Christmas gift ideas for first time auction goers

Two William Ricketts sculptures (lot 13 and lot 19) are among a comprehensive range of pottery, paintings, photographs and antique furniture being auctioned as part of Gibson’s Auctions Australian & Exploration sale from 1pm Monday December 2 at Level 1, 885-889 High Street, Armadale.

The auction is bound to attract plenty of attention from even first time auction goers looking for Christmas gift ideas as estimates on all items are very affordable.

Ricketts (1899-1993) was famous among Australian sculptors for his renditions of Aboriginal figures and faces which he produced at the Mt Dandenong sanctuary that bears his name.

He was fascinated with their lifestyle and culture and spent many years visiting and recording the activities of those indigenous peoples living in central Australia.

Particularly appealing among the ceramic lots on offer is Arthur Merric Boyd’s (1920-1999) dish depicting an Aboriginal corroboree (lot 15) – one of several of his works in the auction.

There are many sepia portraits of Aborigines, including several by Charles Kerry (1857-1928), an Australian photographer known for images that contributed to the development of the Australian psyche and romance of the bush. One (lot 74) is entitled Healing the Sick Warrior.

Born at Bobundra Station in the Monaro region of New South Wales, Kerry began working 1875 in the Sydney photo studio of A.H. Lamartiniere – and after he rescued the business following the latter’s flight from creditors – turned it into Australia’s largest photo establishment.

Ten years later he was asked to prepare an exhibit of Aboriginal portraits and corroboree pictures for the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition and in 1890 was appointed official photographer to the Governor of New South Wales, Lord Carrington.

About 8000 glass negatives from his studio were acquired in 1930 by Tyrrell’s Bookshop and the collection then purchased in 1980 by Australian Consolidated Press and donated to the Powerhouse Museum.

Other photos in the auction are by Alfred Gregory, the photographer who accompanied New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on their 1953 world first conquest of Mount Everest.

There are several paintings by Robert Young (1926-2018), a British-born artist and Fleet Street illustrator who migrated in 1954 to Australia where he worked in Melbourne as an illustrator and taught graphics at Caulfield Institute of Technology. A good example is lot 150, Planning the Next Heist.

Among the furniture on offer is an 1860s Australian cedar tallboy (lot 252), a 1920s Anglo Indian caned sofa (lot 260) and an Edison Bell ‘20^th century’ phonograph (lot 263).