March 2023

When the five-year-old mare Saxony won the 1949 Williamstown Cup, owner Frank Coppin was over the moon.

The last of the four cups run during Melbourne’s Spring Carnival – the others being the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Moonee Valley Cup – Frank knew that his horse was in exalted company.

Saxony had already forged an enviable reputation – becoming the first horse to win the mile-long Toorak Handicap, first run in 1881, twice (1948 and 1949).

Holocaust survivors are undoubtedly tough – and to show just how resilient, Polish Jew Martin Sachs lived to the ripe old age of 95 after becoming one of only 500 survivors from the horrors of the World War II German Mauthausen Labour Camp.

Only 20 when he was liberated in May 1945 by United States forces after losing both his father and mother in Belzec and Stutthof concentration camps during the war, Martin migrated in 1948 to Australia where he became a successful builder and developer.

Several Jeffrey Smart (1921-2013) paintings feature among works by Australia’s top artists in what are undoubted drawcards for Menzies forthcoming art auction from 6.30pm Wednesday March 29 at 1 Darling Street, South Yarra.

The highest estimate work is Bus by the Tiber 1977-78 (lot 18), an oil on canvas that first appeared in 1980 in Rudy Komon Art Gallery in Sydney and carries a $600,000-$700,000 catalogue estimate.

Melbourne auctioneer Christian McCann is positive that a 19^th century museum quality Sevres vase on a matching base (lot 16), totalling 2.4 metres high, will end up overseas following his forthcoming art and antiques auction from 12pm Sunday March 19 at 7 Harper Street, Abbotsford.

“It’s more suited to the Palace of Versailles than an Abbotsford auction room,” he said. “I’ll be very surprised if it remains in Australia.”