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An unusual circa 1980 limited series “Trumeau Architettura Cabinet” (lot 637) by Italian artist Piero Fornasetti (1913-1988) went under the hammer for $27,000 at Leski Auctions Decorative Arts & Collectables sale on June 28 in Melbourne.
A versatile and eclectic artist with plenty of creative flair, Fornasetti was one of the 20th century’s most prolific figures and vitally important to the Italian industrial design culture, for which he gained a broad...
An early 19th Anglo-Indian centre table, two paintings by Australian artist Hugh Sawrey and the ship’s masthead figure of Spain’s Queen Isabella II’s husband Don Francisco de Assis Maria Fernando de Bourbon filled the top four spots at Leski Auctions Australian & Historical sale from June 13-14 in Melbourne.
The table (lot 430) sold for $16,000, just clear of its top catalogue estimate of $15,000, while the Sawrey paintings (lots 853 and 854) –...
An 1863 painting of a racehorse named General (lot 39) owned by Thomas Chirnside, a major Victorian landholder known for the historic Italianate mansion he built in the 1870s at Werribee, almost doubled its high $30,000 catalogue estimate when it changed hands for $56,120 (including buyer’s premium) at Gibson’s Art and Photography auction in Melbourne on Monday June 15.
The painting was featured on the catalogue front cover and was part of a pleasing result...
An 87 per cent by value result for Gibson’s Autumn Auction Series sale in Melbourne on Monday May 25 was a fantastic achievement even if the auction had been conducted under normal conditions.
It was twice as valuable given the heavy trading restrictions imposed by Australia’s current coronavirus pandemic and the auction house was more than a little pleased with its online success.
An impressive William IV mahogany breakfront library bookcase (lot 218) was the...
An autograph book now almost 100 years old and featuring cricket signatures from a bygone era, that sold above its catalogue estimate for $6500, (lot 141) was the top selling item at Leski Auctions “live” sporting memorabilia sale on May 10 as Australia still operated under lockdown restrictions during the world coronavirus pandemic.
The “live” auction, featuring 716 lots – Leski Auctions biggest sporting sale in years – gave buyers the choice of lodging bids...
A French Boulle style tantalus (lot 124) was the top selling item at Melbourne-based Gibson’s Auctions stockroom sale on Thursday April 30 and sold for $440 on a $200-$300 estimate.
Forced to hold all its auctions as timed online sales because of the coronavirus pandemic currently sweeping the world, Gibson’s is experimenting with modest priced items to maintain ongoing interest in the auction system among both vendors and buyers.
The second highest price of $...
When Melbourne-based Gibson’s Auctions started closing its timed online auction at 10.30am Wednesday April 8, it was the culmination of an experimental sale to combat the restrictive effects of the coronavirus pandemic that, like so many other countries, had severely affected the Australian economy.
Antique and art auction houses could trade – as long as they did it entirely on line. So managing director Jennifer Gibson decided that their first online experiment –...
Despite the constant coronavirus threat, collectors bid enthusiastically at Leski Auctions Melbourne sale of toys, trains and models on March 22 – so much so that auctioneer Charles Leski kept reminding them to keep the recommended government ordered distance from each other to minimise the risk of infection.
By the end of the sale, about 75 per cent of lots had been sold – most within the catalogue estimates.
A circa 1958 Yonezawa Atom Jet Racer (lot...
One of Australia’s top Aboriginal artists Emily Kane Kngwarreye was the top earner at Deutscher and Hackett’s Melbourne Australian Aboriginal art auction on March 18.
Her painting, Desert Winter 1994 (lot 8), sold for $317,200 including buyer’s premium followed by her other auction work, A Desert Life Cycle III 1991 (lot 9), for $170,800.
Despite the difficulties now facing the Australian auction scene with the onset of the worldwide...
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...
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