With over 10,000 items on moorabool.com, it’s always a struggle to find what you’re looking for.
For some time now, we’ve been adding ‘tags’ to every item – descriptive words that define the item.
We’re now pleased to launch our ‘Tag’ page…. a great way to see the variety we have in stock, and to find your particular areas of interest to browse.
You can access this browsing technique on any page in the main menu above – select ‘Browse our Stock’.
Bonjour!
Moorabool is pleased to be a part of the 2023 ‘Le Festival Français’, to be held on the last weekend of October 2023.
It’s a fabulous celebration of all things French – Food, Wine, Music – there’s even a ‘New Caledonia Tourism’ stand which is giving away a trip to that French Paradise in the Pacific….
The location is a favourite of Moorabool’s: ‘The Heights’, one of Geleong’s historic National Trust properties. John & Lorraine Rosenberg were always involved with projects at this fascinating property, and their son Paul had his introduction to presenting the ‘world of Antiques’ to an appreciative audience here in the 1990’s with an exhibition & talk on ceramics.
This year, we have the privilege of providing something ‘Fresh’ for the interior of the historic house, installing a series of displays to set the theme of French Culture. Paul is to talk on this subject, 3.30 on the Saturday (bookings essential via Le Festival Website).
The house itself has an interesting story. It is actually Continental – not French, but not far off: it was imported from Germany in 1854 as a pre-fab, and has the distinction of being the largest prefab in Victoria.
Read more about ‘The Heights’ on the National Trust’s website:
Our display throughout the house, titled ‘Tres Français’, is a look at three main epochs of French History:
Most of the items illustrated here & on display in ‘The Heights’ are shop stock, a few are from the Lorraine Rosenberg Reference Collection @ Moorabool Antiques, Geelong.
There is also an installation of a remarkable suite of Aubusson room furnishings, later 19th century, complete with carpet, wall panels, and upholstery for chairs. We’ve brought out our original 18th century Aubusson-clad Louis XV chair, and the collection of original designs, called ‘cartoons’, which were used by the Aubusson craftsmen to create their famous products in the 18th & 19th century.
As well, we are putting together a ‘Brocante’ – the French equivalent of a flea market – in the historic dovecot, next to the stables. Here you’ll find almost everything – from some special 18th century – and pricey – items, right down to $5 Irrésistible French Bargains.
A feature will be an extensive array of brand-new French-theme cushions, with a cover just $25, or a full cushion with eco-friendly Australian made inner, $35.
Come along and enjoy the Fabulous French Food & Wine, Music & Entertainment, and of course, the ‘Antiquités’!
Remarkable objects turn up in Australia.
This early English needlework is an exceptional example.
At the Malvern Antique Fair in 1976, John & Lorraine Rosenberg of Moorabool Antiques purchased a framed needlework from another dealer. Placing it on their own stand for sale, it promptly sold to a local collector, who treasured it for the next 43 years.
She puzzled over its meaning and came to a remarkable conclusion: it depicts the events of the late 15th century, showing the fall of the Moors in Spain, and co-regents Isabella & Ferdinand II unifying the two kingdoms into the one Kingdom of ‘Spain’. It shows the three ships of Christopher Columbus….. and so much more, in a narrative of images, almost like a cartoon. Those familiar with the Bayeux Tapestry will understand the concept of telling a tale in thread. In 2019, it came back to Moorabool with the first elements deciphered above.
Since then, more and more of its remarkable tales have been untangled, and an exciting discovery can be revealed.
This is a 500 year old ‘comic book’ with immense significance for British, Spanish, and American history.
Each detail in this textile is intentional, carefully sewn in incredible detail over a great length of time. It was a tale that the author had to tell… but what is the tale, and why?
Unravelling the story has been a fascinating journey; we invite you to join us as we explore these details in a series of interactive presentations.
Press Kits are also available.
Send us your details to be kept up-to-date.
The 2022 AAADA Melbourne Antique Fair is ‘going back to where it began’ – the Malvern Town Hall.
It was here in 1959 that a young John Rosenberg attended, sharing a stand with Geelong antique dealer R G Hamilton, a good friend & influence on the young dealer. He was just 19 – still the youngest age for acceptance into what is now the AAADA.
Today, his son Paul continues the family business – with a stand in almost the same place in the majestically restored main hall.
