Submitted by aarAdmin on Wed, 11/11/2020 - 00:00
Gibson’s Auctions is delighted with the results of its Australian, Maritime & Exploration sale on Sunday November 8 when 75 per cent of items sold realising 138 per cent of catalogue estimate value.
Even more telling was the fact that 94 per cent of the late Bob Munro’s maritime collection, which comprised the auction’s first 217 lots, realised 258 per cent of the estimated value – a positive portend for his forthcoming warehouse online auction on Sunday November 22.
Two items shared top billing – Lieutenant Henry Bowers black and white photo entitled The Polar Party on the Trail of British explorer Robert Scott’s 1912 ill-fated expedition to the South Pole (lot 315) and a circa 1900 Royal Worcester porcelain part tea set of Marian Ellis Rowan Australian flower series (lot 460). Each brought $6100 including buyer’s premium, respectively twice and four times the catalogue’s top estimate.
Even more astounding was Esther Paterson’s (1892-1971) painting On the Pier (lot 186) which was listed at $150-$250 but, as the result of spirited bidding, brought $5368.
A pair of Classical Portraits from the European School (lot 143 – estimate $400-$600) was another outstanding effort at $5124.
However, a painting depicting the most infamous moment in naval history – Lieutenant William Bligh being cast adrift by his mutinous crew (lot 357) – returned only the same result against a $6000-$8000 estimate .
Lot 37, the Charles Bryant (1883-1937) painting of British World War I battle cruiser HMS Hood, sunk in May 1941 by the German battleship Bismarck, was another great effort for the Bob Munro estate – changing hands for $4880 against a $2000-$4000 estimate – while a copper and brass diving helmet (lot 349) doubled its catalogue estimate at $4636.
Another Bb Munro collection painting – M. McCleary Mathews Tugs at Williamstown Pier (lot 86) – also proved popular as it sold for $4392 against a modest $120-$180 estimate as did Will Ashton’s (1881-1963) painting Loading the Ship (lot 148).
In 10th place was one of antiquarian bookseller Kay Craddock’s circa 1920 bookends pair by Valeria Correll which sold for $3904.
