The above link should take you to the catalog where you can see the items.
Per the website:
300 Marion County Road
Wiersdale, FL 32195
Date(s) 3/13/2025 - 3/22/2025
Friday, March 21 at 9:00 am and Saturday, MARCH 22 at 9:00 am ONLINE AUCTION begins Saturday at 10:00 am
We are honored to be selected to conduct the Public Auction of the carriage collection for the Estate of Gloria Austin Including the Gold Imperial Coach and Rare Museum Quality Horse-Related Items.
I was bummed to see that it was a “pick up only” auction! If they shipped, I would be definitely bidding on some paintings! Some of those carriages…jaw dropping beautiful!
We got to visit her Museum a number of years ago. It was amazing!! Saw stuff I had read about in books, rarest of the rare. Seems like she had everything PROPERLY restored and all vehicles were drivable. Ms. Austin herself was quite capable of driving any carriage hitch, with any combination of horses and could be seen with Pairs, Tandems, Randoms, various combinations of 3-4-5-6 horse multiples out front. A real encyclopedia of Carriage knowledge and history of the vehicle models and their makers in Europe and the USA. She rescued a number of vehicles in sad condition and restored them to their present beauty. I believe the featured gold looking State Coach was one of them.
Accessories for European carriage travel were numerous among the displayed carriages. We were amazed at how many carriage wheel cases she had!! Every vehicle had them. I guess you didn’t travel without spare wheels back then!! They included lamps of every description and size, ornamentation of the lamp glass. Proper harness for the style of vehicle was shown on model horses. So cool to see the ingenuity in design on those older carriages and harness for improving the ride and balance for speed. She had a 2-wheel Curricle with model horses, proper harness to exhibit how the pole was balanced with the spring and support bar between the saddles of a matched (height) Pair. Preferred vehicle of all Romantic book heros at the beginning of the early 1800’s! It actually was the fastest carriage on the roads back then, but truly did require an expert driver!
There won’t be another collection like this again! Wish we could go.
And, the wonders of an automated/AI classification system in use:
https://martinauctioneers.hibid.com/lot/237610254/gold-coach-dress-chariot?ref=catalog
shows as Group - Category: Fashion-Women’s Clothing–Dresswear !
Ohhh! Thanks for the link!! Wonderful viewing and shots of the details!!
The link is also in the original post 
it should be fun to watch in real time.
Ok, thank you too! Somehow I skimmed right over your link!!
With only 275 lots, they must have sold or disposed of a bunch of items before posting the catalog. Not a single leather wheel cover to be seen!! As well as many other lovely items we saw on our visit. Her fiberglass horses are a unique mold, I don’t think anyone else has them. They look very European, like carriage/coaching horses seen in older art. Maybe she had a mold made, to get horses suitable for her coaches.
A friend is attending so I hope we get to hear all the “in-person” details and prices.
Here is an article on the restoration of the State Coach:
Gloria Austin’s Golden Carriage Brought Back to Life - HorsesDaily
And a couple of videos of it being driven after restoration:
Gloria Austin Golden Carriage Presentation 2017, Weirsdale, FL
Wow! Those are some nice items. Being local pickup, do you think they will get anywhere near what those items are actually worth?
I’m tempted to drive down there and look… my friend wants to drive her haflinger. Maybe I should bring her with?
Who knows, but big equipment trailers have been pulling in here all day. And if you think about it, there’s a very small amount of people who are doing these big collectors items, and undoubtedly they’re always traveling some distance to get a specific item. Florida is not an outlier in that regard.
Wow, that was some fun window shopping! I hope everything goes to folks who appreciate it and will take care of it. Or use what is in working shape.
A little sales peek, way more stuff than shown in the online catalogue, including French wheel cases
Oh wow (again)! It’s a good thing I live several states away
DMK Thanks for being “the eyes in place” at the auction. As you said “way more stuff” than shown as catalog pictures! Anything else you want to share with us would be wonderful!! This will certainly be an auction to remember.
I just stopped by, because artwork is a little bit of an addiction with me, and I cannot spend too long in there… I’ve been bitching about how many picture boxes I had to buy at $40 a pop to move my existing collection from Georgia to South Carolina. I do not need to add to it!
The online auction starts at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow and there is a live webcast from what I understand. They’re also letting people bring stuff up and run it through early if they want to bid, although I’m sure that’s not the big ticket items, but rather the very extensive artwork collection. Again, that is why I am not over there!
Ha ha! We do have to be careful when faced with massive quantities of our addictions! I can buy very little wall art, no spaces left.
Thank you for what you could share.
The sheer amount of art I had tucked away in closets because no wall space was, umm, shocking. The new house has more square footage but the old house had vaulted ceilings that allowed for large expanses of artwork. The new house does not. And yet, lot 464 through 467 spoke to me. Which is why I had to leave. Fast 
Depending on what time my lesson is tomorrow I may find myself over there again. Because, addiction. If so I’ll take some more pics. The lamp collection is absolutely stunning and I’m very grateful that Gloria’s passion was horses not cob sizes equines because the carts and gigs are lovely. Mind you, I have ZERO interest in that sort of showing and even less interest in the uncomfortableness of a gig with simple leaf springs after driving in something with air bags, air shocks AND leaf springs (and 4 wheels plus brakes)… But … PRETTY!!
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