Moorabool has attended every Association fair since – and 2019 would have been the 60th consecutive – but it was postponed, and 2020 – and 2021 – were victims of restrictions – so this year, 2022, marks Moorabool’s 60th fair.
We’ve had a fantastic few days, a lot of catching up with our Melbourne friends… thank- you for all who said ‘hi’.
We also received a special surprise – there is a new ‘prize’, a silver cup awarded to the ‘most popular’ stand in the fair – ted by the visitors.
We were very surprised to come second – thank-you to all who voted!
These items are a selection of our stock seen at the fair. Use the ‘see all’ button to view the total fair stock.
Regarded by the leading expert Neil Jeffares as one of the two ‘best pastel portraitists’ of the 18th century, Jean-Baptiste Perronneau (1716-1783) is rarely seen outside collections. We were very excited to find a previously unrecorded portrait in Melbourne recently.
It had an inscription on the back which gave us enough clues to find the original sitter, and we were delighted to discover the signature in the top right corner:
Pernooeau’s signature & the date 1751, signed in lead.
There was a modern label to the back covering, with a few details – probably copied from the previous covering. From this we can identify her: Jeanne-Marie Mallès, later Mme Tobie Clarke (1733–1821).
Jeanne-Marie Mallès was from a seafaring family, her father being a Captain in the East Indies Company. However, he died in 1744; Jean-Marie was fatherless when this portrait was done in 1751, and it was 7 years later she was married to Toby Clarke (1733–1821), merchant of Nantes. They had several children, and a daughter, Marie, married François-Claude de Karuel de Merey, capitaine d’infanterie, who died in 1804 – the year Napoleon crowned himself Emperor – probably no coincidence, with the war with England and Spain raging.
Correspondence with Mr Jeffares has resulted in the authentication of the signature, making it a ‘signature piece’, and it is now added to the online ‘catalogue resonné’ of Perronneau, listing of every example authenticated, part of the amazing record freely accessible on Mr Jeffares site, www.pastellists.com/ .
You’ll find it as part of the following document:
http://www.pastellists.com/Articles/Perronneau0.pdf
An interesting note in Jeffares’ comments is that he sometimes dropped – or added – an ‘n’ to his name. Our example is the shortened version, Perroneau.
There are also several other examples of his sitters ‘as Dianna’ , obviously an interesting option to choose when having your portrait done. How fascinating, this beautiful young lady who had lost her father aged 11, had this portrait done showing her as the strong Goddess of the Hunt in 1751, and only married 7 years later. You can see her character in the twinkle of her eye..
Another year has turned over- we would like to thank you for the support in 2021, and in 2022 we have so much more to enjoy. It’s an exciting time for Moorabool, with a number of projects all coming together – including a brand-new website.
We paused this over Christmas so it would not disrupt the necessary online shopping – but it’s full steam ahead now. You’ll start to notice some differences over the next little while.
Have you seen our display stands? We have a range of nice hand-made Chinese stands, all natural wood.
There’s also a scattering of Fresh items in the ‘Latest’ page, take a look here.
Have have a Safe & Prosperous New Year!
from Paul & Glenys Rosenberg,
Mathew Bugg
Moorabool Antiques, January 1st 2022
We’ve been busily working on a terrific new way of viewing our stock on Moorabool.com. You may have already noticed our photos are larger than before, and you can explore the pieces in greater detail by zooming in. While that’s a help, we have something even better to offer: Spins!
As you’ll notice above, we can now take images from all sides and create a ‘spin’! This is perfect for turning something around to see the other side…. and you can zoom in also! The 18th century English enamel salt cellar above needs to be seen from every angle – and this new technique is perfect to show what it’s like in reality.
It does take a little time to set up, so we are doing fresh pieces and some older pieces, with more being added constantly.
If you just want to take a few pieces ‘for a spin’ – follow this link to the Tag ‘360’ – every item that has been done will appear in this gallery.
Have fun spinning!
We’re pleased to announce a new way of browsing our vast stock on moorabool.com:
These small groups of complimentary items will illustrate an idea, such as a maker, period or technique.
Or even just a group of pieces that go well together – as we say, they ‘speak the same language’….
These will appear on our home page, moorabool.com ( on the far right column, next to ‘news’) – and will only remain for a limited time, to be replaced by different collections. With over 10,000 items to choose from, the possibilities are endless!
