Crowe was the leading actor in the 2000 film, Gladiator, about a gladiator's revenge. Related memorabilia were the show stoppers of the sale with a functioning Roman chariot and sword and a stunt cuirass worn by the actor fiercely contested.
His celebrity and the breadth of publicity created for the sale seems to have pulled in additional buyers to create a total return of $3.7 million (IBP), with 85% sold by number and 145% by value.
The result was further helped by the rationale for the sale. It was titled The Art of Divorce which meant that one of the three traditional compelling reasons for a good dispersal, "divorce" was present. The others are debt and death. No suggestion that the divorce is less than amicable has made the social gossip columns, however.
Despite the strength of the theatrical memorabilia relating to the films starring Crowe, the lead act of the night were the paintings. This was a surprise as they tended to be a gloomy lot, possibly reflecting the period when some of them were bought. In the wake of 9/11, colour faded from fashion.
The first four of the top 10 lots in the sale were paintings and a further two paintings were in the full list top ten list.
Charles Blackman contributed $671,000 (IBP) to the total with two dark paintings, the first of which, The Suitor, (Lot 91 ) showing a very lonely and nervous man looking for love, made $360,000 ($439,200 IBP) against the estimate (that excludes buyer's premium) of $180,000 to $220,000.
Blackman's Gymkhana Visitors of 1961, (Lot 93 ), made $160,000 on the hammer, ($195,200 IBP), right on the upper estimate of $160,000.
Some of the collection had been put together just after 9/11 when the national mood was sombre. Flashes of colour must have seemed disturbing. Gymkhana Visitors had a few flashes but nothing to suggest the joy and fun of such an event. Both of the Blackman paintings had a stellar exhibition provenance ending at Gould Gallery.
Blackman's works have a record of being collected by self-made men, Kerry Stokes being perhaps the most eminent.
Even Brett Whiteley's Moreton Bay Fig and Palms, (Lot 85 ) was largely dark blue with minute splashes of orange. It made $190,000 ($231,800 IBP) against estimates of $100,000 to $150,000. A couple of grey Dickersons showing pensive figures, one biting his fingernails added to the gloom, but again made their mark
Sidney Nolan's Monkey of 1964 (Lot 59 ), looked like a creature from another planet but still contributed $73,200 (IBP) to the grand total, the $60,000 top bid being comfortably above the estimates of $30,000 to $50,000.
It is a long time since smallish Norman Lindsay watercolours have been making $100,000 but with the added provenance of Michael Hutchens, Abundance (Lot 65 ) (which could have been the code name for the auction) sold for $100,000 ($122,000 IBP) against estimates of $30,000 to $50,000. The painting was last offered at Christie's in November 1999 where it made $32,200. The watercolour, showing three figures gathering fruit, was stated to be full of sexual energy and his recognition of the need for the bawdy.
Crowe appears to have been a fan of Penleigh Boyd as there were three in the sale, the best of which, Portsea 1921 (Lot 158 ) made a hammer price of $55,000 which with premium, cost the buyer $67,100. Two others sold for unremarkable prices and one View of Richmond from South Yarra (Lot 160 ) failed to sell at $30,000 to $40,000. It is a brave man, however, who buys a coal fueled power station or some similar structure these days and that is what appears to be featured in the painting.
Arthur Boyd's, Riverbank with Reflections and Cockatoos, (Lot 96 ) added a touch of bright blue to the proceedings and sold for $140,000 hammer ($170,800 IBP) one of the many lots to go to the bank of Sotheby's official telephone bid takers. The price was anticipated as it was bought mid-estimate.
Alongside the Singer treadle-based sewing machine, estimate $500 to $800, which may have found its real mark when it sped to $2600 ($3172 IBP), there were numerous small lots which greatly exceeded expectations. A varnished silver gelatin photograph of Sydney (an aerial view) by Hall and Co, mounted on board surprised by flying to $9000 hammer ($10,980 IBP) against an estimate of $2000 to $3000.
This, like much of the rest of the sale had the air of a men's shed about it, the sale being replete with lots that would have been at home there.
Likewise, a jockstrap in the form of a leather boxer's protector worn in the film Cinderalla Man received a shock price adjustment as buyers jumped the bids, which settled at $7200 ($8540 IBP) against estimates of $500 to $600. Nothing like this had been seen in the Antipodes since Joseph Banks secured a pair of tattooed heads from the Maoris for a pair of old underpants.
Outer wear represented better value, if not per square centimetre of material involved. Captain Jack Aubrey's "dress blues" from the film Master and Commander sold for $140,300 (IBP) (estimate $25,000 to $35,000). It would make a handsome exhibit for a maritime or movie museum and have world appeal given the currency of the movie.
In the vast halls of Sydney's Carriageworks, peppered with people from one end to the other, visibility of the buyers was very peripheral which just underlines how accomplished the auctioneer's performance was.
The auctioneer, Martin Gallon put on a fine performance with the only break in the flow being while singer Alisa Nasteski, sang Happy Birthday to Russell Crowe. Gallon's delivery was so smooth one was rarely aware of the "not solds" or at least the "not" in "not sold." The audience was kept on constant edge by his continued hesitations for yet another bid on even the most marginal items throughout the evening.
Internet and telephone bidding obscured the identity of many buyers. But there were one or two old faces from the art business of yester year and the occasional consultant and at the viewing.
The National Museum of Australia however helpfully announced that it had bought the boots worn by the main character in the Australian movie Romper Stomper which had sold for $3050 (IBP).
The once much vaunted baggy green caps worn by Australian test cricketers were unwanted when two out of three on offer went unsold.
So the sale was one up for art in what is frequently competition with sport for public interest.
This was despite the Crowe family's own connection to cricket. It failed to stop, however, a price of $20,000 hammer ($24,400 IBP) for a Gunn & Moore cricket bat used by Martin Crowe to score 142 test runs in the England versus New Zealand match at Lords in 1994.
One can envisage family interest in this item, but thanks especially to the Internet interest in the sale appears to have been international.
