Triple Brownlow medallist Ian Stewart’s honours up for auction after email from England

A random email from the UK that was initially ignored has led to a rare auction that could let someone into footy’s most prestigious and exclusive club.

The Brownlows of the great Ian Stewart are up for sale.

A lucky bidder could force their way into one of footy’s most exclusive clubs when Ian Stewart’s three Brownlow medals are sold off, all thanks to a clueless collector.

But the triple-medallist himself is not behind the auction and wants it to be stopped.

The only player to win three Brownlows across different clubs, Stewart’s 1965, 1966 medals won at St Kilda and 1971 medal when playing for Richmond, will go under the hammer on February 13.

Ian Stewart is awarded the 1966 Brownlow Medal at the MCG.

Leski Auctions will sell off the items as part of a huge array of sporting memorabilia over two days starting on February 12, but the Brownlow bonanza would not have happened if Charles Leski ignored a follow up email.

The long-time auctioneer received the first email from a man in England claiming to have Brownlows to sell, and a sceptical Leski initially left it on read.

“The first time I heard from these people, I thought it was just somebody fishing. I sort of ignored it, I get a lot of junk emails,” he said.

“And after a few days he wrote back again asking ‘did you get my original message?’. I said yes, being sort of doubtful thinking, ‘why would there be a Brownlow in England?’.

“And he wrote back saying ‘actually there are three’.”

The Stewart Brownlows were acquired “as part of a house and contents purchase”, according to Leski, and the auctioneer flew to the UK to tick off their legitimacy.

The vendor didn’t know what a Brownlow was before Googling it, and again searched the web for somewhere to sell it before stumbling across Leski Auctions.

Stewart was contacted for comment by this masthead.

He told Channel 7 he “1000 per cent” did not give away or sell his medals, hadn’t seen them in decades and he is against the auction.

The auction house has been in contact with Stewart in the lead up to the auction.

Leski is no stranger to football’s highest individual honour, having sold and valued “a lot” of Brownlow medals in the past, including the first one, Geelong great Edward ‘Carji’ Greeves’, sold in 2011 for $203,660.

The family of Essendon legend Dick Reynolds sold his triple-treat of league best-and-fairests together as one auction lot in 2017 for a cool $252,800.

Suzie Horman with her father Dick Reynolds’ Brownlow medals before the 2017 auction. Picture: Jay Town

Only Haydn Bunton (Fitzroy) and Bob Skilton (South Melbourne) join Reynolds and Stewart in the triple-winner club, giving a collector with deep pockets a chance to be one of only a handful of places to hold three Brownlows under one name at once.

That would send a pool room to a rare stratosphere.

But Leski has broken Stewart’s trifecta up, selling each individually given expected interest in the 1966 medal, which was won in the same year as St Kilda’s sole premiership.

“The question this time for me was what do I do with three Brownlow medals for the same player but two different teams?,” Leski said.

“1965 is remarkable because he actually played in so few games (14) but still got so many best-on-grounds (six), so that is remarkable because it was unexpected. 1966 is remarkable because it is the one premiership for St Kilda.

Ian Stewart receives the Brownlow Medal from the Governor, Sir Rohan Delacombe at the MCG in 1971.

“And then Richmond, there are strong followers there.”

Each medal is estimated by Leski to sell for between $50-75,000, with a starting bid of $40,000.

The two-day auction will also include baggy green caps belonging to Australian test players Kerry O’Keefe, Graeme Wood and Bill Johnston, plus a blazer worn by vice-captain Lindsay Hassett on the famous 1948 Invincibles tour of England.

And gold, silver and bronze medals will be sold that were won during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.