In a way, these are ‘mini-exhibitions’. Pre-covid, we were putting together regular displays at Antique Fairs, either in Melbourne, Sydney or Canberra – with the occasional trip to Adelaide – and also in our Geelong premises. However, this excluded all of our keen overseas customers – so by utilising the website for these Curated Collections, we can offer many more pieces to many more people, at a fraction the cost!
See the latest ‘Curated Collections’ here – ‘3 Bowls’, with three lovely 18th century Continental small punchbowls, fresh to our stock this week, from Meissen, Neiderviller, and Furstenberg >>
Curated : adjective(of online content, merchandise, information, etc.) selected, organized, and presented using professional or expert knowledge……
With sadness we note the passing of John Rosenberg, founder of Moorabool Antiques, after a short illness on Friday 19th June.
He went to his first auction aged 7, with his Grandmother. This was at ‘Kerleys Auctions’, Geelong;
Aged 80, he was still buying, and went along to Kerley’s last-ever Auction before they closed down early 2020. This was also to be his last auction, as the sudden appearance of cancer took his strength.
We’ll have much more to share on this in the near future; if you have any memories of John (which we could share, anonymously) please feel free to email them to Paul.
He was dearly loved by many, a thorough gentleman of the old-school type, and passionate his whole lifetime about his chosen profession, Antiques. This passion radiated from him, and was catching to those fortunate enough to spend time in conversation with him!
Gone, but never forgotten…
What a month….. we’re sorry to have been ‘away’ for the past 6 weeks, and no doubt the ‘C’-crisis is a glaringly obvious reason, as the world is paralysed by the hidden menace of the virus pandemic.
But the real reason is the other ‘C’: Cancer. John Rosenberg, founder of the firm back in the 1950’s, was taken to Hospital quite unwell in late March, and cancer was found. He has undergone major surgery – the result is that the doctors were satisfied they got it all. This is a great relief to us all.
Needless to say, this ensured our attention was no longer on our ‘Fresh Stock’ updates – and the timing with the required shop closure due to covid-19 was remarkable.
John is now back home and is recovering well – but is of course itching to get back to the shop!
We have just instigated our ‘Recovery’ plan, representing both our post-Covid and John’s new reality, both of which require ‘social distancing’….. so we now have an Appointments booking service on our website.
When you are thinking of visiting Moorabool, simply pop into our web page and with a few clicks you can find a time, weekdays 10-4, plus a few hours on a Saturday. This will allow us to comply with the strict requirements for businesses to stay social-distancing aware.
John also has his own appointment page, with a Wednesday afternoon time-slot for anyone who would like to catch up. He’ll be up in the Lorraine Rosenberg Reference Library, a great place to experience his passion for ceramics…. so many tales to tell!
Our ‘Fresh Stock Tuesdays’ were constant weekly tasks for the past 6 years…. and while we are most certainly not ceasing the release of fresh stock, it’s time for a change to this method. We will shortly have ‘Something Fresh’ to share….
We were of course heading into our 2020 Fair time, to open May 1st in the Malvern Town Hall. This is postponed until the same time next year, but was to be a special occasion for Moorabool: a young John Rosenberg joined the Victorian Antique Dealers Association (now the AAADA) in 1958, the year they held their first Fair in the Malvern Town Hall. It had been born the previous year, and young John was asked to join by a local ‘founding member’. He was able to exhibit in the 1959 Malvern Fair for the first time – and continued to do so for the next 59 years straight!
2019 would have been the 60th Melbourne Dealers Fair Moorabool had exhibited in, but was cancelled. This year, 2020, was then to be the 60th….. now we look forward to making 2021 that milestone!
We had great plans…. our stand was going to ‘pop’, with a unique design celebrating 60 years, and some stunning Fresh pieces sourced just for the occasion. Instead, these will be released as part of our ‘SOMETHING FRESH’ over the next few months.
We hope you’re all keeping well, and that our website has been a source of consolation in these peculiar times….
Best wishes & stay safe,
from Paul Rosenberg, John Rosenberg,
& all @ Moorabool….
…. still very much in business !
We’ll leave you with a ‘Fresh’ photo-
this is a wonderfully wild ‘ShiShi’ , the Japanese version of the the Chinese Buddhist lion-dog, or ‘Foo’ dog. He’s a censor, his head lifting off to take the incense – with the smoke coming out his mouth, nostrils, ears, and between the spines down his back!
Meiji period, earlier 19th century.
Coming to Moorabool stock shortly!
