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A magnificent circa 1918 five-piece sterling silver and ivory tea service (lot 81) belonging to the Teltscher family and smuggled from Austria at the outbreak of World War II has achieved the top result of $55,000 at Melbourne-based Leski Auctions two-day Decorative Arts & Collectables sale on June 27-28.
Crafted by famous Austrian architect and designer and co-founder of Wiener Werkstatte Josef Hoffman (1870-1956), the tea set was taken to England by Henry...
A keen collector of horse racing memorabilia paid $115,000 for a beautiful solid gold trophy (lot 489) at Melbourne-based Leski Auctions two-day Australian & Historical sale on May 30-31 that saw most of the 1540 lots on offer go under the hammer.
Classic in style, the 18-carat two-handled trophy was won by Buckulana – a local Aboriginal word for “my lovely one” – at the December 1951 Southern Riverina Picnic Turf Breeder’s Plate in Deniliquin, owned by Mrs A.J....
An unusual collection of rare 19th century English glass apothecary specie jars easily exceeded catalogue estimates when they went under the hammer at Melbourne-based Leski Auctions May 13 sale.
Part of a bigger sale that included radios and other collectables, the jars belonged to retired Elsternwick pharmacists Geoff and Sue Szwarcbard who spent years tracking them down to build a collection that paid tribute to the dramatic changes over the ages in how...
At its first appearance at auction after enhancing corporate and private collections for almost 60 years, Australian artist Fred Williams (1927-1982) highly significant landscape Pond in Landscape 1965 (lot 38) did not disappoint when it was knocked down for an above catalogue estimate of $850,000 ($1,043,182 including buyer’s premium) at Menzies Melbourne sale on May 7.
Following his return in 1965 from an intensive seven-month tour of Europe, Williams...
Gold is continuing to excite major auction interest in Australia with a 250-gram 99.99 pure bullion bar (lot 28) knocked down for $46,000 at Melbourne-based Leski Auctions coin and banknote sale on April 28-29.
The bar wasn’t the only gold to shine at the auction with six one-ounce ABC ingots (lots 22-27) also keenly sought after.
Lots 22 and 27 each sold for $5800 while the remainder brought individual prices of $5700.
It seems that anything with high...
Mid-century masterpieces by famous artists such as those used by Venice’s iconic Murano glass manufacturer were always going to excite auction-going collectors.
So, it is of little surprise that Melbourne-based Leski Auctions sale on February 25 saw few pieces left unsold. Two hundred of the 245 Murano, Swedish and Finnish glass creations changed hands, many of them above catalogue estimates.
Although a couple of the top estimate pieces were not sold on the day...
Nothing like celebrity status to help sell a stamp collection – and so it proved for famous Australian wine writer, judge and vigneron James Halliday who offered his collection of South Australian Departmental stamps for auction as part of Melbourne-based Abacus Auctions December 2-5 sale of stamps, coins, banknotes, postal history and sporting memorabilia.
Introduced in 1868 in South Australia, departmental stamps were overprinted in black or red ink with the...
A rare and important mid-19th century antique Australian Huon pine and turned whale’s tooth cruet set (lot 6) surprised many buyers when it sold for a staggering $36,000 on a $12,000-$20,000 catalogue estimate at Melbourne-based Leski Auctions Australian & Historical sale on November 29-30.
The cruet set descends through the family from First Lieutenant Benjamin Bayly (1797-1850) who was part of the Royal North British Fusilier Regiment of Foot sent...
So striking was John Brack’s (1920-1999) The Club 1989 (lot 17) on Menzies showroom wall prior to its November 19 auction at 1 Darling Street, South Yarra, it was no surprise that it topped the sale listings at $638,182 (including buyer’s premium) once the last of the 101 paintings on offer had been knocked down to an eager buyer.
Brack is extremely popular and his works, when they appear on the secondary market, rarely fail to sell.
The Club...
A rare 1855-57 New Zealand 1/- stamp, probably the only example still with its original gum (lot 1093), sold for $32,000 at Melbourne-based Leski Auctions Stamps, Coins & Banknotes, Postcards and Postal History sale on November 12 and 13 as collectors rushed to snap up the more valuable auction items.
With many of the lots carrying estimates of a few hundred dollars, most were cleared over the two-day sale.
Perhaps the auction surprise was a circa 1854 but...
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