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00:00To be continued...
00:30Welcome to Antiques Down Under.
00:33We're on the search for incredible antiques and collectibles.
00:37From private collections, historic homes, backyard sheds, museums and galleries.
00:42We'll be talking to the experts, the custodians and the passionate collectors.
00:47Coming up on this episode of Antiques Down Under,
00:50I catch up with the great-great-grandson of woodcarver, Penzel.
00:55Art Nouveau, Claudia catches up with a passionate collector.
01:00For the love of dolls, Claudia takes a look at dolls over the years.
01:06And Elizabeth steps back in time, remembering the local milk bar.
01:20Today, Antiques Down Under has the pleasure of meeting the great-great-grandson of Robert Apprenzel,
01:26one of Australia's most prominent carvers and furniture makers.
01:31Tell us a little about your great-great-grandfather.
01:34Well, it's on my mum's side.
01:36I'm the third, so great-great-great.
01:38Basically, my grandad retired, and I was probably about six or seven,
01:46so it was the right time for him to have ample time to tell me all about it.
01:51Yep, tell you all the family history.
01:52Yeah, exactly right.
01:53Show you some of the items that he worked with and you've collected.
01:56I have.
01:57And a heap of memorabilia.
01:59And I have a select archive.
02:00Taking us quite about an hour to get through.
02:02Oh, yeah.
02:07Robert Apprenzel's so admired, especially here in Victoria,
02:13and he did work for incredible pastoralists in the Western District, didn't he?
02:17A lot of the families.
02:18Yeah, Stuart and Isabella Black, the Black family of the Western District.
02:23Magical staircase with pieces that are carved in the round,
02:27which is very rare for Apprenzel.
02:28And how many of those?
02:30There's about 36, I believe.
02:31I think there's, yeah, 36 or 37 panels.
02:33Down here, we've got a sign.
02:37Yeah, so that was his shop sign.
02:39So I can't believe it, but he'd actually put this at the front of his little wood carving shop on Bourke Street,
02:47made its way to Sturt Street, which was his second building in South Melbourne.
02:52Basically, to say that he was open, but also to show the kids this was the window that you needed to come
02:59to watch the cranky old man sit there and turn blocks of wood into beautiful animals.
03:06Oh, yeah.
03:06He did some magnificent bedroom suites.
03:09If you were a fancy family and you had a homestead,
03:12it was very fashionable to get Apprenzel to carve a full suite for you.
03:16So what we have here is a collection of his chisels.
03:25He had so many, but each one has a handle created out of...
03:31By him.
03:31By him.
03:32Yeah, but also created from the timber of whatever he was working on.
03:37At the time.
03:38So every chisel is a different timber, and some of them are really beautiful.
03:44If you have a look at the burl work in there, that's burl walnut,
03:48which you just won't get colour like that in anything else.
03:51But be careful, they're still sharp.
03:58You were telling me there's something special about this one.
04:00This is my favourite one.
04:02I couldn't lay my hands on the photo of him using it,
04:05but he was carving an eagle lectern for one of the big churches in Melbourne.
04:10He did so much work in the churches.
04:14But this funny-looking chisel here is actually for the nose of the kookaburra.
04:22Oh, right.
04:26Tell me about these beautiful saws.
04:28Well, this one here, if my grandad was here, he'd play it for you, but I can't.
04:35This was actually one of his favourite wood saws.
04:38Further down here, we've got a lovely piece here.
04:41Look, I have always said that ugly is beautiful, but this is...
04:47You're referring to me, I think.
04:49Not at all.
04:50Just myself in the mirror sometimes.
04:52This piece here just goes to show how Prenzel was able to take something grotesque
04:57and still add comedy to it, which, yeah, I think is beautiful.
05:06Now, Benjamin, tell us about that very special piece of furniture that you own.
05:10Okay, so this was handed down to me by my grandparents.
05:15It's one of a kind.
05:17Yep.
05:17So this wonderful piece of furniture has two generations of Prenzel.
05:22Right.
05:22So the cabinet was made by one generation.
05:24Yep.
05:25And my lovely little kookaburra here was made by great, great, great Grandfather Prenzel.
05:31Right.
05:32So the two were put together?
05:33Yeah, it's the only piece in the world.
05:39Well, it's been a fantastic time with you today, and learning more about your family history
05:45has been beautiful.
05:46Hopefully, more people will know his name and be able to look it up and just see how amazing
05:52artist he was.
05:53This has to be one of the prettiest and maybe heaviest mysterious objects we've had on Antiques
06:13Down Under.
