Philips Auctions

With Christmas only a couple of months away, shoppers are beginning to turn their attention to gifts for loved ones.

Melbourne-based Philips Auctions premium selection of antique and modern jewellery, being auctioned online and ending from 9.30am Monday October 28, could be the ideal solution for those looking for an extra special item.
Lot 1, a stunning black and white diamond leopard bangle by Leo Pizzo, certainly fits the bill with its $16,000-$22,000 catalogue estimate.

Melbourne interior decorator and landscaper the late Daryl Mills, who died late last year, was a popular figure among collectors.

Those who visited his business Demille Decorative Arts in High Street, Kew became used to seeing him in trademark white overalls tending to his largely art deco and 1950s and 1960s collection of fittings and furniture, and he was a great supporter of Melbourne’s auction houses.

Daryl’s artistic life began at 18 with landscaping that also incorporated an art gallery in Gardenvale.

Melbourne auction houses loved Har Siu and she was regarded fondly as one of their favourite customers.

As Philips Auctions director Tony Philips commented, “she collected pretty decorative items over many years – the crowning glory being a fine gilt bronze neoclassical mantel clock ‘a Cercles Tournant’ that she bought from Sothebys for $50,000.”

Har Siu died five years ago and her collection is now being auctioned through Philips Auctions from 3pm Sunday June 23 at 47 Glenferrie Road, Malvern - with all lots unreserved.

For fans of indigenous artist icon Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1909-1996), Melbourne-based Philips Auctions is offering three of her paintings (lots 230-232), all entitled My Country as part of its forthcoming timed online fine and decorative arts ending from 9.30am Monday May 13.

Although the paintings are nowhere near her normally very pricy works, they are still carrying individual catalogue estimates of $15,000-$20,000 and are a worthy addition to Aboriginal art collections.

International and Australian buyers are salivating over the largest collection of Japanese and Chinese artefacts ever seen in Australia.

To be auctioned online concluding from 8pm Wednesday April 10 by Melbourne-based Philips Auctions, the Coopers Collection is currently on view in the company’s rooms at 47 Glenferrie Road, Malvern East.

With more than 400 lots on offer, director Tony Philips says he already has more than 250 international bidders and more than 200 from Australia.

Art collectors can have a field day at Philips Auctions forthcoming Christmas sale that features a collection of limited-edition prints, etchings and lithographs by several of Australia’s best-known artists – assembled by an 89-year-old Melbourne collector keen to pass it on to fellow stalwarts.

The online decorative arts and jewellery auction, finishing from 9.30am Monday December 11 at 47 Glenferrie Road, Malvern, is a great opportunity to acquire a suitable Christmas present for family and friends.

Robert Reis was such a famous and knowledgeable London-based antiques dealer and collector that one of England’s oldest and largest auction houses Christie’s was keen to employ him – and he also trained many of the commentators on the well-known TV show Antiques Roadshow.

For 45 years with partner Gay Bowler, he spent much of his time travelling throughout Europe and the United States in the pursuit of his passion before moving to Australia in 2009.

Quality collectable sterling silver is a highlight of Melbourne-based Philips Auctions forthcoming timed online auction finishing from 10am Monday May 15 at 47 Glenferrie Road, Malvern.

The silver is particularly notable for two 1836 pieces by famous London silversmith Paul Storr (1770-1844) – both William IV period – one a coffee pot (lot 140) and the other a teapot (lot 141).

When the five-year-old mare Saxony won the 1949 Williamstown Cup, owner Frank Coppin was over the moon.

The last of the four cups run during Melbourne’s Spring Carnival – the others being the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Moonee Valley Cup – Frank knew that his horse was in exalted company.

Saxony had already forged an enviable reputation – becoming the first horse to win the mile-long Toorak Handicap, first run in 1881, twice (1948 and 1949).

Perhaps it was the strong links to his homeland that inspired Dutchman Karl Hulsberggen to amass a significant collection of Gouda pottery after he migrated in 1951 to Melbourne.

Or it could have been his passion for antique furniture, gold, diamonds jewellery, stamps and general collectables that led in the early 1970s to him establishing a second-hand dealership – first in Oakleigh, then later Burwood and East Kew before he finally decided in his late 60s that it was time to call it a day.