Australian winery collection to tempt auction goers

Melbourne-based Philips Auctions timed online sale – due to finish from 12pm Monday September 19 at 47 Glenferrie Road, Malvern – has a litany of interesting lots to entice auction goers.

First up are the items from Gordon Cope-Williams Cope Williams Winery at Romsey in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges which the trustees now wish to sell.

Cope-Williams took Sydney socialite Lady Storey as his second wife after her husband died and together they built a considerable collection of art and antique furniture.

The catalogue cover (lot 48), a pair of fighting hares entitled “Valse au clair de lune” (Dancing in the Moonlight) 2007 by French sculptor Christian Maas which comes with a copy of his Catalogue Raisonne (Volume II: Sculptures 1987-2011), is a major drawcard in the collection.

There also are about 30 paintings from the estate including two by Ernest Buckmaster (1897-1968) entitled Floral Still Life Pink Rhododendrons (lot 252) and Late Afternoon on the Yarra (lot 202).

Other winery works include James Ranalph Jackson’s (1882-1975) Sydney Harbour (lot 245) Louis Kahn’s Musical Trio (lot 241) – along with Robert H. Johnson’s (1890-1964) Coastal Scene “North of Narrabeen” (lot 226) and Mary Lanarch Jones Daffodils in a jug (lot 225).  

Furniture from Romsey includes a c1800 Georgian mahogany long case clock (lot 49), a circa 1670 Charles II oak panelled chest (lot 347) and a Bechstein semi concert model C grand piano (lot 279).

An impressive collection of antique sterling silver is from a South African estate that includes a 1665 Charles II beaker (lot 132), a 1694 William and Mary tankard (lot 122) with makers mark for Roger Grange and a tea kettle and stand (lot 120).

Other fine sterling silver to feature from this collection is an 1822 Georgian Rococo hot water jug by master silversmith Paul Storr (lot 127) and a 1795 Daniel Pontifex George III Rococo chalice (lot 130).

Moorcroft pieces are another attraction including a c2000 Rachel Bishop “gypsy” pattern vase (lot 361) and a limited edition “Spring Time at Home” jug by Philip Gibson (lot 365).

The jewellery auction, conducted at the same time, includes the last items belonging to Melbourne gold merchant the late Peter Davis, who assembled Australia’s largest ever collection of gold jewellery (some 10,000 items) before he died in 2017.