Among the carved ivory, antique muskets and china vases valued at the Bendigo Art Gallery on Saturday, one item stood out – an original painting from one of the pioneers of Australian indigenous art.
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Valuer and auctioneer Warren Joel was able to confirm a water painting brought in from a Bendigo home was an original Albert Namatjira worth upwards of $10,000.
“It could have been worth more than $20,000 if it hadn’t have been faded from being left in the sun for so long,” he said.
Others who took their treasures to the gallery’s valuation day received less encouraging news.
“It’s a copy,” Carolyn Browne said of her grandmother’s painting of Mary Magdalene which dated back to the early 19th century.
“I’d been told it was, but I wanted a second opinion.”
Ms Browne got a better verdict on her diamond ring, bought at an antique store in the early 1980s. It was valued at $2000.
Veroi and Bryan Jacomb came from Melbourne for the day to learn their carved ivory statue was genuine, though Mrs Jacomb was sheepish when asked of its story.
“It was a gift from an ex-boyfriend,” she said.
George Wood was surprised to learn his great-grandfather's English musket was worth at least $500, with the accompanying leather powder keg and brass shot container worth $200 each.
“I won’t sell it though,” he said.
“It belonged to my great-grandfather George, was passed to my grandfather George, then to my father Leonard George and it'll go to my son David George.”
