Although females also can grow tusks, it is mainly a feature of males and they can grow to more than three metres. Biological functions are unclear, but scientists speculate they could be used as a weapon, for opening breathing holes in the ice, in feeding, as an acoustic organ and as a secondary sex character.
Mounted specimens are rarely seen at auction – hence the keen bidding among collectors at Leski’s latest auction.
Over 86 per cent of the 1498 lots on offer at the two-day sale were sold with an antique Australian serving tray manufactured from the first silver mined at Broken Hill in the Barrier Ranges far western New South Wales (Lot 498 ) another auction showpiece with its $14,000 result – more than double the $4000-$6000 catalogue estimate.
Another well above catalogue estimate result was the circa 1870 John William Carey Queensland specimen wood writing box (Lot 300 ) that sold for $13,000, while Australian colonial artist Walter Withers (1845-1915) jumped into the top 10 with his painting Twickenham (lot 1222) for the same figure.
Another well-known artist Leonard William French (1928-2017) was not far behind on $12,000 for his The Soul Cages No. 2 (lot 1324).
A joint Merric and Doris Boyd 1930 pottery vase effort (Lot 29 ) also sold for $13,000 – more than four times its upper catalogue estimate, while a rare green Remued vase with koala and branch decorations (Lot 93 ) was knocked down for $11,000.
Rounding out the top 10 lots is an impressive 1915 Ernest Finlay vase adorned with an Australian landscape scene (Lot 28 ) for $9000 and a painting by C.A. Abbott, active during the 1860s, entitled Diggers’ Camp (Lot 119 ) for $8500 – almost three times its estimate.
