AUSTRALIAN & HISTORICAL
Contents
Session One (Lots 1-769)
Saturday 25 June 10.00am AEST
001-206 Pottery
207-338 The Stephens Collection
339-369 Scrimshaw and Maritime
370-393 Convict Era
394-429 Goldfields
430-507 Jewellery
508-535 Silver
536-654 Furniture
655-732 Railways & Trams
733-769 Politics & Prime Ministers
Session Two (Lots 770-1491)
Sunday 26 June 10.00am AEST
770-885 General
886-900 Glass
901-928 Military
929-972 Maps
973-1080 Books & Historical Documents
1081-1094 Postcards
1095-1125 Posters
1126-1158 Photographs
1159-1483 Paintings & Artworks
1484-1491 Australian Whisky
Some of the highlights of the first section, Australian Pottery (Lots 1 -206) include: Lot 3, the JAMES CAMPBELL Colonial pottery water filter, Lot 13, the MERRIC & DORIS BOYD baluster shaped pottery vase painted with bush landscape, Lot 53, a REMUED green glazed pottery vase with applied lizard, Lot 62, the GRACE SECCOMBE “Billie Blue” koala statue tree stump vase, And Lot 95 a UNA DEERBON pottery vase adorned with applied grapes, leaves and Bacchus face masks.
The following section (Lots 207 – 338) gives a deep insight into the interests and collecting habits of the late John Stephens. Those of you who knew him will not be surprised to see: Lot 207, the wonderful BENDIGO POTTERY Colonial era pottery tobacco jar, or Lot 213, the STONE’S BRISTOL POTTERY “Kangaroo” teapot with mauve and grey glaze. The Merric Boyd group (Lots 216 – 220) will also be welcomed. John was particularly passionate about the work of William Ricketts and was very proud of Lot 253, a pottery tree stump teapot with applied koalas in a rare and early green glaze. Ricketts’ work is also featured in Lots 254 – 261. Perhaps the highlight of the Stephens is Lot 308, a ROBERT PRENZEL pair of carved portrait panels of an Aboriginal man and woman in a headscarf, superbly carved and mounted in Prenzel’s signature carved timber frames.
The furniture section is particularly strong this time. We are very pleased to be able to offer you Lot 536, an important and early Colonial cedar chest of drawers, of Hobart, Tasmanian origin, circa 1815-1825. Also, Lot 538, the magnificent early and important Colonial Australian secretaire bookcase, cedar and beefwood with pine secondary timbers, Hobart origin, circa 1825. Lot 544 is also impressive, being an early Colonial Australian cedar bookcase with fine flame panel doors, full turned columns and astragal glazed doors, huon pine secondary timbers, of Tasmanian origin, circa 1830-1840.
The collection of destination blinds or rolls that forms the core of the Railways Trams & Buses Section (Lots 655 – 732) is the best we have ever offered and represents a life-time of collecting by an Adelaide enthusiast, now deceased. We also think you’ll be surprised and tempted by some of the items you’ll find in the Politics & Prime Ministers Section (Lots 733 – 769).
Among the highlights of the Second Day are Lot 813, a FRANZ BERGMANN pair of Austrian cold painted bronze statues of cockatoos, circa 1900; Lot 869 a vintage Australian fairground “Laughing Clown”; Lot 905, GALLIPOLI – “WITH THE CAMERA AT ANZAC”: group of 40 photographs (each 11.5x16cm) taken by three young Australian soldiers Henry James Lowe, Arthur James Cook & George Downs at Anzac Cove and surrounding areas in 1915. Lot 920 in the Military Section is also quite remarkable and certainly unique: being the personal effects of Joseph Herman, RAAF ‘466’ SQUADRON – ‘CATERPILLAR CLUB’: the miracle WWII survivor of a fall without parachute from a destroyed Halifax bomber.
Lot 961 is one of our favourite items in the whole auction. It is titled “ILLUSTRATED MAP of MELBOURNE AND SUBURBS Showing Government Sections and Allotments, Railways, Public Buildings, &c. COMPILED from the latest Surveys and most authentic Sources to date. Published by Chas. F. Maxwell and W. Reed Phillips, 74 Chancery Lane Melbourne, 1872.” We believe it is unique and we are sure those of you able to come to the viewing will find it most fascinating.
The first item in the EARLY PHOTOGRAPHS section, Lot 1126, is the legendary DAN KELLY, NED’s kid brother, photographed by Arthur BURMAN at his Burke Street East Studio, circa 1878. An incredibly rare and important piece of bushranger history. Young Dan was dead less than three years later, still only a teenager.
We have received some wonderful artworks for the large offering on this occasion, Lots 1159 – 1483. To mention just a few: The Conrad Martens attributed group (Lots 1186 – 1188), the JOHN LLEWELLYN JONES Portrait of a lady (Lot 1221), the Sirius Cove Sydney Harbour, by Theodore Penleigh Boyd (Lot 1222), the Warrandyte scene by Clara Southern (Lot 1224), and the Sydney Harbour from Pyremont by Jane Rebecca Price (Lot 1225) that graces our cover. Also notable is the pair of Ina Gregory oils (Lots 1231 and 1232) as well as the Thea Proctor watercolour (Lot 1240). The Rupert Bunny oil (Lot 1250) looks lovely on our wall, as does the Will Ashton (Lot 1251) and we are very much enjoying Norman Lindsay’s lovely little oil painting (Lot 1292). The quartet of Tom Garrett’s works (Lots 1310 – 1313) is complimented by the lovely watercolours of Kenneth McQueen (Lot 1314), Blamire Young (Lot 1315) and Reginald Sturgess (Lot 1318). The Roland Wakelin oil painting of a street market in Paris (Lot 1321) will evoke the same scene for those of you who have wandered among the stalls on a sunny winter day. And, as it’s a sunny winter day here in Melbourne, I will commend the whole catalogue to you and trust that you will find something of interest in the following pages.