FOR THE PAST month, the main bar of the Foreign Correspondents' Club has resembled Dave Garcia's office - both are packed with sports and rock-music memorabilia waiting to be auctioned at the FCC Charity Ball. The items on display in the bar will be auctioned on Saturday. Those in his office form part of the trove for next year's ball.
A veteran of the steel industry in China, Garcia was one of the instigators of the annual fundraiser for the FCC Charity Fund, which assists the Po Leung Kuk in educating underprivileged children. The first auction, three years ago, was his idea.
'We had quite a few sports items,' he says. 'Then I started contacting friends in the rock'n'roll world, at record companies and so on, and they started getting things for me.'
Soliciting and collecting items for the auction has since become a parallel career. Last year's haul netted $650,000, and Garcia has come up with quite a collection this year. Most items are expected to sell for more than $80,000 each.
Star lots this year include: a bass guitar signed by Sting; a page from the original string-quartet score for The Beatles classic Yesterday; a baseball signed by Joe DiMaggio, framed with a wedding photograph of 'Joltin' Joe' and Marilyn Monroe; and an original poster and production still from The World of Suzie Wong signed by Nancy Kwan.
Another lot that's likely to generate hot bidding is a traditional Chinese painting by Pu Yi, the last emperor of China. For the past few weeks it's hung in pride of place above the FCC bar. 'The Pu Yi painting came from a customer of mine in China, and it's paired with a copy of Time magazine from 1934 with the Last Emperor on the cover. I got hold of that from Time myself,' Garcia says.
