Hop on Over to Australia

And be barreled over by this incredible beer item

By Ralph Finch

Long-time collector Travis Dunn, editor of the Australian Bottle and Collectables magazine, also runs ABCR Auctions of Melbourne, Australia. Their latest sale contains:

“Auction 41, with 991 Lots featuring some great GIANT items, more rare milk bottles, beers, ginger beers, marble bottles, poisons, advertising jugs, Kingsware, pot lids, early books and so much more!” (They call that a “giant” auction? Not one ketchup bottle, and not one single roll of old toilet paper. OK, it did include one Victorian “Toilet Pull with Chain.”)

Of the sale, which ended July 25, I picked out one item of note:

Lot 411, an embossed “G. Wilmot / Hop Beer / Colac*” with a “3” impressed on the back. A Victoria Majolica barrel with a wide mouth top and matching majolica lid. 3 Gallon. Travis says that this would have been made by the Bendigo Pottery around 1900.” “What a sensational item. This is different to the only other one we’ve sold. The previous one was two gallon and had an internal thread top. There are six small chips around the upper rim (two have been roughly filled). Crazing throughout. Some general dirt and grime. The ribbons have had green paint on them, most of which has been cleaned off. All these marks are really pretty minor in the overall scheme of things. Lid has chips on the outer rim. Crazing with a couple of short fine hairlines. Wonderful item, possibly unique in this size.” Reserve: $4,400. Estimated at $7,500–$10,000 AUD (that’s $5,220–6,960 U.S.), plus **GST.

I asked Travis for more information, and he replied:

“Lot 411 is a very interesting item. We have sold two before — actually we have sold one, twice! In Auction 12, Lot 410 was a majolica G. Wilmot, Hop Beer,

Lot 411, a Victoria Majolica barrel embossed “G. Wilmot / Hop Beer / Colac*” with a “3” impressed on the back.

Colac barrel. These were made by the Bendigo Pottery and would have been made in low numbers. The barrel had a $4,000 (Aussie) reserve, it sold for $5,050 to a local collector.”

“Fast forward to Auction 35, around six years later, and the vendor decided it was time to downsize, therefore, the very same barrel was consigned to us. It was Lot 369 in this auction, it had no reserve, selling for $7,257. These prices are hammer prices, a further 11 percent commission was paid on top of that.” There would be roughly five to 10 of these barrels known in collections.”

“When we were contacted over this piece (Lot 411), we noted the lid in place, which sure looked original. We have never seen one with a lid before. So, we pick it up, get it back and catalogue the piece, when suddenly a penny dropped! How is it possible that these internal thread stoppered barrel have a lid like this? Turns out this example has a wide opening in the top? Next thing we do is measure the item and when comparing the new listing with the previous listing it all became clear. This example is a 3-gallon size! All other known examples are two gallons and have an internal-thread stopper.

“So, without even knowing it, we had picked up a previously unrecorded item.”

And the envelope, please. Travis explained: “Yes, $9,305 AUD is the final price, plus 11 percent commission on top of this.” ($6,611 U.S. plus commission)

“I thought this was actually a good buy! It is the only three-gallon version of this barrel known to collectors, the other known examples are two gallon in size, with the last one of them selling for around $7,500 AUD.

“With this being considerably rare, I thought it may go a fair bit higher. Comparatively, a similar barrel with another maker’s name on it, of which only one is known to collectors, sold for around $20,000 (AUD) a few years ago. Mind you, this one does have some chips around the rim. There may well have been only a handful ever made in the first place, and so they are always going to be very rare.”

And had it been shipped to the States? “Well, the cost would have driven you to drink,” Travis agreed.

He continued, “At 385 mm high (15.16 inches) without the lid we would need to pack this in our ‘Monster’ box, which is 58 by 58 by 58 cm, and wouldn’t fit in the trunk of your sedan!”

“I have no idea what the weight would be, but let’s say 15 kg (33 pounds). According to the Australia Post website, with these parameters the price for weight would be $177.10, but due to the size of the parcel, it would not even be accepted by Australia Post. Therefore, an international courier would be required, which would be dearer.”

r

FYI1: *So, what is a Colac? Wikipedia explains (edited): “For thousands of years clans of the Gulidjan people occupied the region of Colac, living a semi-nomadic life. The area was first settled by Europeans in 1837 by Hugh Murray and his brother, Andrew, in 1840, and proclaimed a town, Lake Colac, in 1848. The post office opened July 1, 1848 as Lake Colac and was renamed Colac in 1854.”

The town’s fame includes, “In 1854 Hugh Murray employed a couple of shepherds named Thomas Brookhouse and Patrick Geary. Brookhouse was looking for missing sheep and disappeared without a trace. Patrick Geary and his wife soon left the district. Fifteen years later a boy out rabbiting found the skeletal remains of Thomas Brookhouse under a pile of rocks near Lake Corangamite. Brookhouse had his head smashed in. It took police two years to track Patrick Geary and charge him with Brookhouse’s murder. A friend of Geary told the court that Geary had killed Brookhouse with an ax to stop him from informing Murray of Geary’s sheep stealing activities. Geary was hanged in Melbourne in 1871.”

Do you have any items in your collection that have such colorful — or sheepish — stories related?

r

**And, GST? Travis explain: “GST is applied to our auctions for Australian purchasers as the auction is a service and so falls under the goods and service tax rules. However, the GST is only on our service, therefore it is only applied to our commission which is ten percent of the hammer price. Therefore, if an item sells for $1,000, a commission of $100 is paid, and then GST is paid on that commission at ten percent, being another $10, a total of $1,110. Effectively, this makes the commission 11 percent on the hammer prices, with that 1 percent being the GST component. Did that make sense? If not, it doesn’t matter, for this is not applied to international buyers; all international buyers only pay the 10% commission, so would pay $1,100 using the same example.”

r

FYI2: I asked Travis, if an American had purchased this, would he include a free dingo? He replied: “G’day, Ralph. If sold to the U.S., I would happily throw a kangaroo in because they are everywhere, but then the parcel might hop away, so better not do that. As for dingoes, I am in the Melbourne region, we don’t get dingoes this far south.”

Editor’s note: For more on ABCR auctions go to www.abcrauctions.com or email info@abcrauctions.com, or write Travis Dunn at travis@abcrauctions.com or call 0417 830 939.