Agricultural & Horticultural Medals

Lot 535    Day 1    Agricultural & Horticultural Medals

Estimate $1,600
Bid at live.noble.com.au

NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURAL CATTLE SHOW SOCIETY, hand inscribed in silver (59mm), no maker, reverse inscribed 'First Prize/Southdown Ram Hog/Awarded To/Mr E.Maclean/Novr 6th 1866'; another identical but (50mm), reverse inscribed 'Second Prize/Southdown Ram Hog/awarded to/Mr E.Maclean/Novbr 6th 1866'. Some surface scratches and hairlines, otherwise very fine and an excessively rare pair of early awards. (2)

Ex Mowbray Collectables Sale 22 (lot 413).^^Mr Every Maclean was born in Cornwall, England in about 1818 and arrived in New Zealand in the 1850s. He intended to settle in the south but due to inclement weather the ship he was on docked in Auckland and it was here that he and his brother Robert led very productive and active lives. They acquired a vast area of land at Pakuranga and imported a large number of valuable thoroughbred and Clydesdale horses and pedigree cattle and sheep. Every Maclean became famous throughout the colony particularly for his horses and shorthorns and Hereford cattle and Southdown and Leicester sheep.^^During the Maori Wars he raised a corps in 1860 known as the Howick Cavalry Volunteers of which he was captain. He later became involved with the Auckland Provincial Government and for some years was a member of the Auckland Provincial Council and for a period was acting-superintendent. He was elected a member of the Legislative Council but his required attendance at meetings in Wellington proved incompatible with his farming activities so he resigned. His farming operation at Waikato, trading as Maclean and Co, was later known as the Auckland Agricultural Company. He had interests in many other clubs and associations connected to farming until his retirement, whereupon he led a relatively quiet life. He died in August 1901. ^^With research.