Items of Interest Gallery
Every now and then, something truly spectacular comes through our doors. This gallery is dedicated to those standout, rare pieces—giving you an exclusive sneak peek before they officially hit the auction block. Check back often to see what unique items are coming up next!
Upcoming items will always be the first you see here.
We’ve added in some of our old favourites sold prior to our website update for your viewing pleasure.
BEST LOT SOLD $1250 in Sale 593 (Hercules Toys Ride on Caterpillar Tractor)
A cross the ditch link next Thursday September 10th.
Three Hercules Toys ride on machines, the steam tractor even has a pull handle.
Still bearing original paint colours these beauties were originally manufactured in New Zealand, with a factory opening in Port Kembla in 1946.
This set has been together since new. The original owner and his siblings from country Victoria received them when he was about five. Now 80 he delivered them to us this morning.
He contacted me last late last year as one of the only references he could find on line was a tractor that we sold a few years ago.
We’re offering them individually, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if a keen collector manages to keep them together for part of the next 75 years!
SOLD $580 IN SALE 588
3 x Postcards from Ross & Keith Smith (from boarding school in Warriston College, Scotland) to G.A.Bullwinkel, (Mutooroo Station, South Australia. Father of Nurse Vivian Bullwinkel, WWII Survivor Bankga Island Massacre)
Sometimes the flimsiest pieces of paper can carry extraordinary history. We are offering postcards that link famous Australians from two wars.
Three postcards from later aviators Ross and Keith Smith to George Bullwinkel at Mutooroo Station in South
Australia.
The cards are from their time at boarding school at Warriston College Scotland. George Bullwinkel was the station bookkeeper, Andrew Smith the boy’s father was Station Manager.
In WW1 Ross Smith joined the 3rd Light Horse and landed at Gallipoli. He transferred to the Australian Flying Corps and was awarded the Military Cross and Distinguished Flying Cross. He flew as Pilot for T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and is mentioned in Lawrence’s book “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom”.
Keith was rejected as medically unfit, but persisted, joining the Royal Flying Corps in the UK 1917.
In 1919 the brothers famously made the first successful flight from Britain to Australia along with Jim Bennett and Wally Shiers in the Vickers Vimy aircraft that now resides at Adelaide Airport.
Ross was killed test flying for Vickers in 1922. His statue now sits out front of Adelaide Oval.
The postcards connected to another Australian War Hero.
George Bullwinkel, (misspelt on the cards) was father to Nurse Vivian Bullwinkel, the sole survivor of the Bangka
island massacre, when Japanese forces executed 22 Australian Nurses in February 1942. The official story was that they marched into the water arm in arm before being machine gunned. Recent research suggests Vivian was pressured to provide a sanitised version of much more brutal circumstances in the interests of sparing the victims families additional anguish.
In 2023 a statue of Lt Col Bullwinkel was unveiled at The Australian War Memorial, the first individual sculpture of a female to be installed.
Three cards unearthed from a box of others several years ago provide a previously unrecognised bridge between three great Australians.
SOLD $1,300 in Sale 583
Despite the fall in the antique furniture market I occasionally still see a piece that stops me in my tracks and sends a tingle up my spine. This exceptional Huon Pine chest is one of those pieces. It has been in one farming family since new,
and the figuring in the veneers is as good as it gets. That combined with the orange glow that Huon Pine only develops over time makes this a stand out. Completely original, it could use some attention to the drawer runners, but otherwise requires nothing but a new home. Back in my junior storeman days this chest would have made between eight and ten thousand dollars. These days a whole lot less. If you want a fabulous antique chest of drawers come down and see us.
SOLD $900 in Sale 573
Significant Australian Lawn Tennis history. The 1892-1896 “Intercolonial Lawn Tennis Tournament” Gentleman’s singles handicap trophy.The tournament was the first Tennis competition played between New South Wales and Victoria. Commencing in 1885 the tournament was played between the Lawn Tennis
Club of Sydney and the Melbourne Cricket Club tennis club. This was only 10 years after the standardisation of the modern rules of Lawn Tennis in England, and 5 years after the first Australian tournament at the MCC. The first Wimbledon tournament was played in 1877.
