Auction rooms benefit from holiday break

E.J. Ainger opened its auction rooms on Tuesday after being closed for more than a month for the Christmas-New Year holiday break.

However, staff did not depart for the break without leaving the carrier’s number on the office answering machine and were surprised to find they were inundated with antique and luxurious furnishings and collectibles on their return.

All these items will be available for Aingers Tuesday auction from 9.30am at 433 Bridge Road, Richmond.

Typical of the offerings is a Thomas Chippendale dining room suite in fine condition along with two Victorian mahogany two and three-leaf dining tables.

There also is Petra Dura marble top table and good examples of French library and sitting room furniture – and a four-piece bugle arm down-filled feather lounge suite.

The auction contains a good collection of smalls to interest buyers including Carlton ware bowls and vases from a private Malvern vendor.

A Frankston collector (from Olivers Hill) has spent years collecting American OG wall clocks he now wishes to sell along with a large Australian cedar dining table – the top of which is made from two cedar planks.

From the estate of a former head of the Victorian Railways (who retired in the 1970s) comes antique and decorative china, crystal and furniture and a comprehensive library of books.

Other items of note include a giant bellows and two Saratoga trunks dating from the late 19^th or early 20^th century.