Leski Auctions

A cute little pottery plaque by the late Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (lot 178) is one of the intriguing attractions at Melbourne-based Leski Auctions Decorative Arts & Collectables two-day sale from 11am Saturday February 27 and at the same time Sunday February 28 at 727-729 High Street, Armadale.

The 1956 plaque, entitled Joûeur de Flute et Chèvre and from an edition of 450, appears in Alain Ramié’s 1988 Picasso catalogue of Edited Ceramic Works 1947-1971.

Leski Auctions has launched its 2021 Melbourne auction year with a Stamps, Coins and Postal History sale from 12pm Sunday February 7 at 727-729 High Street, Armadale.

The live auction, featuring more than 600 lots with estimates ranging from $50 to $60,000, will be preceded by an online only sale of more than 900 lots that will close progressively over Friday February 5 and Saturday February 6.

The late Marvin Hurnall was a Melbourne-based fastidious collector of Australian pottery – so much so that most of the cupboards in his house were filled with works by famous names from the Australian genre such as William Ricketts, Robert Remued, Arthur Merric Boyd and Robert Prenzel.

Richmond star Dustin Martin isn’t the only player to be voted best-on-ground in all three Australian Football League  grand final premierships (2017 and 2019-2020) in which he has featured.

These days, best-on-ground in a grand final is awarded the Norm Smith Medal – named after the legendary Melbourne coach who steered his team to several premierships during the 1950s and 1960s.

Before 1979, when the first Norm Smith Medal was awarded, the best player was just that without any concrete award acknowledgment.

More than 100 vendors have agreed to let Leski Auctions have a crack at selling an eclectic and comprehensive range of items online in an “auction behind closed doors” scenario as Melbourne’s continuing coronavirus lockdown drags on into yet another month.

The online auction – complete with virtual viewing, telephone and absentee bidding provisions – is the latest in a long line of such remote sales necessitated by a stubborn COVID-19 pandemic that only now is being brought under some sort of control in Australia while raging like wildfire overseas.

The almost 900 lots that comprised the late Australian Geoffrey Burke’s collection is as eclectic as any collection can possibly get.

From Scandinavian and Murano glass to international porcelain and ceramics, Australian pottery and art glass, antiquities, Chinese and other Asian artefacts, silver, jewellery, furniture, lamps, clocks, photographs, posters, paintings, fossils and other items – if he liked it, he collected it.

Like several other auction houses in Melbourne who have reverted to online only auctions during Stage 3 and 4 coronavirus lockdowns in Victoria, Leski Auctions has pushed ahead with a two-day Stamp, Coins & Postal History sale (covering almost 1000 lots) for Saturday August 22 and Sunday August 23 where the only person bidders will be able to see is auctioneer Charles Leski standing in an empty auction house room in Armadale.

Leski Auctions is optimistically defying the odds of the Australian Government COVID-19 pandemic restrictions with big sales to attract the allowed but severely limited number of in-room auction goers along with absentee, phone and online bidders.

Its latest effort – a Decorative Arts & Collectables auction from 10am Sunday June 28 at 727-729 High Street, Armadale – lists 912 lots covering a wide range of collectables from silver to international and decorative arts, furniture, paintings, jewellery, clocks and a Winston Churchill collection.

The masthead figure of Don Francisco de Assis Maria Fernando de Bourbon – in English more commonly known as Francis of Assisi after the saint of the same name (lot 10) – from a 19^th century sailing ship will be among the items to greet auction goers as Leski Auctions cautiously transcends back to live auctions following the easing of restrictions after the coronavirus pandemic lockdown in Australia.

With Australia still operating under heavy restrictions following the hundreds of thousands of deaths and economic destruction worldwide caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Leski Auctions is the first of the Melbourne-based auction houses to hold a full-blown sporting memorabilia sale involving 716 lots – its biggest for many years.

The auction, from 12pm Sunday May 10 (Mothers’ Day) at 727-729 High Street Armadale, covers valued and historic football, cricket, billiards, boxing, golf, horse racing, tennis, motor sports and Olympic Games items.