managed many of the best-known names in classical music, including Dame Nellie Melba, Yehudi Menuhin, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Paul Robeson. He teamed up with Lionel Powell (†1931) in 1924, Powell having previously been a partner in the agency originally formed by Alfred Schulz-Curtius (1853-1918) to promote the music of Richard Wagner. The partnership was not long-lived, being dissolved by mutual consent on 31 July 1927. After Powell’s death Holt was the pre-eminent concert promoter in his field. Described as easy to work with but not a sufferer of fools, Holt had an infamous run-in with the Italian actor and operatic tenor Enrico Caruso Jr, then based in California, who refused an offer of $36,000 for ten appearances in London