Who doesn’t love a feel good story?
Here at Burns & Co, we get a lot of desirable collectables that come through our auctions, however this Wynn’s Shearing Oil Tin that featured in our Next Level Collectors Auction on the 30th June was especially desirable for the winning bidder. The Wynn’s Shearing Oil Tin features a well renowned sheep shearer on the front by the name of Kevin Sarre, and the buyer, a man named Ricky Sarre, happens to be the son of the man on the tin cover!
The story Ricky told about his father and his shearing career was spectacular. His father Kevin wasn’t just any ordinary shearer, he was in fact a prodigy that had been highly regarded within the world of shearing on a competitive level. He began at an early age and by age 17, was able to shear his first 300 sheep in a day. He was a 5 time National Champion, a Golden Shears winner in 1963 and in 1965 (the first Aussie to win one), became a world record holder shearing a total of 346 sheep in one day! Kevin also notably contributed to the formulation of the ‘Tally hi’ method of shearing, a practice that is widely used today to shear sheep efficiently and reduce the overall stress on both the sheep and shearer.
It was unbeknownst to Ricky that his father had done a promotion for Wynn’s Shearing Oil , however it was 20 years ago when a friend of his came across it at first and recognised who was on the front of the tin. Learning of the tins existence, Ricky was determined to get his hand on one and it was through Burns & Co where he finally gained that opportunity, coming out as the winning bidder when the hammer struck on a rare tin that showcases his fathers legacy.
Kevin Sarre passed away in 1995 at the age of 62 years old, and his legacy is something that lives on in his children, with Ricky taking up shearing himself and his sister becoming a world record holding shearer too. With his hands on this very special tin, Ricky said that he’ll be having it sit in the lounge room proudly on display.
This story that Ricky shared was something that really did touch the team here at Burns & Co, as it just goes to show that the items and collectables that come through our auctions are sometimes destined to end up in hands of the right buyer!
