St Aubin’s Auction on Sunday

ONE of the earliest homes built in Scone will be opening its doors tomorrow revealing a treasure trove of antiques and collectables ready for auction on Sunday.

The home was built in 1880 and the current owners, the Fraser family have lived in the home for four generations and collected a significant number of antiques and artworks. See story: St Aubin’s: History of a Home.

Andrew Shapiro, from Shapiro Auctioneers said it is rare to find such a collection of antiques and artworks in one home and said the sale will have something for everyone with lots selling from $50 through to $20,000.

“It’s like an archeological dig, you never know what you are going to turn up and it’s always exciting when it is a house that has been in one family for several generations and a family that had an active interest in collecting,” said Mr Shapiro.

“In a lot of ways McMullen and Bernard Smith were unusual in their obsession with antiques and their pursuit of them, so that is why there are rare examples of silver of wall mirrors with original glass and lighting,” he said.

“It wasn’t just to furnish a house they were seriously looking at objects both here and overseas to furnish their homes here and in Sydney and that doesn’t happen often in Sydney, Melbourne more so,” he said.

“There are boxes and boxes of silverware and you can tell they entertained every weekend like they did in England and people would come here from the city for the weekend,” he said.

“The visitors book is very special from when Alistair McMullen was the president of the senate for 17 years and in that time he kept a visitors book and in it are all the signatures of dignitaries from around the world that came to visit from Asia, Europe and they all signed their names and dates (including Queen Elizabeth II); things like that libraries will be interested in,” he said.

“There are photographs of Dame Joan Sutherland as a child in the garden and Christmas cards from her,” he said.

“We’ve had interest from private buyers already for some of the furniture and paintings but also we’ve had a little bit of institutional (museums and libraries) interest,” he said.

“Items such as the Bakewell bust of Captain James Cook of which there are only three will attract a lot of interest, the painting of Lady Worsley, the four George II stirling candlestick  and a lovely collection of Australian glassware and pottery,” he said.

“There are a lot of serious pieces a collector would admire seeing,” Andrew Shopiro said.

View the Catalogue: Shapiro: Contents of St Aubin’s Auction.

St Aubin’s will be open for inspection on Friday and Saturday from 10am – 5pm and Sunday between 9am and 11am. The auction will take place on Sunday at 12pm at the St Luke’s Hall on Liverpool Street, Scone.

Printed catalogues will be available at the preview, with $2 from each booklet going to support the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.