A cliché often heard when one is invited to catch a glimpse of precious moments and creations from bygone days. But does such an invitation always deliver on the promise of a captivating past?
According to Navinda Samerawickreme, Managing Partner of auction house, Schokman & Samerawickreme, the invitation extended by his company to view and bid at the forthcoming exhibition and auction sale called “A Walk Down Memory Lane” scheduled for June 24 and 25 will definitely deliver on the promise of a glorious and exciting past.
The content of this sale though centric to Ceylon as we were known in colonial times covers many interesting areas.
There are many fascinating displays related to colonial Ceylonese hotels and establishments such as the Galle Face Hotel, the Grand Oriental Hotel or GOH as it was more commonly called, the Mount Lavinia Hotel, the Bristol Hotel, commercial giants such as Cargills, Millers, George Steuarts, Elephant House and many more. A fascinating array of advertisements from motor car dealership companies in Colombo such as Browns, Car Mart, Tuckers, Richard Peirisetc will also be featured.
Moving on to entertainment and sports a charming and highly collectable set of items from the movies Elephant Walk, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, a signed collection of Trini Lopez vinyl records, rare Beatles collectable figurines, Bridget Bardot, Bill Haleys - Rock Around the Clock, Hatari with John Wayne and a whole lot more will be on display to fascinate you. In the sphere of sports Cricket Greats such as Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Collin Cowdrey, the turning point of Sri Lankan Cricket which to those unaware was the 1975 Prudential World Cup where the world sat up and took notice of the gutty Sri Lankan performance against the formidable Australian pace duo Lillee and Thompson who actually sent DuleepMendis and Sunil Wettimuny to hospital, the now forgotten ICC trophy won by Sri Lanka in 1979, Sri Lanka’s first Test Match and of course the 1996 World Cup victory which of course everyone knows about.
George Best the star British soccer player makes an ‘appearance’, ultra-rare Horse Racing memorabilia from the earliest days of racing on the Galle Face Green will also be featured.
Colonial Ceylon Collectables being the main theme of the event will further showcase Ceylon Currency, Albumen Photographs, Ceylon Books and even Philatelic Collections from the 1880’s onwards. Another highlight of the exhibition and auction sale is the inclusion of rare military memorabilia from the Ceylon Mounted Rifles, Ceylon Planters Rifles Corps, Ceylon Light Infantry, Ceylon Police, The Royal Ceylon Air force including the Koggala Airbase, and the Royal Air Force Katunayake Base.