Consequently, I could take advantage of the postponement and drive down to Wellington and witness both sale days first hand.
I was eager to do this, as I had cut my art auction teeth at Dunbar Sloane's art sales way back in the 1980's and 90's and my visits to Wellington had become increasingly infrequent in recent years, having moved from the central North Island to a point 50 kilometers north of our biggest sprawling city Auckland.
It was the small but significant David Carson-Parker Collection of art and ceramics with the proceeds of the sale going to The Arts Foundation, of which he was an active member before his untimely death in 2012, that drew me to Wellington.
The first 20 lots of Day One of the sale were from his collection and went under the hammer with a bang. The first lot of the sale, a beautiful ink and watercolour study of Woman Reading (Lot 1 ) by Wellington based artist Thomas A. McCormack sold for over double the $3,000 top end estimate, bringing $7,000 while the next lot, Easter Moon, 1966 (Lot 2 ), again a beautiful watercolour, by Wellington based artist Juliet Peter sold for a record price of $17,000, well above the presale estimate of $3,000-$6,000.
The star lot, featured on the catalogue cover, was by another Wellington based artist, John Drawbridge. Entitled Two Circles (Lot 5 ), the large square format non-figurative colour field painting sold very well with spirited bidding taking the work to an auction record price for the artist, selling for $32,000, again above the estimate of $10,000-20,000.
Top price for the sale went to a quiet colourful painting by the Hungarian artist Robert Bereny who died in 1953. The work entitled Lady Reading (Lot 46 ) precipitated a strong bidding war on the auction floor starting at $40,000 and selling to the room after a serious battle that rose to $130,000. Key works by this artist have sold in the Northern Hemisphere for well over €200,000.
Another item of international interest was a large presentation photograph album from an Auckland private collection containing 19th century photographs of China, Japan and Egypt. This album (Lot 47 ) sold well with a hammer price of $18,000 against a pre-sale estimate of $10,000-15,000 indicating a strong interest in 19th century exotica.
Day Two of the New Zealand and International Fine Art got underway with another 35 lots from the David Carson Parker collection going under the hammer and generating more funds for the Arts Foundation
Included in the sale was a very fine collection of works by the important regionalist painter Eric Lee Johnson that had travelled by descent through the family to the auction floor. Top price in this section went to a very fine oil painting from 1945 entitled The Western Ocean Piha (lot 232). This widely exhibited work sold well at $8,750. A brace of watercolours (lot 235) (lot 236) by the same artist, also sold well at $2,700 and $2,300, both going to a significant Wellington private collection.
A pair of paintings of the Pink and White Terraces (lot 302) by T. A. Attwood sold for $5,000 and a fine Stanley Palmer oil of Huia near the mouth of the Manukau Harbour, entitled Valley – Huia (lot 335) sold brought $3,100
Including the 50 plus lots of ceramics from the David Parker Carson collection that went under the hammer in the Studio Pottery and Applied Art section of the sale, his entire collection raised just over $200,000 for the Arts Foundation, a very generous gesture from a Wellingtonian who had made New Zealand art and ceramics such an important part of his life.
The total for the two day sale was close to $1 million, according to Dunbar Sloane's man on the spot Anthony Gallagher.
Now that is a good result considering our capital city had just had a pretty big shake up a few days before, so it was good to see that money still trickle on down the food chain.
All prices quoted are hammer prices in $NZ.
