Rare cars and antiques an important auction mix
Author: Richard Brewster | Posted: 8th March, 2018
Christian McCann is over the moon about his latest auction of rare cars and antiques – describing it as the most important sale Australia has seen in many years.
It certainly is impressive, featuring a collection of rare vintage cars, motorcycles and automobile memorabilia along with antique furniture, fine art, porcelain, clocks, Georgian glassware and garden statuary – all housed in a picturesque 11.33-hectare property at 525 Mount Pleasant Road, Research.
The auction will take place on site over two days. The first, from 2pm Saturday March 17, will feature the auto sale including cars, motorcycles, enamel signs, vintage petrol pumps, number plates and racks of tools, all in mint condition.
The second day, from noon Sunday March 18, will be devoted to the antiques, fine art and collectables.
The vendor, who declined to be named, has over the past 30 years collected these pieces from Melbourne antique shops and auction houses such as L.J. Cook, Harlequin Antiques and Sotheby’s.
Major auto highlights include a rare 1990 Rodnell 429 Cobra roadster and a right hand drive V6 Plymouth Prowler.
Car buffs also will be keen on a 1990 Citroen CV Series – CV6 Special, a Chevrolet V8 pickup and a 2011 Dodge RAM utility.
Motorcycle fanatics will find it hard to resist the two 2003 Harley Davidsons – one a Solo Fat Boy and the other a V-ROD.
This collection is truly a find for auto memorabilia collectors with mint condition vintage enamel signs, petrol bowsers, oil cans and oil fountains all going under the hammer.
Day two of the auction offers a lifetime collection of French and English antique furniture, porcelain, clocks and Australian art.
Works include paintings by such notable artists as Arthur Streeton, Charles Billich, Norman Lindsay, Haughton Forrest, Taylor Ghee, David Boyd and John Perceval.
The furniture includes an important Gillows side cabinet, inlaid breakfast table, French marquetry inlaid salon furniture, a rare 18th century Bible box and ormolu mounted Boulle pieces.
A furniture making firm based in Lancaster and London, Gillows was founded by Robert Gillows about 1730 and quickly became a byword for quality.
The family operated the firm until 1814 when it was taken over by Redmayne, Whiteside and Ferguson, which continued to use the Gillows name.
In 1897, the company merged with a Liverpool firm to form Waring & Gillows that in 1990 became part of the Allied Maples Group.
Among the porcelain are superb Sevres vases, Royal Worcester, Meissen and Royal Vienna.
Eighteenth and 19th century timepieces include clock sets, salon clocks, a 10-tube long case clock and bracket clocks.
Another attraction is rare vintage telephones.
The auction also offers 18th and 19th century Chinese and Japanese antique furniture, ivory groups, carved jade, porcelain and bronze, while among the garden statuary and outdoor items are cast iron settees and a Furphy water tank.
