ALLBIDS Blog

Flynn Estate Sale Auctions Over 400 Antiques

Friday, 13 July 2018 | Mike Leano

Meet the largest estate auction in Canberra's history to date. From early June until the second week of July, hundreds of items collected by the late Tattersalls heir Dr John Flynn went under the hammer.

Dr Flynn passed away in 2016 and left behind a massive collection of antiques and classic cars.

The vintage car collection, which included Cadillacs, Rovers, Buicks and LaSalle classic cars from the mid-1920s onwards, were auctioned in Queanbeyan later that year. Dr Flynn owned over 160 collector cars.

This year's estate sale was even bigger as ALLBIDS auctioned over 430 antiques and collectibles.

Auctioned in instalments

ALLBIDS CEO Rob Evans told The Canberra Times that the collection was so large it had to be auctioned off in several batches.

"We were approached by the executor of Dr Flynn's estate about our abilities to sell off the non-real estate assets and over the past six months have been selling parts of the collection that was in storage units around Canberra," Mr Evans said.

According to Mr Evans, most of the items in the auction were stored in the historic Westridge House in Yarralumla, which was sold in late 2017 so the antiques were moved to the ALLBIDS showroom.

More local dealers

The team running the auction at Canberra Antique Auctions - an ALLBIDS division - noted that they were initially expecting more dealers from across Australia to make winning bids. However, ALLBIDS appraiser Angus Bowers shared at RiotACT that more Canberrans have responded to the estate sale.

"It's been really interesting to see how many people in Canberra have embraced this opportunity. We were told by local dealers that the markets for these sort of items were in Melbourne and Sydney, and that dealers from around the country would dominate the buying", said Mr Bowers.

"But that hasn't been the case. It's actually private buyers from Canberra that have been dominating the bidding so far, picking up more than 70% of the ageless pieces that have gone to auction."

Some items of interest

Notable items in the estate auction include the following:

• A Pleyel Double-Manual Harpsichord from 1905, which was owned by Wanda Landowska, a Polish-French harpsichordist who revived the instrument's popularity in the early 20th century.
• A William Kipling grandfather clock circa 1720.
• A George II mahogany bureau from 1750. It has an interior fitted with pigeonhole compartments and apparently comes with its original steel handles and locks.
• A George III mahogany bachelor's writing chest from 1780. It comes with a lectern, swan neck pulls and square bracket feet.
• A George IV mahogany drawing room chair circa 1830. Made by top London cabinetmaker Joseph Stammers, the chair inspired a major bidding showdown.

About Dr John Flynn

Dr Flynn was the son of Sydney solicitor Vincent John Flynn and Jean Marie Flynn (nee Adams), who was an heiress to the Tattersall's lottery empire founded by her great-uncle George Adams.

Also known for his philanthropy, Dr Flynn started a charitable trust which aims to help underprivileged persons of Indian ancestry. He was also a scholar of Indian history, and a graduate of the Australian National University and University of Sydney.

Dr Flynn's penchant for philanthropy lives on in the estate auction, whose earnings are going to charity.

Charities and organisations the estate will be supporting include:

• St Ignatius' College Riverview
• St Aloysius' College - Milsons Point NSW
• Kincoppal-Rose Bay, School of the Sacred Heart
• Jesuit Mission Australia
• The National Trust of Australia (New South Wales)

To see the entire collection of items in the Dr Flynn estate sale, visit the ALLBIDS website.