Penny farthing and Eames furniture to drive auction further

A set of Eames chairs and marble top table brought to Australia for the 1958 World Chess Championships, and in a private collection since 1997, will be a major drawcard at Leonard Joel’s Modern + Traditional auction from noon Sunday at 12 Smith Street, Collingwood. 

Another interesting aspect is the rubber caricature puppets of major political figures of the past 30 years including former Queensland premier the late Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, former ALP leader Bill Hayden, former Liberal leader Andrew Peacock and former Victorian Premier John Caine.

The auction also contains a penny farthing bicycle made by the English company Coventry Machinist.

The Coventry Machinist Company was the first company in England to make bicycles and began manufacturing in the 1860s.

After the 1880 Great Exhibition at the Royal Exhibition Building, the company opened a depot in Melbourne and the Coventry penny farthing became the preferred bicycle of the Melbourne Bicycle Club.

Built about 1884, this example is one of the company’s finest with ball bearings, strong frame and a comfortable spring-loaded seat.

A further highlight is unusual Indonesian handcrafted almost life-size wooden animals featuring an elephant, reindeer and horse.