We were delighted to see something of a return of confidence in the contemporary indigenous auction market, which has been difficult for the last few years. While this comment is balanced for the times and many results were in line with expectations, we are encouraged by the high sold rate by value and several new artist auction records which underlined this.
The sale of this collection achieved nearly $1.4 million including buyers premium and the total sales for indigenous art was over $1.1 million making this the most successful auction for contemporary aboriginal art for a very long time.This result exceeded our expectations and that of our vendors.
The top result for the auction was Lot 71 Emily Kngwarreye, Summer Rains on Alalgura, 1991 which had a pre-sale estimate of $120,000-160,000 but realised $244,000.00 making it the fifth highest price ever for our most valuable indigenous artist.
New auction records were also set for the following artists and it is important to note that many of these artists are still painting, so positive news will have a positive effect on these artists.
Lot37 Angelina George, My Imagined Country 2005 ( $17,080)
Lot45 Peggy Napangardi Jones, White, Yellow and Green Cockies 2005 ( $9,760)
Lot66 Billy Benn, Artetyerre 2008 ( $9,150)
Lot72 Mabel Juli, Karnkiny Ngarrangkami 2006 ($ 7,930.)
Lot70 Patsy Marfurra, Traditional Women Designs and Dyes 2004 ( $5,490)
Lot162 Marita Sambono, Fog Dreaming 2005 ( $5,368)
Lot 28 Carmel Yukenbarri, Winpurpurla 2005 ( $4,636 )
Lot130 Jukuna Mona Chuguna, Parapara and Jilji 2005 ( $4,270)
Lot23 Hamish Karrkarrhba, Stingray 1997 ($1,037)
