Wickham's Ryan Papworth once met Bob Hawke at a sportsman's lunch at Singleton Rugby Club.
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"He strolled in wearing these blue suede loafers. He skulled his beer and did all the Bob Hawke things," Mr Papworth said.
"Just a real cool dude. A real suave operator."
When he heard more than 200 of Bob Hawke's possessions were going to auction, Mr Papworth had a close look at what was on offer.
"I probably picked out 10 things that I was sort of keen on. The picture was the main thing that I wanted."
The photo of the former prime minister smoking a cigar was taken by renowned Australian photographer Richard Freeman.
Its initial estimate was $500 to $700. The hammer fell at $10,000.
"I'm no art collector or aficionado, not in the slightest, but I'm a Bob Hawke fan," Mr Papworth said.
"I just really like the picture. It's an iconic image."
Mr Papworth attended the auction at Paddington RSL on Tuesday night.
"Some of the things I thought might have gone for a few hundred dollars, went for tens of thousands of dollars," he said.
At first, he thought, "I'm not going to get anything here".
"Seriously, it was absolute bedlam."
Shapiro Auctioneers managing director Andrew Shapiro said "bidding was frenzied".
Newspaper, TV and radio journalists attended.
"There were over 760 bidders online and 400 bidders in the room. There is absolutely nothing unsold and most items tripled the estimate, if not more," Mr Shapiro said.
"I was surprised. I realised the emotional attraction to Bob Hawke's life is enormous to so many people."
Mr Papworth grew up in Singleton, but now lives in Wickham. He owns office technology company CBTech in Mayfield.
Asked if he was a Labor supporter, he joked: "Not at the moment".
"I like Bob Hawke for the man - the quintessential Aussie bloke," he said.
"I grew up with Bob Hawke as prime minister. I felt lucky to meet him. He had this charisma. He commanded the room and talked to everyone. He's an absolute man of the people. I don't think you get that these days."
Showing he holds Bob Hawke's value of sharing the wealth, Mr Papworth said: "I'd be open to loaning the photo to any Hunter galleries that would like to display it".
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