Precious – Celebrating Collectors and Collections
Drawing on material from private and public collections, within Brisbane and its surrounds, Precious is a treat for collectors and ephemerists.
The exhibition features several collections which have never been on public view and the breadth of collections displayed offers something for all interests. Enticing collections include tins and advertising signs, souvenir wares, matchbooks and match boxes, 1956 Olympic trading cards, doll’s clothes, mechanical toys, architectural models and trench-art shoehorns.
As the Museum of Brisbane (MoB) describes:
Precious affirms that amongst current and former residents of our city, there are experts, connoisseurs, fanatics: people with deep knowledge of subjects we may not even have known existed. These individuals are treasures of the city themselves. With great generosity, they have lent their precious items to Museum of Brisbane for the wonder and enjoyment of us all.
ESA Member Mandy Bede visited Precious in person and shares her thoughts
If you like or love ephemera and other collectibles, you will need to spend time at ‘Precious’. It’s an exhibition at the Museum of Brisbane (MoB). It’s a large, wide-ranging display of collections. They belong to Queenslanders, individuals and the odd organisation.
As a visitor from Melbourne, a highlight was the imagery used on the Brisbane, and Queensland, brochures. These are for tourists and locals. The pineapple of course featured but also a tram in an early edition of the Pocket guide.
There is a terrific collection of ANA (Australian National Airline) printed items. These include coasters, tickets and 3D items from uniforms. There are some rather spooky covers. The ANA planes look like menacing WW2 bombers.
I loved the rock & roll posters for Brisbane venues. They are from the collection of Donnie Tahiraj. He started the collection in an interesting way. ‘He read the catalogue for Know Your Product, an exhibition curated by Ross Harley and held at Brisbane’s Institute of Modern Art in 1986’. He then started collecting!
There are swap cards and other sports ephemera. The collections show the 1956 Olympics and rugby league. It’s probably a rare opportunity to see the Olympics’ cards displayed. And, the rugby was all new to a southerner.
There are 30+ collections. Some more fascinating depending on your interests. I particularly liked the metal toys and the beaded handbags. I also completely missed some sections – so take care to leave plenty of time to visit.
