Key Details: An attractive leather-and-wood box filled with many of the tools you'll need for a fancy picnic, including place settings for four, two small carafes for liquor, crystal glasses, and tins for food.
Competitors: Many high-end department stores and fashion brands make picnic baskets, such as the Fortnum & Mason St. James hamper (£550/$706) or Williams-Sonoma's wicker basket, at much more reasonable price points. Aston Martin has even made one (£1,950) that's less expensive than Rolls-Royce's.
Price: $46,000.
Why's It Worth It? That's a trick question—because to you or me, it's not. But this picnic hamper doesn't exist in a vacuum; it was made as an upgrade to a particular car, the Phantom coupe, which costs more than $400,000. It's something that makes that very extraordinary car even more unique, and for some people, that alone is worth the eye-popping price tag.
Rolls-Royce drivers love anything that makes their car singular or special. This fall, up to 50 recent buyers will have the opportunity to test out an addition to the Rolls list of luxury offerings.
In honor of the last 50 Phantom coupes that the brand will ever make, it is also making 50 high-end picnic hampers that fit perfectly in the back. (The trunk of a Phantom, as you may know, opens downward, transforming into the perfect padded platform for a posh tailgate.) If you buy one, the marque will supply custom-made leather straps to keep it locked firmly in place.
The price tag on the Rolls-Royce Limited Edition Picnic Hamper is $46,000, which may seem almost ludicrously steep—because it is. But Rolls isn’t making it for everyday picnicking. The point is to offer a special upgrade to a particular Rolls-Royce car, one for which you’ve probably already paid upwards of $400,000. And this kind of distinction is what owners really drool over.
Ah, the Rolls Royce picnic basket. Or, just keep heating up poptarts on the exhaust manifold of your Pontiac. https://t.co/JWY3rxbZn1
— Car Talk (@cartalk) August 18, 2016
Chances are, you won’t even be lugging the hamper around a field yourself. (It weighs more than 40 pounds). That’s what your driver is for.
So what goes into this pricey leather box, with its hand-carved walnut and mill-finish aluminum? There are four place settings and tidy little containers for your food. The plates have real platinum accents, and the crystal glassware and liquor decanters are hand-etched. (Again, remember that driver.) Each hamper is numbered and engraved with a map of Goodwood, England, where Rolls is headquartered.
I tested out the hamper one afternoon in early September, and it was, indeed, well-appointed. I felt a little worried about damaging any of it, because it was all so expensive—but it’s pretty indestructible. All the fragile pieces are cleverly bumpered into place; once the hamper secured in your car, you don’t have to worry about it. And the plates, glasses and flatware were all pretty heavy duty. This stuff is actually meant to be used.
There’s no way that a normal person should consider buying one of these. There are much cheaper hampers available, even really fancy ones that cost less than $1,000. But if you have a Phantom—especially if you are one of the lucky few to have bought a Zenith Phantom (one of those last 50 ever to be made)—why not go for it? It’s a little piece of Rolls history and is likely to become quite a collector’s piece.
At the very least, it rounds out a very impressive first date.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.
