OWN GOODS SOLD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20602, 1 November 1941, Page 5

OWN GOODS SOLD

SHOCK FOR PROFESSOR INCIDENT AT AUCTION SYDNEY, Oct. 20. When Dr. Victor Stadler, lecturer in German at the Sydney University, attended a Commonwealth sale of goods recently he found his own articles being auctioned. Professor Stadler came to Australia from Vienna three years ago. Before leaving Vienna he arranged for the personal effects of himself and his wife to be shipped to Australia. He inquired persistently for months after the goods should have arrived here, but could not discover whal had become of them.

Recently, Dr. Stadler was asked by the university to attend a sale of goods in place of Professor Waterhouse, who was unable to go. Amon; the first things he saw at the sale were first edition copies of books belonging to himself, and a Madonna statue belonging to his wife. He discovered that some of his books had already been sold. He protested, but was told nothing could be done. He then induced the auctioneer to offer the rest of the books as a collection, and bought them himself when bidding had reached lid a volume. Among the books were two volumes of the first German grammar, valued at £l5O each, ar original edition of Hogarth engravings, and a complete Shakespeare In German, more than 200 years old. “I was astounded when I realised that the books being offered were my own,” Dr. Stadler said. “Some of the books belonged to the 17tt and 18th century and could not be replaced. I had collected them over 15 years of travel on the Continent. These things have great value in Europe, but in Australia there would be no market for them, so I cannot say what the collection would be worth.” Dr. Stadler’s pictures, silverware, statues, etc., are still missing, and he is making an Australian-wide searen to trace them.