Neighbours star Annie Jones has raised thousands for charity after selling a nostalgic prop from the Australian soap. The infamous painting of Mrs Nell Mangel was sold at auction last week by Dementia Australia, raising AU$19,500 (£10,300) for the charity.
Fans of the soap will remember that the unflattering portrait was painted by Helen Daniels (Anne Haddy) in 1987, with Mrs Mangel (Vivean Gray) calling the painting “a monstrosity” at the time.
It has since become an iconic fixture on Ramsay Street. When the series ended, the portrait was gifted to Jones, who played Mrs Mangel’s granddaughter, Jane Harris.
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A week ago, Jones announced that the auction had gone live, saying in an Instagram video: “If you want this painting, you can have it. Because now that the show has wrapped up, they very kindly gave me this painting.”
She continued: “And I have decided that I would like to donate it to Dementia Australia because both my mother and Jane’s mother both had Alzheimer’s, or a type of dementia.”
Sharing an update yesterday, Jones posted a screenshot of the winning bid to her Instagram page, confirming that the painting had sold for AU$19,500.
She captioned the post: “Wow! Congratulations and thank you to the successful bidder. A wonderful result and one Nan would be proud of.”
In a previous post, Jones confirmed that the painting sold at auction was, in fact, a replica of the original after the 1987 prop was damaged.
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Replying to a fan on Instagram, she said: “This is the painting that was used on set since Jane returned in 2018. The original painting from the ’80s was damaged and that’s why it was replaced by a refreshed version when Jane returned.
“A ‘stunt’ one was used for the scene where it falls off the wall. This painting is signed on the back by all the cast who were in the final episode.”
The painting was signed by beloved cast members including Jackie Woodburne, Takaya Honda and Rebekah Elmaloglou.
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