Item TB333
This Item was Sold on 30 August
2016 for $62
Other collectable boomerangs for sale can be found on the
Collectible Boomerangs link.
Historical Pricing information for this item and similar collectable boomerangs can be found on the Boomerang Pricing Guide
|
This medium size traditional boomerang was made in the early 1950s by Frank Donnellan, one of Australia's most famous boomerang throwers and makers. The plywood is 6 ply Coachwood with a thickness of 8 mm. The upper surface is decorated with Frank's Koala art and the words " Greetings from Australia ". This is a true returner. It takes a hard throw and the flight range is about 20 metres. The underside of the elbow is signed. This boomerang is in very good condition. There are no cracks. The only damage is a small chip on the outer edge of the elbow that is visible from the lower surface only. This can easily be sanded down if needed. Although Frank made a lot of these plywood models, very few survive, today, making this one a great collectible.
Frank Donnellan was one of Australia's earliest boomerang champions and record holders. Frank did amazing feats and he claimed to be the holder of "all records" long before there were any official boomerang clubs or sanctioned competitions. On May 4th, 1934, Frank threw a long distance boomerang of his own construction at Centennial Park, Sydney in the presence of "Sun" news representatives. The boomerang circled a pole 140 yards away and then it was caught on the return. This, and other feats included throwing over Watson's Bay Gap one hundred yards over the water and caught on the return and throwing off the "Sun" Office Buildings seventy-five yards out over the city, and caught on the return. Frank made and sold boomerangs well into the 1950s. His commercial models were constructed out of plywood and his long distance models were constructed out of Whalebone, a composite material similar to Paxolin, but made out of pressed whale baleen and wood products. Whalebone was used by the railroad companies to line the inside of railroad box cars for shock absorbing purposes. Frank obtained his whalebone material by jumping into empty box cars as trains passed by his home and he would then rip out a sheet and take it home to make his long distance boomerangs. Frank's commercial boomerangs were plentiful in the 1940s and early 1950s, but they have become quite scarce and they are hard to obtain by contemporary collectors, especially in mint condition. |
How to Order | Back to: Boomerang Catalog | Collectable Boomerangs | Boomerang Pricing Guide | contact: Ted Bailey