A rare early 1855 watercolour panorama of the Port River & North Parade, Port Adelaide (above) by artist, forger and fraudster Frank (Francis) George Hankey (c1832-1911) on four panels (Lot 530 ) doubled its auction estimate to sell for $42,000 at Melbourne-based Leski Auctions October 20 sale of the Dr Jane Lennon collection.
A PhD graduate in art history from the University of Sydney and with long experience in the fine arts field, in 2003 Dr Lennon purchased a rambling 1840s sandstone building in Elizabeth Street, Hobart where she traded by appointment as Ancanthe – named after Lady Jane Franklin’s Museum which opened in 1843 in the Hobart suburb of Lenah Valley.
The wife of Van Diemen’s Land (later Tasmania) lieutenant-governor Sir John Franklin (the position he held from 1837-1843), Lady Franklin purchased 53 hectares of land near Hobart Town for a botanical garden, which she called Ancanthe and where she organised the building of a natural history museum modelled on a Greek temple.
A sold yellow high carat gold snuff box (lot 11) sold for $24,000, just below its lower catalogue estimate.
The box was presented in 1871 to Irish surgeon John Trimble Robinson (c1820-1882), ship’s surgeon aboard the clipper Red Jacket that departed Liverpool for Melbourne on May 4, 1854 – journeying via the Antarctic to reach its destination as part of a race with another ship.
Two years later, Robinson settled in the Victorian goldfield town of Clunes, with its 20 residents, that gradually expanded to a thriving population of 6000. The snuff box was presented to Robinson on his departure 14 years after that by grateful residents for his services.
A 19th century Henry Steiner Australian silver emu egg inkwell (lot 16) sold for $17,000, well above its $6000-$10,000 estimate, while a devil potter statue (lot 330) by famous artist Marguerite Mahmood (1901-1989) brought $16,000.
A 19th century architectural Australian coat of arms (lot 120) also sold above its estimate at $12,000 – while two c1865 cedar and blackwood chairs (lots 319 and 320) with Hobart Town coat of arms carved on them respectively changed hands for $8000 and $8500.
Other $8000 results were achieved for lot 2 – a rare presentation sterling silver snuff box presented in 1839 to Van Diemen’s land Company secretary Samuel Rolls – and lot 111, a circa 1836 painting of the Dundee whaler Dorothy by Anstruther Donaldson, nee Davidson.