06:14Faye, what do you think this lovely object is?
06:17Wow.
06:18It's very heavy.
06:19It is.
06:20It's very beautiful.
06:21I'm going to guess it's some kind of jewellery box with the little compartments here.
06:27Oh, it's okay.
06:29Now, Louise, I hope you can help us out and tell us what you think this gorgeous item is.
06:34Oh, gosh, it's heavy.
06:35Yeah.
06:36I'm looking at the ballerina in there.
06:38I'm thinking it could be a music box of sorts, and there's something under here that might
06:42wind up, but what mystifies me are these little things.
06:45Possibly for something for a posy of flowers or perfume bottles, maybe?
06:50Mm-hmm.
06:51Something like that, if they all were the same size.
06:54Okay, so it's feminine.
06:55It's feminine, definitely.
06:56All righty.
06:57Do you want to guess the mystery object?
07:00Head to our Facebook and Instagram pages to enter.
07:03Art Nouveau was a movement born from nature and defined by elegance.
07:17Collector Jason Brown is keeping that spirit alive.
07:25Oh, Jason, I feel like I'm in a formal dining setting from 1890.
07:31Yes, we just need a few guests around the table, such as Sarah Bernhardt or Oscar Wilde.
07:36Oh, now that we could do.
07:37That would be some interesting chat.
07:39The thing I love about even just what's around us is that it perfectly exemplifies what Art
07:45Nouveau was, and that is a movement that traveled through so many different countries.
07:50Absolutely, and I've traveled through some of those countries, and it's been a joy to
07:54not just find the ones you'd expect, but to find the little places.
07:57The universality of it was interpreted through their own cultures, but it was all brought
08:08together by that love of beauty and that passion for newness.
08:12So let's wind back.
08:14So we're looking at probably 1890 to 1910, inspired by nature.
08:20What was it about nature?
08:21Look, I think it was everything had got so ordered and controlled by historicism, and
08:29people wanted to have something new.
08:32And that whole end of the 19th century was very future-oriented.
08:38And so it was in many ways the art of the future as seen by the people of the time.
08:43And they wanted to also bring nature back in because people had moved away from nature.
08:48I adore this Vienna secessionist candlestick holder.
08:53Look, it is one of my favorites because it's elegant and simple at the same time, but it
08:58has those flowing lines that you associate with Art Nouveau.
09:01What's really interesting on the table there, you've got this piece from Liberties of London.
09:05It's actually Celtic influence done by Archibald Knox, and he was influenced by Celtic art, and
09:11he brought the Art Nouveau influence and Celtic art together.
09:18Jason, I get the impression that this love affair you have with Art Nouveau has been going on a long time.
09:23So long that I don't want to talk about the length of time.
09:26But as a student, I met Anna Coben, who was a great dealer of that period.
09:32And this was in front of her window in her new shop, and I fell in love immediately.
09:36So I scraped together every fortnight as much of the student allowance as I had to pay for it.
09:43It took me months.
09:45Where is this piece from?
09:46It's French, but it's made by Goldscheider, who's one of the great porcelain makers of the Art Nouveau period.
09:54And this is a very special one for me, because of that time and place and friendships.
10:03The legend, Namakiti Avinkatoris, of friendship lovers conquering time.
10:08It's just a great message.
10:14Now, we can't talk about Art Nouveau and not talk about glassware.
10:18I think the thing about the glassware is that it took everything to a whole new level.
10:25Again, the organic nature of Art Nouveau has picked up.
10:27And Emil Gallet, who, this is one of his works, as is that one, had been a botanist.
10:33And he brought that study to the thing.
10:36So his work there and the pieces in it.
10:38And what's really interesting is who he influenced.
10:40And this little one here is Dorm.
10:43And the Dorm brothers worked for him and eventually continue on today as a company making the most beautiful glass.
10:51Interesting you should say that, because looking at the two, the colours are so similar.
10:56The feel is similar.
10:58Look, I think that's right.
10:59I mean, they worked together for a long time.
11:00And there was no animosity between the companies.
11:05And so you see, I think what's important, you see the floral elements.
11:09But not just for this glass, but the other glass you see here.
11:12At the end of the day, it's about light.
11:14And this was the first time I actually had light, because you had electricity.
11:19And before that, you couldn't display these glasses.
11:21So the lamps of Tiffany and the lamps of Galet and Dorm used that first electric light to create a whole new environment.
11:33The lovely thing about the Art Nouveau period is the graphic design of the time was bringing art into the street.
