When Henry Price set up his tailor's shop in Silsden, his stock consisted of just three collars.

To eke out his paltry wares, he made a window display of empty cardboard boxes.

But by the time of his death he was a clothing tycoon, with two mansions and a fabulous collection of antiques and works of art.

Sir Henry made his fortune by making 50-shilling suits -- £2.50 in current cash.

Now his treasures, intact since his death at the age of 86 in 1963, are to be sold by Sotheby's in London for an estimated £2 million.

The collection tells the story of an astonishing rags-to-riches adventure of the man who set up his first shop in Kirkgate, Silsden.

Price's Tailors eventually boasted more than 500 shops employing 12,000 staff.

He knew Queen Mary and the Duke of Kent and was a friend of Prime Minister Harold MacMillan.

But he never forgot his northern roots and donated a large sum to Bradford Grammar School, supported Silsden Playing Fields Fund and Ermysted's Grammar School, Skipton.

He was also president of Silsden Agricultural Show and chairman of governors at Woodhouse Grove School, Apperley Bridge.

He married seamstress Ann Craggs in 1899 and they sold hosiery from their cottage in Silsden. Henry made 30-mile round trips on his bicycle to buy cloth. His hard work paid off and in 1906 the couple opened their first shop.

But the real breakthrough came in the 1920s with the "fifty bob suit", the amount of the average weekly wage.

"I can halve my prices and double my sales," he declared.

Price bought Wakehurst Place in Ardingly, West Sussex, in 1936, after his first wife died. He also bought a London home off Sloane Square, both furnished by antiques dealer Frank Partridge, who was given a blank cheque.

Partridge recalled: "The only demand he made was that I make his house worthy of the Sussex countryside."

A Sotheby's spokesman said: "It was an exciting moment when we discovered his collection had survived almost intact.