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The family collection of well-known Australian colonial identity and professional artist Thomas Balcombe (1810-1861) was a hit with auction goers at Menzies March 28 Sydney sale – with the only known self-portrait selling for $28,000, more than three times the upper catalogue estimate $9000.
The collection comprised more than 100 sketches, drawings and watercolours passed down through four generations of the family since their original production in the 1850s.
Lot 57,...
A 1920 red Lalique “Escargot” vase, featured as an important and rare piece on the company’s website, sold this month at a Melbourne auction for $12,500.
The vase was the top selling piece at Leski Auctions Decorative Arts & Collectables sale, which featured a comprehensive range of items.
Not far behind ($12,000) was the Gillows of Lancaster 24-seat 1890s Chippendale mahogany banquet table, originally commissioned for Sir Robert Lucas-Tooth and believed to have been part...
The Scotland team rugby cap belonging to Judge Hugh Montgomerie Hamilton (1854-1930) was the top money earner at Leski Auctions Melbourne February Sporting Memorabilia auction, selling for $16,000.
Hamilton, whose pastoralist father Hugh migrated from Scotland and married native-born Margaret Clunes, was born in Parramatta, New South Wales.
He was educated in Edinburgh and Marlborough College, England where he captained the rugby team before going on to play for the London club...
Eighteen thousand dollars was paid for an unusual set of Australian pennies – including the rare 1930 version – at Leski Auctions Stamps, Coins & Postal History December auction in Melbourne.
The 1930 penny is always a keenly sought after treasure, as it was never meant to be placed into circulation after the 1930s Great Depression, in which more than one million Australian workers were tossed out of work, began to bite worldwide.
However, this did not...
An historically significant painting of Robert Chirnside by Augustus Baker Pierce (1840-1919) entitled Robert Chirnside and the Melbourne Hunt Club, 1882 (lot 9) was the top selling item at Gibson’s Auctions Melbourne December Summer Art Collection.
Chirnside was the nephew of Australian pastoralist Thomas Chirnside (1815-1887) who built the historic sandstone Italianate Werribee mansion, now a major tourist landmark in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
The...
Collectors from all parts of Australia descended on Melbourne for Leski Auctions December Australian & Colonial sale once they spotted the number of scientific instruments for sale.
Telescopes, sextants and microscopes were the subject of a bidding war and in each case were knocked down to the successful bidder for a healthy price.
Typical was lot 127, a 19th century Thomas Jones transit telescope that sold for $4000, lot 100, a Cooke...
The golfing community will always have fond memories of five times British Open champion Australian Peter Thomson who also made his mark in designing golf courses throughout the world.
Thomson died in June this year and his golf clubs and bag dating from 1957 were sold at Abacus Auctions Melbourne November sporting memorabilia sale for $1050 – a mere $50 over the catalogue estimate.
In an accompanying note the Australian champion said the Dunlop Maxifli clubs...
Lower priced works by name Australian artists appear to be attracting strong buyer interest at auction – if Menzies November sale results are any guide to market trends.
Of the 125 works offered for auction, 94 (or 75 per cent) sold – most of them (67) at or below a $20,000 hammer price.
The big ticket items – iconic works by artists such as John Bracks, Fred Williams, Jeffrey Smart, Charles Blackman, Garry Shead and Tim Maguire – still attract sizeable dollars...
It could only end with a massive boost to the auction coffers of Leski Auctions October sale of Decorative Arts, Watches & Collectables.
A bidder standing in the pouring rain outside a New York restaurant competing on the phone against two like-minded souls in London and a determined buyer in Leski Auctions Melbourne rooms.
The catalogue estimate for the 1880s Edward William Godwin art cabinet was $40,000-$60,000.
However, rapid competition soon took...
Two 20th century famille-rose figural plaques absolutely rocked auction goers when they achieved more than 24 times their catalogue estimate at Sotheby’s Australia’s Melbourne October sale of Treasures: Important Asian, Australian & European Arts & Design.
With Sotheby’s estimating the plaques at a modest $5000-$7000, bidders went berserk with the successful purchaser eventually paying $122,000 for the two Chinese plaques.
One...
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