September 2013

Since May, when the largest world gathering of professional philatelists and serious stamp collectors for the year assembled at the Royal Exhibition Building, Leski Auctions stamp auction clearance rates have gone through the roof.

“At the time, millions of dollars in early Australian material changed hands and people were concerned that this would just flood the market,” managing director Charles Leski said.

Instead, this major world event created new interest and reawakened dormant stamp collectors who began actively seeking out new material.

Mossgreen is having a “no holds barred” one-off unreserved clearing auction sale from 2pm Monday at 310 Toorak Road, South Yarra to clear all items from the building prior to the company’s move to Armadale in the first week of October.

This unprecedented sale is in readiness for Mossgreen’ s new venture with Leski Auctions – which also is closing its Hawthorn East site and will now become a division of Mossgreen Pty Ltd – making the company (according to managing director Paul Sumner) Australia’s third largest fine art auction house behind Sotheby’s and Deutscher and Hackett.

Two magnificent Japanese bronze works from the late Meiji period (1869-1912) (both sourced from a Melbourne estate) and several 17^th and 18^th century Chinese shipwreck cargo pieces are highlights of Philips Auctions next decorative arts sale from noon on Sunday at 47 Glenferrie Road, Malvern.

One of the Japanese bronzes is a Tokyo School example of a young girl playing with her Japanese Chin dog.

A diamond “Cooper” bracelet, named after Hollywood western great Gary Cooper who bought the first of this design for his wife in 1958, is expected to galvanise auction goers for Sotheby’s Australia Melbourne jewellery sale on Tuesday at Anzac House, 4 Collins Street.

Designed by one of the 20^th century’s most renowned jewellery designers Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co, the bracelet comprises a series of six openwork cushion-shaped links, pave-set with round brilliant-cut diamonds.