Chris and Karen sell Furphy tank for $61,300 through auction

A Victorian collector has paid more than $60,000 to buy a rare Furphy tank through auction, smashing the previous record.

The saying one man’s trash is another man’s treasure couldn’t be more true for Karen and Chris Bartsh.

An old furphy tank, which was sitting in the paddock of their Beechworth farm in North East Victoria for some 30 years, has sold for more than $60,000 at an online clearing sale recently as part of an estate settlement.

An undisclosed Victorian collector secured the tank with a winning bid of $61,300, setting a record for a Furphy tank and beating out five other potential buyers in a fierce contest that saw 110 bids.

Initially Chris and Karen thought the 1942 tank might be valued at about $2000.

“It was a shock,” said Mr Bartsh, whose father Adrian bought the tank second-hand in the late ’60s or early ’70s.

“It has been in the paddock for the last 30 years. It must have sprung a leak for my father to stop using it. Our neighbour remembers pumping out septic tanks with it.

“I never dreamt it had such value.

Karen and Chris Bartsh of Beechworth with their Furphy tank which sold for more than $60,000. Picture: Kirrily Carberry

“After speaking to some collectors apparently it is one of only three that anyone knows of.”

The whopping figure more than doubles the previous record price paid for a Furphy tank when one was sold for $26,000 to Shepparton Furphy Museum curator Josh Powles in 2017.

More than five years later, Mr Powles said the Bartsh Furphy tank was so valuable because it had a rare 1942 model pump and bracket attached.

“There are only a few of the 1942 ends with pump brackets,” he said.

“At the time, purchasing a tank with the pump doubled the cost of the tank for the farmer, which was significant and why there were so few of them.”

Chris and Karen Bartsh’s Furphy tank was sold for a record price.

Kevin Hicks Real Estate clearing sales manager Chelsea McKay handled the sale and said the result was unbelievable.

“It just blew us away and the vendors were beside themselves. They just didn’t know what they had,” she said.

Furphy water carts and parts have become prized possessions for many collectors across Australia, with many of them manufactured near Shepparton by J Furphy and Sons since 1864.

Older forms of Furphy tanks had a variety of uses including storing water, milk and even carting blood from abattoirs.

Four years ago Glenrowan collector John “Clancy” Paull sold a rare 1977 Furphy tank end to Brett Ford for $17,000 in what was a record price for the smaller collectable.