THE HELLWEGE COLLECTION
Auction Details:
The collection is to be offered as part of our August Decorative Arts and Collectables auction.
Sunday 30th August, 2026
Start Time: Approximately 1.00pm AEST (No earlier).
Lots 1132-1465
The Tom Hellwege Photographica Collection
When Tom was still a teenager, one weekend his mother attended a local clearing sale and returned home with a kerosene tin packed full of odds and ends. Amongst the treasures within, Tom found a small camera, which he soon identified as an original 1895 Pocket Kodak. It was the beginning of a fascination that would last for 80 years.
Over the decades Tom assembled an extensive collection spanning virtually every aspect of photography: cameras, lenses, projectors, enlargers, darkroom equipment, photographs, glass slides, books, manuals, and more. Eventually the collection became substantial enough to be housed in a purpose-built showroom at his home in Kilmore, Victoria.
Tom also had a passion for sharing his collection and knowledge with others. He regularly presented displays and conducted demonstrations at local events, donating the proceeds of his work to community charities. Tom’s enthusiasm extended to the wider collecting community, playing his part as a founding member of the Australian Photographic Collectors Society, even serving as its inaugural president. The Society would later go on to recognise Tom for his contributions with the awarding of a Life Membership.
What began with a dusty old camera discovered in a kerosene tin turned into a lifelong devotion to preserving, understanding, and sharing the history of photography.
Including: Cameras, magic lanterns, epidiascopes, photographs, and other items.
If you have an important collection of similar material that you are considering selling, please do not hesitate to make an appointment for a confidential appraisal. We would be delighted to hear from you.
Our specialists travel frequently so if you are interstate and considering selling your collection, please let us know.
Please contact our office to register your interest in this not to be missed auction.
Featured Lots
Lot 1135
Large c. 1890s mahogany and brass MAGIC LANTERN with rack-and-pinion lens, tin chimney element, side-opening door with red glass peephole; engraved to front plate "T. Gaunt, Optician, Melbourne" (official watchmaker and optician to the Governor of Victoria; operated out of a premises in the Royal Arcade); later retrofitted for electricity, dimensions approx. 40 x 20 x 55cm.
Est: $400 - $600
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Lot 1151
ALICE IN WONDERLAND: Set of 24 hand-illustrated glass slides for magic lantern, framed and glazed (with glass backing); 58 x 71cm overall.
Est: $300 - $500
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Lot 1164
Epidiascope by Radiguet & Massiot Paris, c. 1900s, polished timber and brass; height 80cm.
Est: $500 - $1,000
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Lot 1169
WWII ALLIED BOMBING RAIDS: A tabletop stereoscope, height 52.5cm, purported to have been owned by Royal Air Force Marshal Arthur Harris, loaded with 50 stereo transparencies (dated 1943-45) on chain drive operated by external knob; views mostly show the devastation wrought by Allied aerial bombing on Germany, occupied France, and Japan; noted D-Day beaches, the Fortress of Mimoyecques, V1 and V2 rocket sites, Berlin (Olympiastadion visible), Cologne, Nuremberg, Daimler-Benz Works Stuttgart, Paris, Le Mans, Nagoya, Kobe, among many others.
Est: $800 - $1,200
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Lot 1178
BING WERKE: "Optica" 35mm film projector, c. 1920s; dimensions approx. 43 x 18 x 48cm.
Est: $100 - $200
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Lot 1188
"Movie Making 1d." cast-iron tabletop mutoscope by the American Mutoscope and Biography Co. New York, c. 1920s; reel and key present, operates manually with One Penny coin, overall height 83cm.
Est: $800 - $1,200
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Lot 1193
"Morning Beauty" mutoscope by the International Mutoscope Reel Company New York, c. 1920s; reel and key present, operates manually with One Penny coin, overall height 1.5m.
Est: $1,500 - $2,000
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Lot 1254
CHICAGO CAMERA CO.: Unusual "Photake" seamless cylindrical camera, c. 1896, for exposures on 5 x 5cm glass plates; Achromat 120mm f14 lens with original viewfinder still present.
Est: $1,500 - $2,000
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Lot 1255
KODAK: "Studio Camera No. 1 10 x 8" large format studio camera, late-19th/early-20th century, plate dimensions 16.5 x 21.5cm, Taylor-Hobson Cooke Portrait Anastigmat Series IIB 20" f4.5 brass lens [#189261] with cap, intact black bellows, on adjustable timber stand; height set to approx. 1.5m.
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
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Lot 1367
LEITZ: Black-body Leica III (Mod. F) rangefinder camera [#121531], c. 1933, with Elmar 50mm f3.5 lens, Leica lens cap, and Leica leather case.
Est: $800 - $1,200
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