This magnificent Elkington and Co silver plate shield has a registration mark for 1885. The trophy is marked as becoming the property of the player who wins it twice, being C Salas in 1894 and 1896. How special is it? Special enough that I spent a good hour of hard graft bringing it from the unloved shed fresh final image to its current state.
SOLD $650 in Sale 573
A sonic scarcity this Thursday. A mottled Pink Bakelite STC Bantam radio. Manufactured by Standard Telephones and Cables PtyLtd in Sydney in the early 1950’s. The Bantam was a good seller and we see them reasonably regularly.
Almost all of them are in standard brown.
Brown Bakelite was cheaper than coloured examples as the dark colour allowed for cheaper filler materials to be used in the product, and it required less attention in the final polishing and finishing stages, making the end product less expensive than the more attractive coloured cases. As a result most buyers opted for the standard brown case.
In Australia pink, blue and green were the most common upgrade colours.
For every few hundred brown radios I see, we come across 1 in a variant colour.
By the 60’s as materials moved from Bakelite to acrylic the use of colour expanded massively.
This rare survivor in pink is unusually fully intact, with no visible cracks to the case, and both knobs present.
SOLD $2,800 in Sale 560
Following fast on the heels of our Violet Myers Bradman jug, another Australian Pottery scarcity this week. A rare “Ask for J.Ladd’s Waters & Cordials” advertising face jug, by Bendigo Pottery. This scarcity once again emerged unexpectedly, and is miraculously undamaged.
A staple of South Australian grocers from 1860 until 1950 Ladd’s operated in St Peter’s, Port Adelaide, Gawler and the city. We regularly see their famous blue topped stone ginger beer bottles, but this is many, many times scarcer than those.
BEST LOT SOLD $950.00 in Sale 557 (Two Purple Sulphide Marbles (Largest – 40mm)
Someone’s losing their marbles!
A rare local offering. A collection of early hand made marbles. Fabulous examples of glass making skills in miniature, we occasionally see a few, but this is a collection that has taken decades to assemble. Being offered without reserve.
SOLD $1,700.00 in Sale 555
After a false start it’s back. Rare 1967 Yanoman Batman toy. A smattering of other high quality tin plate keeping the caped crusader company.
SOLD $850.00 in Sale 553
One for the Australian pottery enthusiasts. A large remued gum nut vase. Beautifully coloured and well signed, this is what many think of as the quintessential early twentieth century Aussie pottery aesthetic.
A high point rub to the glaze on the leaf edge, but I’ll forgive it that.
I haven’t seen a piece this big in years.
BEST LOT SOLD $9,600 in Sale 538 (Album of Correspondence with Mr Les Hill. 170+ Letters from Australian & International Cricketers)
Looking very distinguished Rolfy. Yes the importance of the collection does warrant some extra effort. No, I don’t think the cap is enough to get you Adelaide Oval membership.
This Thursday 31st of August we will be offering the Les Hill collection of cricketing autographs. Assembled by the late Les Hill of Mount Gambier, noted historian and cricketing tragic. Les wrote several histories of Mount Gambier and the region, amassing a collection of 16,500 historical images which now form the “Les Hill historical collection”, housed in the Mount Gambier library,
In his spare time as a young man Les took it upon himself to continue his father’s interest in cricket autograph’s
By correspondence and networking in the pre digital age Les accumulated in excess of 6,500 individual signatures.
The earliest examples include players from the 1870’s, running through to the 1960’s. Teams from all cricketing nations, Australia, England, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, South Africa, even Fiji! Not limited to national sides, numerous regional and county teams from the listed nations are included.
Highlights include:
The complete English 1932-33 “Bodyline” Team.
Bradman’s 1948 “Invincibles” in entirety.
1930’s English and Australian women’s Test sides
AIF teams in the UK
A letter from an unknown ex player discussing his war service and his opinions on a young Don Bradman, dated 1932