Antique weapons and ledgers make for a popular auction
Author: Richard Brewster | Posted: 19th January, 2015
Ledgers and rituals from the Ancient Order of Foresters should make interesting reading for auction goers at Glenelg Auctions next sale from 10.30am Saturday and Sunday January 24 and 25 at 109 Learmonth Street, Portland in western Victoria.
The Ancient Order of Foresters was formed in 1834 in Rochdale England when more than 300 branches of the Royal Foresters Society, established in the 18th century, established its new order.
On January 1, 2003 the order was incorporated and renamed as the Foresters Friendly Society and today, with its head office in Southampton, has more than 65,000 members.
The order was particularly popular among timber workers during early western Victorian settlement days.
However, the Foresters Hall in Portland burnt down in the late 1980s or early 1990s and these documents – part of a single vendor collection – have survived intact.
The collection also features subdivision land maps from the early days of Victoria’s Western District including the well-known property Talllisker near Merino.
The auction will be memorable for the number antique historical weapons and militaria memorabilia items – rapidly growing in popularity as Australia prepares to celebrate the centenary of ANZAC troops landing at Gallipoli.
Featured are percussion, matchlock and flintlock pistols and long arm muskets and blunderbusses and other ancient weapons.
With 2400 lots, the auction also contains a range of advertising boxes and tin and enamel signs, vintage typewriters, valve radios, musical instruments, number plates, scrimshaws and old lanterns.
