Marmet Lady
The Marmet Lady was the forerunner to the Marmet Queen. This is a wonderful pram and so elegant with that gorgeous chrome, swan-necked handle which runs all the way beneath the body, I particularly like this style of handle which sweeps under the full length of the body ending with a 'butler's bar' at the hood end of the pram.
The Jack Hamphire Book, Prams, Mailcarts and Bassinettes says on page 164 that the Lady came out in 1957. Unfortunately, I don't have a Marmet catalogue showing the Lady, I only wish I had! However one of my friends has the 1960 catalogue which says that the Lady was for sale for £39.18 shillings in that year and that you could choose to have a foot extension to your pram for an extra 3 Guineas. The 1961 and 1962 catalogues only show the Queen which took over from the Lady. (Incidentally the Queen was cheaper in both catalogues, it is priced at 35 Gunineas with the optional foot extension still at 3 guineas) So this lovely black Marmet Lady seems to be dated between 1957 and 1960, which is earlier than I expected.
The Lady has the same lovely crescent shape as the Queen, the same 24 and 20 inch wheels and the interior has the Marmet 'nanny purse', I don't know of another maker who did anything like that.
The Lady had no knob for the hand brake, the tyres needed replacing (already replaced in this photograph) some of the chrome was in need of renewal and there were no hub caps on it. The body and chassis needed respraying. On the plus side, there was no rust anywhere, so it had obviously been stored somewhere dry, damp sheds and attics are the enemy of a coachbuilt pram. The hood, apron and interior were in need of renewal although there was no actual damage they were just very tired, really.