11:40So they were becoming outdoor galleries.
11:41Now, this is a gorgeous piece.
11:44What's interesting about this piece, and it's by George Defer of Joan of Arc, who, of course, was a fabulous person in that period, when it was actually Sarah Bernhardt who played the role.
11:56These posters were the original ones that went on the wall.
11:59But people used to take them down, and a couple of entrepreneurs realised there was cash to be made.
12:04So they worked with the artist to do these miniatures.
12:06So these are original prints by the artist.
12:14The wonderful thing about Art Nouveau was it was considered a total art.
12:18And what I've tried to do here is live in the art, and I've created a total art environment.
12:25Who needs a time machine?
12:44I mean, possibly, one of Australia's largest and best collections of milk bar collectibles.
12:50The term milk bar originated in 1932, when a Greek-Australian, Nick Adams, created its first milk bar, which sold only sodas and milkshakes.
13:00Eventually, the milk bar turned into the local convenience store, selling everything from newspapers and milk and ice creams, to groceries and so on.
13:08It has become an iconic Australian institution.
13:12So, Cameron, let's go down memory lane.
13:15Let's do it, Liz.
13:21So, Cameron, tell me about your earliest memories of milk bars.
13:24Well, Liz, I can remember in the early days, you know, I'd be 11 or 12, playing football at our local ground.
13:31I'd ride there on my bike, and I would play the game and then watch another game afterwards.
13:36Then it'd be about lunchtime, and I had some money from my parents to go to the shop.
13:41I'd get a pie.
13:42I'd get a pint of milk.
13:44The lady in the milk bar would give me a pint of milk, and she'd let me have two big gulps out of the top.
13:49And then she'd put some flavouring in and shake it about, and that was like my early milkshake.
13:54What a wonderful story.
13:55So, there'll be millions of Australians with memories like this.
13:58For sure.
13:59I reckon we can all relate to milk bars, early milk bars and the relationship they had with the community.
14:10So, Cameron, there's special memories about what children found in their Weet-Bix and other cereal boxes.
14:17Yeah, well, there was, Liz.
14:18Many times, as a family, you would decide whether you're having cornflakes or rice bubbles or Wheaties,
14:24but probably the most special thing for all young people in the 70s and 80s was the cereal toys that you found in there.
14:32So, some of these cereal toys are really amazing.
14:40You've got lots of stories about the history of soft drinks in milk bars.
14:44Yes, Liz.
14:46Well, what we've tried to do here is we've got little sections or shelves for different companies of soft drinks throughout Australia.
14:53So, everyone knows Fanner and Coke and Pepsi are huge all over the world.
14:58But we've got some abstract companies like Totem and X and Frosty and Just Fruit, Mon and Webster's are companies that were purchased by bigger companies and slowly, you know, taken over.
15:11Cameron, I believe that Peter's ice cream is your most favourite collectible.
15:20Yeah, Peter's ice cream is, Liz, that's correct.
15:23So, I collect a variety of different things, old thick shake cups, Dixie cups, family bricks, eskies, anything that's Peter's branded, I collect, even some more recent stuff.
15:35But my favourite collectible is this Peter's Pal.
15:41Yeah, very early Peter's advertising.
15:43You might have got it in a show bag or something like that.
15:46And then you just pull this bottom piece and you can see how happy he is eating his ice cream.
15:59You've got a wonderful history about Big M milk.
16:02Yeah, Liz, Big M was bought out in 1977.
16:06In the 70s, Victoria had an oversupply of milk.
16:09So, the Victorian dairy industry bought out Big M and they flavoured milk and put it in cartons, a bit like the milk cartons.
16:17And here's an example of a Big Blueberry.
16:20Cameron, Big M being so successful almost put an end to the famous milkshake.
16:25That's correct, Liz.
16:26Yep, milkshakes were pretty much out because kids didn't have to wait around for a milkshake to be made.
16:31What they did was they just got their carton, shook it around a bit, opened it up and then drank it.
16:39Cameron, thanks so much for allowing Antics Down Under to come and visit.
16:45You're welcome any time, Liz.
16:46How about on the way out, would you like a milkshake?
16:49I would love a milkshake.
16:54There you go, Liz. Enjoy.
17:00Cameron, thank you so much.
17:01No problems.
17:09Dolls have been companions, storytellers and works of art for centuries.
17:24For collector Diane, each doll is a glimpse into history.
17:33Diane, I feel like I've stepped into wonderland here.
17:36Have you always had an interest in dolls?
