The extraordinary estate of late 60s pop art icon Martin Sharp is set to go under the hammer this weekend, offering Australians a rare glimpse into one of the country’s most eclectic collections of pop culture memorabilia. Sharp’s Bellevue Hill property will open its doors this weekend, with 500 items on sale ranging from affordable collectables to priceless pieces of Australian cultural history.
“He was not an elitist at all and a lot of what you’re looking at is popular culture,” auctioneer Andrew Shapiro said. The mansion itself is a time capsule where 60s psychedelic art sits alongside original 1930s furniture bought by Sharp’s grandfather, Stuart Ritchie, an industrialist who created the iconic red rattler trains.
Among the treasures on offer are Mickey Mouse memorabilia, Ginger Megs collectables, Nimrod pieces, and even plastic dolls of KISS. The kitchen, which has never been renovated, still contains its original Early Kooka stove, which remarkably still works and is included in the auction.
The Bellevue Hill house itself is also on the market for $33 million. Sharp was the king of counterculture, creating album covers for Cream, penning lyrics for Eric Clapton on a cocktail napkin, and being commissioned to repaint the famous face at Luna Park. “The most important selection of Martin’s work that’s ever come onto the market,” Shapiro says of the collection. Sharp kept an open door to an ever-changing cast of creative luminaries, with Brett Whiteley and Bob Dylan coming to sit around the table in the kitchen.
