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If Menzies latest auction results ( Sydney August 9) for its Australian & International Fine Art & Sculpture sale are any guide, the Australian art market continues to gather strength as well-known Australian and international artists are snapped up by buyers eager to cash in on their ongoing popularity.
Perhaps the greatest example of this was Andy Warhol’s Head after Picasso 1985 which was knocked down for $900,000 ($1.125 million with buyer’s premium).
The...
Buyers showed plenty of enthusiasm for Gibson’s Auctions inaugural sale on Sunday August 12 in Melbourne when 87 percent of the items sold at 126 per cent of estimated total value.
The top seller was a large and unusual hand painted circa 1879 Belleek ceramic platter which was knocked down for $7930 (including buyer's premium) against a catalogue estimate of $600-$800.
A pair of Chinese carved rosewood glazed display cabinets was another big attraction, changing hands for $5368...
Buyers obtained a real slice of cricketing history when Abacus Auctions conducted its second sale (Coins, Banknotes & Sporting Memorabilia) in Melbourne on July 22.
Early 20th century autographed photo postcards of Test cricketers sold like hot cakes – with prices realised reflecting individual fame and the rarity of the signature.
While famous individuals like W.G. Grace ($300 – spot on estimate), Victor Trumper ($600 – double estimate) and Prince Ranjitsinhji...
Leski Auctions first Melbourne sale since resuming trading following the Mossgreen collapse, the July 15 Australian & Colonial History & Artworks auction, brought strong results for many items.
A 19th century album of 48 indigenous photographs assembled by Paul Heinrich Matthias Foelsche (1831-1914) was the top sale item bringing a hammer price of $34,000 – well above its $10,000-$20,000 catalogue estimate.
The Aboriginal Mother and Child in Landscape...
Australian artist Jeffrey Smart’s The Observer II 1983-1984 set a new artist’s record of $2 million including buyer’s premium when it was knocked down to a room bidder at Menzies 20th anniversary auction in Melbourne on April 26.
With an opening bid of $700,000 going up in $50,000 increments, it came down to a contest between phone bidders and those in the Menzies Melbourne auction rooms.
The previous record of $1,260,000 for a Jeffrey Smart work was set at...
The 1909 Ashes urn, presented by Lady Darnley to Australia’s Test cricket captain Monty Noble following his team’s victory over England, sold for $80,6000 on Thursday December 7 at Leonard Joel’s auction in Melbourne.
The urn – one of only three still known to be in private hands (the other two are on loan to the Melbourne Cricket Club Museum) – is one of the most important pieces of cricketing memorabilia to appear on the market for many years – and the pinnacle for any sporting...
Arthur Boyd’s Moby Dick Hill sold for $1.2 million at Sotheby’s Australia’s Sydney August 16 sale and became the third highest priced work at auction for the artist.
Sotheby’s Australia chairman Geoffrey Smith said the result was a testament to the genius of an artist who, following World War II, encapsulated the urgency and vitality of an Expressionist style that contributed significantly to the history and development of 20th century Australian art.
“This...
In what undoubtedly surprised many auction goers, British painter Cedric Morris’s (1889-1982) modest little work July Flowers and Wood Warblers sold for $287,500 (including buyer’s premium) – almost 24 times its upper catalogue estimate of $12,000 – at Menzies Melbourne auction on August 10.
This was a new world record for Morris who, at the time he completed the work in the 1920s, was living in rural Suffolk and painted richly decorative flower studies....
Russell Drysdale’s masterpiece Grandma’s Sunday Walk 1972 sold this week at auction in Adelaide through Mossgreen for a new artist’s record of $2.97 million against a pre-auction estimate of $1.8 million.
The Australian painter, who died in June 1981, achieved new fame with the sale as the painting realised the fifth highest price at auction for an Australian artwork.
Realising a record result for any auction ever held in South Australia, Mossgreen...
French 20th century master Fernand Léger’s 1943 painting China Town sold for $1,840,909 (including buyer’s premium) at Menzies February auction in Melbourne.
The sale realised a healthy $7,416,464 (84 per cent by volume and 83 per cent by value) and once again Brett Whiteley’s pre-eminent place at the top of the Australian market was reinforced with the seven of his works changing hands.
These ranged from $9818 for a small ink drawing of a...
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