?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,500 - $ 4,500
PERCIVAL (PERCY) ALBERT TROMPF (1902-1964)
WORLD'S GREATEST AIR RACE / ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA. 1934.
40x25 inches, 101 1/2x63 1/2 cm. Moore Young Litho. Co., [Melbourne]. Condition B+: repaired tears and small replaced losses at edges, some slightly into image and text; slight darkening at edges; restoration along abrasions in image; replaced punch holes at top.
One of the features of the 100th anniversary celebrations of the founding of Melbourne was the "World's Greatest Air Race," a competition of flyers traveling from Mildenhall in England to Melbourne. The competition was sponsored by Sir Macpherson Robertson, a confectionary mogul and philanthropist, who put up a £15,000 prize pool. The State Library of New South Wales explains, "The route stretched over nineteen countries and seven seas. Five compulsory stops were designated for both divisions. Between the five stops (Baghdad, Allahabad, Singapore, Darwin and Charleville) pilots could select their own route . . . Initially, there were 64 entrants from 13 countries, but when the race started on 20 October 1934, the field had been reduced to 20 planes from seven countries. Only 11 finished the grueling 18,000 kilometre trip" (https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/aviation-australia/macrobertson-centenary-air-race#:~:text=A%20spectacular%20flying%20race%20was,aircraft%20size%2C%20power%20or%20crew). Trompf, one of Australia's preeminent poster artists, began his artistic career designing chocolate boxes and candy wrappers for a Melbourne confectioner (ironically, perhaps, not one of Robertson's companies). He soon opened his own studio and went on to design hundreds of travel posters. Monash 15.