17:39Since I was a child, I have five brothers and my safe place was to escape into my bedroom and play with my dolls.
17:46So it's always been an interest for me.
17:49So who have we got here? You have an interest in Australian dolls.
17:52Yes.
17:53This is the first registered Australian doll.
17:55It says on the back, Made in Australia by Dee Kylie Abbotsford Vic.
18:00Unbreakable, it says also.
18:03Hello.
18:03Hello.
18:04Yes.
18:05This is 1916.
18:071916, yes.
18:08So what are you made of?
18:09This is a composition, cloth body stuffed with straw.
18:18So this is a rather handsome fellow.
18:20He's kind of made of bits and pieces.
18:21What's the story with this one?
18:23This was made by Edgar Stocks Hithersay, just after the First World War and patented in 1920.
18:32This one is well marked.
18:34So with doll making, they were very resourceful with the materials they were using, weren't they?
18:38Yes, they were.
18:40This one's made of dental acrylic.
18:42Dental acrylic?
18:43Acrylic, yes.
18:44That was used to make dentures with.
18:46And apparently it was made in Lismore at an Air Force base.
18:50So that's during the Second World War?
18:52Yes.
18:52It was difficult to get fabrics and things to make the clothing with.
18:58So this demonstrates the use of off cuts.
19:03And also an austerity measure was to just use tape.
19:08You didn't have to bother with buttons or snaps.
19:10This is a good illustration of the government's war organisation of industry bringing in a permit system where the manufacturers had to prove that they weren't using resources required for the war effort.
19:27And this one has a stamp on the back which says, W-O-I, permit number.
19:34This is a good example of making do with what you have.
19:37Yes.
19:37And this, the legs appear to be some furnishing fabric, damask, and the same with the top and a lovely doll.
19:48It is a lovely doll.
19:49And in hard times, we still have to get on with life.
19:52Yes.
19:53And it was important to keep up the morale of the children.
19:59This little one post-war, listen to the legs.
20:03What are they made of?
20:04It's aluminium.
20:05Ah.
20:05Because just after the war, they found they had too much aluminium.
20:09What to do with it?
20:11Now, they didn't need it for the war effort anymore.
20:13We'll make some dollies.
20:19You can see quite clearly how different the components are that make up this little doll.
20:24Yes.
20:25It was expensive to import whole dolls.
20:28And so the components were brought separately and put together in Australia.
20:33So you've got German head, Japanese arms and legs, body made in Australia, and clothes made in Australia.
20:41So we go from this kind of Frankenstein idea with body parts from all over the place to the Australian.
20:47This is an Australian made one and it has wooden eyes.
20:51Wooden eyes.
20:52Yes.
20:52And it has hushabye with a map of Australia on the back made by Laurie Cohen, all original.
20:59So Australian manufacturers had arrived.
21:03And she's very blinky.
21:08And what's this one made from?
21:10This one is made of Bakelite.
21:11Ah.
21:12Which is interesting because all the paint chips off rather poorly.
21:17But she's, her legs move.
21:19Yes, she's a walker.
21:21Now this little fellow, he's very cute, but do you think he looks a little bit out of proportion?
21:24Yes, he does.
21:26He's a good example of the use of New Zealand arms, which were brought in because they didn't
21:34have to have the permit.
21:35Ah.
21:37But he's got an Australian made head.
21:39So this is a little bit of a combo.
21:44He's the Bledisloe cup of dollies.
21:49Now I do have a thing for ventriloquist dolls.
21:53I've got Gerry, you've got Geraldine.
21:55And I think in an industry dominated by women, we let Geraldine have the last word.
22:01Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for listening.
22:05Toodaloo, goodbye to you.
22:07Until next time we meet.
22:09Yay!
22:10Hi Jessie, would you like to review what this item is?
22:21I would love to, Elizabeth.
22:23This is actually an antique German helmet liner.
22:27It is made from brass and it has the owner's name and his name is Frederick and he was from
22:34Ingen.
22:35Now that was tricky.
22:37Did you get it right?
22:38Don't forget, you can guess this week's What Is It?
22:41by heading to our Facebook and Instagram pages.
22:48Next time on Antiques Down Under, Gregory looks at the results of mud larking in Australia.
22:55Everyone remembers the band Kiss.
22:57I'm in for a surprise.
23:00One of Australia's favourite sports, cricket.
23:04Gregory takes a look at an incredible collection.
23:08And Lee dips into the world of Welsh lovespoons.
23:11Missed an episode of Antiques Down Under?
23:41Check us out on Nine Now.
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