The auction generated over $1.1 million (hammer) on the night with only a few lots getting passed in. The rooms were packed with a wide range of people from many of the different circles in which Anne Coney moved, as she is a popular figure in Auckland.
The first lot in the sale was a rather curious 'outsider' that set the tone for the evening. Jeff Koons little white porcelain dog (Lot 1 ) from a large unnumbered litter of 3000 sold for $13,250, well above the top catalogue estimate of $10,000 reinforcing the old notion about the strength of puppy love.
The next big shocker was an early Karl Maughan untitled 'all over floral' work, (Lot 5 ), always popular with the garden clubbers, which attracted strong bidding, finally selling for $42,500, also well above the top end estimate which was set at $35,000.
Dale Frank's large and colourful liquid abstract (Lot 10 ) with an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000 and the most ostentatious title in the whole collection and nearly the whole world sold for a whopping $77,000, creating an Australasian record for the artist's work at auction. The work, by the way if you are curious, (pink and not yellow) was entitled 'Self Sodomising Sojourn In Sentimentality / These Experienced Seniors Love Young Cock-Pop Ups Driving You Crazy / Wellington Landscape'....that's my phew!. A photograph reproduced in the catalogue shows the painting in its original gold frame hanging in the lounge behind the sofa.
Top price in the auction went to the superb Michael Parakowhai custom crafted guitar, titled Tua Rima from Patriot, Ten Guitars (Lot 23 ) and was one of the installation of ten guitars first exhibited at Gow Langsford Gallery in Auckland in 1999, later touring to Brisbane, the UK and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburg.
A quote by Michael Parakowhai from the catalogue says it all: 'I was never into cars like my brother Para, I always thought that owning a cool guitar would be much cooler than owning a car'. The buyer who was in the room was a very happy chap buying one-tenth of the original assemblage at the low estimate of $100,000.
For those of you living outside New Zealand who are not familiar with late 20th century Maori culture, the old Engelbert Humperdinck song from 1966....Ten Guitars is one of the most popular songs in Maoridom. It is played on a regular basis at large and small gatherings of Maori any night of the week when the guitar and social lubricants are present, and it could be argued that the song is the Maori equivalent to Waltzing Matilda.
A rather awkward painting by Michael Smither entitled Woman in a Bath (Lot 26 ) sold for $81,000, just above the low estimate of $80,000. This was perhaps one of the tougher paintings in the offering being a million miles away from Edgar Degas's sensitive renderings of women at their 'toilet'.
Michael Illingworth's painting from the Rangi and Papa series (Lot 38 ) sold well at $71,000 just over halfway between the catalogue estimate of $60,000- $80,000. A foundation stone in Maori mythology, Rangi the Sky Father and Papa the Earth Mother unite and produce a number of children creating a pantheon of 'lesser gods'.
Purchased in the early 1980's, a Jeffery Harris oil painting entitled You May Be A Woman (Lot 44 ) sold just above mid-estimate for $19,000 while a powerful painting by Allen Maddox Construction in Blue (Lot 49 ) attracted some of the most spirited bidding on the night, starting at $25,000 and quickly rising to $74,000 to easily exceed the top estimate of $40,000.
Heather Straka's oil on canvas from 2011, China Girl (Lot 54 ) also created an artist's record at auction selling well at $29,000, an increase of $19,000 above the original starting bid of $10,000.
In a sale that was peppered with many highlights, not only the tough, but also the soft girly pink stuff from the Anne Coney Collection has found new owners making both the vendor and the auction House very happy. With many empty walls at home in Parnell, rumour has it that Anne will be around the traps hunting down the tough stuff. I believe it is called 'replacement therapy'.
All prices shown are exppressed in $NZ and are hammer.
