Historic football memberships among auction classics

Carlton Football Club members and supporters can take a walk down memory lane from 11am Sunday May 14 when 19^th and early 20^th century club season tickets go under the hammer at Leonard Joel 333 Malvern Road, South Yarra, as part of its Asian Art, Classic Furniture & Objects auction.

The oldest, with a $1200- $1600 catalogue estimate, is an 1874 Carlton membership season ticket.

The collection originally belonged to former Victorian Football League player David Crone, who played a handful of games for Fitzroy and Carlton between 1915 and 1920, and has been bequeathed to the current owner by descent.

Crone is best remembered as Carlton president from 1929-37 and as a Victorian selector including the State’s successful campaigns in the 1930 and 1933 Australian National Football Carnivals in Adelaide and Sydney.

One of the founding teams of Victorian Football League in 1897, Carlton has won 16 premierships in both VFL and the later expanded Australian Football League (AFL).

A matched pair of 1818 terrestrial and celestial library globes on stands by English makers J&W Newton (estimate $28,000-$32,000) is another auction drawcard.

While not nearly of the same importance and rarity as the 1638 Greuter-Rossi terrestrial globe offered earlier in the week by Mossgreen, the Newton version accurately delineated the observation of the most esteemed navigators and travellers at the time.

Likewise, the celestial globe depicts the most accurate observations of early 19^th century astronomers.

Young children will no doubt be fascinated by the 1925 “sporty boy” rocking horse from Lines Bros Ltd based in London and Surrey, while for the more religious buyers several Russian icons, including Christ with a crown of thorns circa 1920, should hold plenty of appeal.

Another important religious item is the impressive and unique sterling silver cross, sculptured in 1964 by London’s Gerald Benney, from the collection of Dick (1913-1989) and Joan Crebbin.

The auction contains a range of Asian artefacts including a Chinese carved Jade Ruyi sceptre complete with certificate, a Chinese Ming Dynasty mother of pearl inlaid table screen, Chinese plate and bowl collections and a pair of Chinese cloisonné incense burners circa 1900.

Other attractions include Gerald Lang’s (1936-2011) Tumbling Figure circa 1988, a 1973 sterling silver sculptural bud vase by London’s Stuart Devlin and a late 19^th century cameo glass vase by Auguste and Antonin Daum.

Among the furniture on offer is Victorian ebonised credenza by well-known English furniture maker company Gillows.