Preston Opportunities Auction – Eclectic Museum Liquidation Auction
Friday, October 10th, 2025
8964 Thomaston Road, Macon, GA 31220
www.prestonopportunities.com

MACON, GA. — Preston Evans has dropped hints in the past that the next auction on his calendar would be his last, but there was always a longtime friend’s estate that needed liquidating, or a major consignor would beat a path to his door that he couldn’t turn away. Fate always conspired to keep him in the game, a game he’d been playing for decades. Only this time it’s different.

The Georgia-based auctioneer will finally sail off into retirement following one last hurrah: a two-day monster auction planned for October 10 and 11 at a former church building Evans owns in Macon.

“My wife’s been after me to do this for years, and I finally gave in,” said Evans. “It’s time for other folks to enjoy what I’ve been holding onto for a long, long time.”

The more than 1,100 lots will include relics from MGM Studios dating to Hollywood’s Golden Age; movie posters from the 1930s and 40s; vintage cars and motorcycles; coin-ops and music machines (to include arcade games and jukeboxes); antique automatons; boat motors; carousel animals and records.

Day one, starting at 9 am, will be live-only; no internet bidding. Items will include jukeboxes and speakers; coin-ops and Coke machines; tin toys; boat motors; and some (but not all) of the carousel animals. Day two, also at 9 am, will feature the big-ticket items. Online bidding will be available, through LiveAuctioneers. Phone and absentee bids will also be accepted.

The MGM items, now owned by Evans, were previously owned by Volney Phifer (1898-1974), known in the movie industry as Captain Phifer and world famous for being the chief wrangler of most of the animals used on a vast array of MGM films from the silent era up to the late 1950s. After he died in 1974, his collection went to his sister-in-law, who put it up for auction through Evans’ firm, Preston Opportunities. Evans purchased many of the items for his collection.

The MGM items include a life-size statue with plaque of Leo the Lion, whose roar to this day still signals the start of an MGM movie. Leo was the most famous of all the MGM animals; Captain Volney traveled widely touring Leo the Lion around in a caravan to trumpet the latest MGM film. A life-size mechanical elephant whose stomach moves as he “breathes” in and out, and whose ears wave and tail wags, is a surefire conversation starter. A lobby display statue of actor Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan character, shown swinging from a vine, is on offer, as are many negatives from the photographs Volney took as he traveled the world on MGM tours.

Vehicles in the auction will be led by a Jaguar MK V drophead coupe that’s undergone an extensive renovation. 1951 was the model’s last year of production (only 108 of the cars were produced between 1948 and 1951). The many features include a 3.5-liter engine with a 4-speed transmission fitted to a right-hand drive chassis, a three-position convertible top with functioning landau irons, two-tone paint, burled walnut dash and leather interior.

In addition to the vehicles, there will also be a stash of antique car parts being offered both days.

The automatons up for bid are true antiques and include the Dutch Drunkard, circa 1905, by the famous Paris automaton maker Roulett & Decamps, 43 inches tall by 20 inches wide. As he sits on his oak chair, grinning and looking from side to side, the wooden-shoed Dutchman pours himself a drink and brings the liquid to his lips.

Clocks feature a French mahogany clock featuring automata of children playing on a playground constructed in a shadow box grandmother clock motif. The fretwork date on the handmade pendulum is 1826. Measuring 71 by 20 inches, it has a walnut face and ivory numerals. Beneath the cabinet are two porcelain dolls on a teeter-totter.

Also up for bid is a rare Bayer Swiss automated clock, created around 1840 and hand-tooled with the maker’s name. An eight-bell music box plays as a crystal waterfall appears to rain between the lock and the music box. The entertainment is a tiny ivory acrobat doing flips on a trapeze to the sound of the chimes.

Coin-ops and music machines will be plentiful, with the possible headliner being the Star Trade Register, one of the three most collectible cigar store trades stimulators. The one in the sale, circa 1903, features a Regina coin-op disc music mechanism.

Original movie posters from Hollywood’s Golden Age will include a three-sheet (39 by 78 inches) poster for Swifty (Diversion Pictures, 1935), starring Hoot Gibson; a one-sheet (27 by 41 inches) poster for Starlight Over Texas (Monogram, 1938), starring Tex Ritter; and a one-sheet for Song of the Buckaroo (Monogram, 1938).

Preview will be Thursday, October 9, from 3-7 pm, at the venue at 8964 Thomaston Road, just off Highway 74. Doors will open on auction days, October 10 and 11, at 8 am for previews and registration.

For information, www.prestonopportunities.com or 478-461-4931.

IN-HOUSE ONLY AUCTION Registration 8am to 9am, auction begins at 9am
Preview Day Thursday, October 9th, 2025,4pm to 7pm
10% buyer’s premium in-house Saturday October 11th, 2025 IN-HOUSE & on LIVEAUCTIONEERS Registration 8am to 9am, auction begins at 9am
If you are bidding on the liveauctioneers platform, you only need to register on liveauctioneers.
Please register in advance of the auction if you are bidding on liveauctioneers.
www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/387701_ eclectic-museum-liquidation-auction
Presented by Preston Evans – GAL1287 & Karen Braswell (478)461-4931 • (678) 296-3326 Check our website for details & updates www.prestonopportunities.com
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