In the era of online retail, sometimes it pays to shop in the flesh.
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A tiny, unsigned oil painting that was offered at the Rupertswood Mansion auction on Saturday sold for $400 - thanks to the interest of online bidders - despite being worth just $10 to $30.
The auction, held at the birthplace of the Ashes, marks the end of the historic property's run as a bed and breakfast and function venue.
On Saturday the Glenelg Auction Centre began selling a large number of items from inside the mansion, along with paintings and antiques from elsewhere, in more than 1600 lots.
The auctioneer raced through the program, selling bookcases, a brass lectern, vases, lamps and even the Persian rug bidders were standing on.
Australian artist Pro Hart’s Kelly on Horse at Waterhole was snapped up for $7000 and one of his Dragonfly paintings for $6500.
Managing director of Rupertswood Mansion B&B and Reception Centre Margaret McLelland, who had rented the home from the Salesian order, said although she had many loyal clients, the global financial crisis had hit her business hard and she had not been able to sell it.
Ms McLelland said furnishings that had been donated to Rupertswood would stay with the home and the mansion would remain with the Salesian order.
She was unsure whether it would be reopened to the public.
“I’ve had an absolutely fabulous, wonderful life here, I’m sad to be going,” she said.
Louise Mentor, a writer from Sunbury, picked up a pair of chairs, two candelabras and a painting at auction, but said after attending many events at the opulent building over the years, including a Mothers’ Day lunch and a Christmas Dinner, it was sad to see the furnishings sold off.
“It’s always been fantastic, it’s been nice to have somewhere so wonderful to go to, so it is sad,” she said.
Paintings by Hugh Sawrey, Albert Namatjira and Ernest Buckmaster, an upholstered day bed and a large taxidermic deer head will be sold when the auction continues on Sunday.
The English cricket team was staying at Rupertswood in 1882 when it beat a local team in a friendly match on Christmas Eve and was presented with the ashes of a burnt bail, marking the start of The Ashes matches between Australian and England.
The Catholic Salesian order bought the opulent home and grounds in the 1920s and used it as a day and boarding school, but over the past decade at least four brothers who had worked at the school between 1960 and 1990 have been convicted for child sexual abuse.
