Auction 117 Highlights

Welcome to Smalls Auctions Sale 117

In this sale we are highlighting an Australian pioneer of photography John William Lindt (1845 -1926). Lindt was born in Frankfurt Germany and as a boy seeking adventure ran off to sea as a seventeen-year-old. He deserted ship in Brisbane before making his way down the coast to Grafton on the Clarence River where he found employment in a photographic studio. In 1867 he returned to Germany briefly but was soon back in Australia to buy out his former employer’s photography business. In 1875 and 1876 Lindt staged atmospheric studio shots of the local Aborigines from the Clarence River District which he mounted and sold as album collections. In 1876 he relocated to Melbourne finding fame in 1880 when he photographed the capture of the notorious ‘Kelly Gang.’ Lindt was honoured in 1885 with the role as the official photographer on a Government Expedition to New Guinea before going on to photograph the New Hebrides in 1890 and Fiji in 1892. Unfortunately, his studio business succumbed to the great financial depression that rocked the Australian colonies in 1893 and he ‘retired’ to a new property ‘the Hermitage’ he had built at Blacks Spur. He died there in 1926 in the catastrophic bushfires that engulfed his property. In our sale there are ten of his iconic aboriginal photographs on offer which we hope will intrigue you.

Following on from our selection of affordable halfpennies and pennies in the last sale we have a selection of threepences and sixpences to fill some of those annoying spaces in your collection. There is also a good selection of modern issues and some other collectables to round out the sale.

Smalls Auctions