Solid gold horse racing trophy a prize at Melbourne auction
Author: Richard Brewster | Posted: 25th May, 2026
An eye-catching solid gold horse racing trophy with a $120,000-$150,000 catalogue estimate (lot 489) is the most valuable item in Melbourne-based Leski Auctions forthcoming two-day Australian & Historical sale from 10am Saturday May 30 and Sunday May 31 at 727-729 High Street Armadale.
The classic style 18-carat yellow gold two-handled cup was awarded to the horse Buckulana – a local Aboriginal word for “my lovely one” – winner of the December 1951 Southern Riverina Picnic Turf Club Breeder’s Plate at Deniliquin and owned by Mrs A.J. Webb.
The Webb/Falkiner family was prominent at club events with their 11 winners between 1928 and 1950 recorded on the rear of the cup.
A sheep breeder and director of the Bank of New South Wales from 1919-1929, Franc Falkiner (1867-1929) was Southern Riverina Pastoralist president and a founder of the Australian Stud Merino Flock Register. His nephew Otway (1909-2000) also was a grazier and served in the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1946 to 1978 as a former Country Party member.
The multi-faceted auction takes a broad spectrum look at historical Australian items across many categories including pottery, scrimshaws, convict era, goldfields, silver, jewellery, colonial furniture, glass, military, maps, books, Federation artefacts and paintings.
One of the highlights of the jewellery section is an attributed Hogarth & Erichsen unusual colonial 18-carat gold brooch featuring an emu and kangaroo in a fern and grasstree landscape (lot 398).
Another is a rare 1850s 18-carat gold signet ring (lot 401) with the Ballarat coat of arms by the city’s prominent jeweller William Langhorne with additional attractions a Kilpatrick & Co antique 18-carat gold and seed pearl necklace (lot 434) and 19th century Hardy Brothers 15-carat gold fob chain (lot 463).
Colonial Australian furniture is prominent with a circa 1825 New South Wales chest of drawers (lot 503) bound to interest buyers along with a rare John Mason parquetry settle (lot 510) made from several Queensland forest timbers and a circa 1820 cedar inverted breakfront six-legged sideboard (lot 516).
Pottery is another strong category with a rare unrecorded and possibly unique Remued vase with branch handle and two applied koalas (lot 46) a collector delight.
Among the scrimshaw section is an 18th century South East Asian Lantaka boat cannon (lot 216) while from the convict era is an Aboriginal carved whip (lot 339) featuring an ornate metal finial with the name of infamous Australian bushranger Ben Hall and the year 1860 scratched into the surface.
Paintings on offer include a 1777 pen and wash drawing titled “Mony ne nou ne neva, name of this Island” (lot 1181) by English artist John Webber (1752-1793), who from 1776-1779 accompanied Captain James Cook on his third Pacific voyage to search for the elusive Northwest Passage between the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific coast of North America and is best known for his images of Australasia, Hawaii and Alaska.
New Zealand landscape painter John Gully (1819-1888) has his 1869 work No 3 Mount Cook New Zealand (lot 1190) in the auction while an attributed painting to Helen Peters (1866-1923) titled Eventide (lot 1218) also is on offer with John Samuel Watkins (1866-1942) 1908 painting The Model (Victoria) (lot 1219).
Early Australian settlement journals feature among the books and manuscripts including The Voyage of Governor Philip to Botany Bay (lot 861) dated 1789 with an account of the establishment of colonies at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island and the 1790 description of a Voyage to New South Wales by John White (1756-1832) surgeon-general to the First Fleet and Settlement (lot 862).
