This is a sad story. Some years ago my son and I were driving through the town of Ararat, Victoria, Australia when I saw in the Council yard a large gun lying on it's side, with a wheel smashed in and covered with general rubbish. I bought the gun, actually a 150mm howitzer s/n 471, off the Council for Aust $500.00. I onsold it to a private military museum in Melbourne for $500.00. At the time all I was interested in was saving the howitzer. A year or so ago the restored howitzer was sold for $12.000. It isn't the money that hurts; now that subsequently I am very much involved with the preservation of War Trophy guns it is the knowledge that I could have owned such a gun.
At least it was saved.
The photo shows the howitzer in the museum, restored and prior to it's sale. (The whole contents of the museum were sold off in a 2 day auction).
Incidentally, the whole weapon is so perfectly balanced that it is possible to lift up the trail with one hand and easily swivel the howitzer from side to side. The museum owner who restored the howitzer told me that the original wooden wheels were punctured with shell fragments.
If the entire museum was sold off (I wish I could get the M3 in the background!), evidently, it couldn't maintain itself. This is common with museums as they come and go unless a lot of funding is in place. Did they do the restoration? If so, they've a lot of time and effort invested in it and I don't think $12,000 is unreasonable for such a piece. You did what you thought and felt was right at the time. You didn't think about money, which is commendable and unusual in today's world. The museum evidently had to think of money when they sold off their collection, so don't feel bad.
There are ways around this, such as the loan of pieces, rather than sale, contracts giving you first refusal for the sale price plus their investment (before an auction) and such. However, most museums will go for the deal you gave them and it seems as if they did a good job with the restoration.
You did good, even if you don't own the piece. Feel good that it wasn't cut up for scrap!
According to Billet's War trophies book - the 15cm howitzer #471 was captured by A Corp at Peronne. It was allotted to Ararat in the distribution of war trophies in 1920.
Well, I don't know but perhaps someone else might. The thing is that because of the legal link between individual cities and the government it is usual for private owners to keep to themselves somewhat.
