PRESS RELEASE: Australian History Hidden for 40 Years Goes to Auction: One Man’s Private Museum Revealed
Australian History Hidden for 40 Years Goes to Auction: One Man’s Private Museum Revealed
A lifetime collection spanning ancient Greece, Rome, convict-era Tasmania and Australia’s earliest money will go under the hammer this July.
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – July 2026
For more than four decades, collector John McCullagh quietly built what many would consider a private museum.
A tour of his home in Tasmania revealed a remarkable collection tracing more than 2,000 years of human history.
From coins struck during the ancient Greek and Roman empires to rare pieces from Australia’s earliest colonial settlements, the collection tells the story of trade, survival and the creation of modern currency.
Now, for the first time in decades, many of these historical treasures will be offered publicly.
Roxbury’s Auction House will present Auction No. 159 – Signature Sale from Wednesday 15th to Friday 17th July 2026, headlined by Part One of the extraordinary McCullagh Collection.
Assembled since the 1970s, the collection is regarded as one of the most important private holdings of Australian colonial currency, trade tokens and ancient coins ever brought to market.
“John’s collection was unlike anything we had seen,” said Roxbury’s Appraiser Michael Cotton. “His house was essentially a living museum. Everywhere you looked there was another piece of history, whether it was from the first days of Australian settlement or the ancient world thousands of years earlier.”
The Coins Australians Created When There Was No Money
Among the most fascinating pieces are more than 400 Australian trade tokens, privately issued during the 1800s before Federation and the introduction of Australia’s own national currency.
Before Australia had a reliable money supply, everyday trade often relied on alternatives including barter, handwritten notes and eventually privately made coins issued by local businesses.
Today, these tokens are considered some of the most important surviving records of early Australian commerce.
“They are more than coins,” said Cotton. “They represent individual businesses, families and communities trying to build our country. Each one tells a story about how early Australians lived and traded.”
Highlights include:
• A coin from before Tasmania was Tasmania – the 1823 Macintosh & Degraves Shilling, one of the most recognisable pieces of early Australian currency
• The finest of just seven known – the Mason & Culley Penny, a colonial rarity that collectors often wait decades to see
• When rum was money – the only known Tasmanian Rum Order, revealing a time when Australia’s economy relied on far more than coins and notes
• Australia’s forgotten private banknotes – a unique Lachlan & Waterloo Mills booklet showing how businesses created their own money before a national system existed
Ancient Gold, Kings and Empires
Beyond Australian history, McCullagh also assembled an exceptional collection of ancient coins, including pieces struck during the time of some of history’s most famous rulers.
Among the highlights is a rare gold octadrachm of Ptolemy III of Egypt, connected to the dynasty of Cleopatra, alongside remarkable Roman gold coins and ancient silver issues that have survived for thousands of years.
“These coins existed before Australia was even imagined,” said Cotton. “They have passed through empires, wars and generations. To be holding something made over 2,000 years ago is incredibly powerful.”
A Once-in-a-Generation Release
Many items within the McCullagh Collection have remained privately held for decades, with some examples never previously offered on the Australian market.
The release of the collection represents a rare opportunity for collectors, historians and everyday Australians to secure pieces normally reserved for museums.
“Collections like this simply do not appear often,” said Cotton. “It took more than forty years to build, and many of these pieces may disappear into private collections again for another generation.”
Alongside the McCullagh Collection, Auction No. 159 features an extensive selection of Australian gold coins, premium pre-decimal coinage, world coins, banknotes and Part II of the Moyle Collection of New Zealand Banknotes.
Auction Details
Roxbury’s Auction No. 159 – Signature Sale
Wednesday 15 – Friday 17 July 2026
Online bidding: bid.roxburys.com.au
Pre-bidding now open
Media Enquiries / Interviews / Images:
Michael Cotton
Roxbury’s Auction House
📧 [email protected]
📞 (07) 3831 2599
