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Pundits were predicting an artist auction record for Del Kathryn Barton’s painting Openly Song 2014 (lot 33) – featured on the catalogue cover at Menzies first auction for 2020 on February 27 in Melbourne.
However, it was not to be as the price with buyer’s premium of $282,273 fell well short of the record of $378,200 for Of Pollen set by Sotheby’s Australia in 2018.
Barton’s painting was not the only work to not measure up to pre-auction expectations...
Conservatively estimated at $10,000-$15,000, a 19th century French Japanese-style silver, niello and enamel comport (lot 20) brought gasps from auction goers as it went under the hammer for $46,000 at Leski Auctions first decorative arts and collectables sale for the year in its Melbourne rooms on Saturday, February 22.
The two-day auction, featuring more than 1000 wide-ranging lots of which 790 sold, brought item prices ranging from several hundred to many...
While lunar soil brought back by the first unmanned robotic probe to touch down on the Moon’s surface failed to find a buyer at Leski’s December 11 Melbourne auction, memorabilia from pioneer aviation flights resulted in a great deal of spirited bidding.
The tiny sample of soil from the Russian Luna 16 September 1970 expedition (lot 261) carried a starting price of $400,000, so it was always going to be big ask to find a sufficiently wealthy interested buyer – while...
It was no surprise when John Brack’s Yellow Legs, 1969 (lot 13) painting vaulted well past its $600,000-$800,000 catalogue estimate, with spirited bidding in the room and on the telephone, to eventually be knocked down to a successful phone bidder for $1,195,600 including buyer’s premium at Deutscher and Hackett’s Melbourne November 27 art sale.
Owned by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the vibrant painting was part of his highly acclaimed Ballroom Dancing...
Two works by British artist and marine painter John Cleveley the Younger (1747-1786) fetched top prices well above catalogue estimates at Leski Auctions November 24 Melbourne sale.
Both, lots 429 and 430, are watercolours on paper that record scenes from Captain James Cook’s second and third voyages to the South Pacific featuring the friendly island of Moorea and HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery in the bay off the island of Huaheine – and sold for $16,000 and $13,000...
A rare 19th century Chinese jade embellished hardwood corner-leg table (lot 567) belonging to a Queensland-based private collector and a 1660 painting of Margaret Weller (lot 119) attributed to famous Dutch-English portrait artist Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680) took the top two spots at Gibson’s Auction November 11 Melbourne sale.
The table sold for $18,300 including buyer’s premium and the painting for $14,640. Born Pieter van der Fraes to Dutch parents living...
A chair designed in 1913 by Weiner Werkstatte founder Joseph Hoffmann (lot 386) was the top selling item at Melbourne-based Leski Auctions October 20 sale – going under the hammer for $46,000.
Originally part of a furniture suite from the Gallia apartment belonging to wealthy Viennese landowners and entrepreneurs Moriz and Hermine Gallia who built the five-storey structure in 1910, like other well off Jewish families the couple were art patrons and supporters of new...
It might have been the excitement of watching Japanese champion Mer de Glace win this year’s Caulfield Cup the day before that prompted the successful bidder at Abacus Auction’s Coins & Memorabilia, Stamps and Collectables October 20 sale to part with $24,000 for California’s 1932 Agua Caliente Racebook (lot 338) featuring Australia’s iconic legend Phar Lap who won the race (one of America’s greatest) in track record time.
Tragically, it was to be the giant horse’...
Works by Australian artist the late David Boyd (1924-2011) featured prominently in Gibson’s Auctions October 14 Melbourne-based Australian and International Art sale with five of his paintings occupying the top six auction spots.
In first place was Boyd’s Reconciliation, 2001 (lot 73), changing hands for $21,960 including buyer’s premium, followed closely by his Discovering the Mystery of the Deep Blue Rose (lot 80) for $18,300.
Third and...
Although Menzies September 26 Sydney auction fell well short of the hoped for $8 million in revenue, there were several important results to satisfy art connoisseurs that investment in high profile artists is worth pursuing.
At $5,004,511 including buyers’ premiums, the sale still reached a healthy 77 per cent by volume and 69 per cent by value.
One of the leading paintings was Rick Amor’s The Waiter (lot 34) which sold for $220,909.09 against a...
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