Equipment
Dual sidemount spares with mirrors, chrome wire wheels, wide whitewalls, outside headpipes, rear luggage rack, driving lights, dual chrome horns, vacuum assisted brakes, division window, wood cabinet in back with clock speedometer and bar.
Condition
Very good paint with only a minor chip on one of the hood vents and a crack on the driver''s side rear fender. Excellent brightwork. Underbody is excellent. Only the exhaust has light oxidation. The interior is good with minor creasing to the seats from use. A stunning Model J with fantastic Mabel Boll history. Initially fitted with a Kellner towncar body, but soon got the Franay coachwork and displayed at the Paris Salon in 1931 and 1932. Then sold in 1934 to American socialite Mabel Boll, Countess Porceri, known as the ''Queen of Diamonds'' and blessed with five rich husbands. Restored in the 1970s and well kept since (the Duesenberg, not Mabel Boll who died in 1949, still possessed of her first husband''s gift of the diamonds that conferred her name.)
Market commentary
There are Duesenbergs with celebrated coachwork. Others have celebrity owners. A few have both, of which ''The Queen of Diamonds'' Franay-bodied Berline is one. It was sold by Christie''s at Pebble Beach in 2001 for $380,000, then at the Branson Spring auction in 2009 for a whopping $777,600. The next owner, Dick Burdick, offered it at his collection dispersal sale with Dan Kruse in 2012 where the bidding reportedly reached $1.9 million and reprised at the Motostalgia auction in Austin in 2013 where the reported bid was $1.5 million. The result here makes much more sense. The intricate story (and Mabel''s personality, once described as, ''The Countess Porceri had "it", that intangible spark of life, liberty, talent, determination, independence, personality and style that distinguished the bright, beautiful, adventuresome young ladies of the late Twenties and early Thirties'') adds dimension not often seen in even the greatest Duesenbergs. At this price the buyer got a unique Duesenberg plus a unique Duesenberg owner''s story wrapped up in one. People have paid more for less car and less history.