Water Police Sell Off Boats
The Age
Saturday March 9, 1996
BOAT enthusiasts who are keen to be a step ahead of the fleet might find what they want at an auction at the St Kilda Marina on Friday, 15 March.
For sale will be two police boats: an eight-metre Bertram and a 5.9-metre Edencraft Sportsman trailer boat.
Both boats have been used by the Victoria Water Police for about five years but their use-by date has come and gone.
Despite having powerful petrol engines that have been perfectly maintained, the boats have to be sold under a strict police policy to renew patrol craft after they have achieved their quota of operating hours.
The boats are half-cabin cruisers used for police bay patrols and, no doubt, the occasional high-speed chase.
Fowles Auction Group will auction them at the marina at noon.
Sergeant Keith Jurss, of the Water Police, says the boats should prove to be a bargain because their mechanical upkeep has been fastidious.
``It's just that they have come to the end of their life as far as the police are concerned," he says.
AUCTIONEER Les Bilham, of the Melbourne Antique Auction Rooms at 550 Swan Street, Richmond, says he is selling the most comprehensive and curious collection of furniture and valuables he has seen in his career on Tuesday night.
Mr Bilham says 600 lots will be sold from the collection of a ``well-known Melbourne woman" who recently died. He is not at liberty to name her, but he says she was well known in the antique trade, over many years, as a discerning buyer.
``She collected anything and everything and had pieces stored away in cupboards, under beds, in chests, in the garage and even under the floorboards of the house," he says.
``You can imagine the pleasure we had sorting through all these pieces and it became a treasure hunt because we never knew where the next interesting piece would turn up."
Her passion for antiques included porcelain and pottery, such as Carlton ware, Royal Doulton, Meissen, Sevres and Royal Worcester.
Among the furniture she amassed are choice examples of popular periods, especially Victorian.
In Tuesday's auction, starting at 6.30pm, will be mahogany display cabinets, a three-piece, club-style lounge suite, walnut-elbow chairs, two oak book-cases, an in-laid credenza, a leather-topped writing desk, a French clock set, a walnut- mirrored sideboard, wardrobes and coffee tables.
One item of special interest is a 1954 iron-framed upright piano. When Mr Bilham and his staff were sifting through the lots, they found the original guarantee in the body of the piano.
Several paintings will be sold, including works by Kenneth Jack, Henry Tebbitt, Ernest Vogel and Dermot Hillier. And there are also more than 300 books and ordinary household bits and pieces, says Mr Bilham.
© 1996 The Age