Totally unreserved, the collection of more than 1800 lots belongs to Dr Garry Scroop who has been a collector since the age of 8, and is expected to raise $450,000 to $500,000.
Now aged 74, and with such a specialised collection, Dr Scroop realised that his expertise was needed in preparing a catalogue for the eventual disposal of the collection, and this took two years to complete.
Raised in Meningie and Murray Malley areas of South Australia, as a young boy Dr Scroop's collecting habit started with rocks, birds eggs and coins and by the time he was in his 20s, had broadened to include gramophones, phonographs and records.
After studying medicine in Adelaide and London, Dr Scroop worked at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, and the as a Reader in Physiology, at the University of Adelaide, where he spent the next 29 years.
It was his career that exposed him to photography, microscopy and medical treatment, and sparked the desire to learn more and broaden his interest in these fields.
Highlights of the sale include a rare Class M Edison Electric Phonograph, developed by Thomas Edison in 1888, driven by an electric motor. These were extremely expensive machines, selling for $225 at the time, when the average salary was about $40 a month, and not many were sold. Their rarity explains why the last one that Dr Scroop saw on the market about 6 years ago, sold for $42,000. With the sale completely unreserved, this one is conservatively estimated at $5,000 - $10,000.
Also being sold is a rare vertical mahogany cased Biunial Magic Lantern, by British camera maker, W. Butcher & Sons Ltd., having two separate optical projection systems, and estimated at $2,000 - $3,000. It was used by Dr Scroop when hosting Lantern Collector Show meetings.