Last night the new seating added comfort for the audience and had the added benefit of spacing out the crowd to create the feeling of a full room. All in all, the attendance was respectable with a healthy mix of the usual dealers, investment buyers, consultants and observers taking their place.
The respectability of the interior was marred by the group of about five protesters at the front door who seemed completely unaware, or perhaps simply not bothered, that the ill-informed beat up surrounding lot 5, the Benjamin Law busts, resulted in their withdrawal from auction in the afternoon.
Their megaphone chant, “Sotheby’s, Sotheby’s leave us alone – let us take our ancestors home”, echoed throughout the auction for the first 65 lots, rising and falling every time the main door was opened.
Jane Raffan wrote eloquently on inconsistencies and errors associated with this protest on this site yesterday, and the injustice has now been further compounded as, following the withdrawal of the busts from the sale, the protest served no purpose except to disrupt the flow and rhythm of the sale for the other private vendors who comprised the sale.
Justin Miller, who auctioned the first 98 lots, was cool and business like but lacked his usual asides to lighten the atmosphere, appropriately recognizing the impact of the disruption on the mood.
Selling for $725,000 on the hammer ($870,000 with premium), the cover lot and lot 1, Jeffrey Smart's The Painted Factory, Tuscany, did well, a strong result for a great example of Smarts work, but no record breaker. Eighteen of the top twenty lots in the auction were presented last night, and cleared at 68.5% per lot and 67% by value netting $2,222,400 on the hammer.
Overall the 173 lots offered saw 52 passed in which is a clearance rate of 69.5%. These consistent figures affirm that the market is active, but the excitement and thrill has faded. Bidding became animated only occasionally with sparks for lot 8, lot 16, lot 29, lot 50, lot 81 and the stand out international contemporary works from the Hawkins Collection that concluded the evening.
The majority of the sold lots were knocked down at the low end to a single commission bid, a lone phone bidder or, less often, a single bidder in the room. Lots passed in quickly, mostly just shy of the low end estimate.
Occasionally we were offered a surprise such as the sale of lot 65, John Passmore's Bathers, for $5,000, a little over half its low end estimate.
A few lots later, William Robinon's Cow at Birkdale Farm (Lot 72 ) sold for double the low end estimate at $30,000.
Some strategies employed by Sotheby’s paid off, such as the $20,000 reduction in the estimate of lot 13, Robert Dickerson’s Boy in Street, from $90,000 - $120,000, from its previous offering at Bonhams and Goodman in November last year, to $70,000 - $90,000. The work found a home at the low end to a phone bidder.
New records were set for Sydney Ball, $38,400, Kevin Lincoln $14,400 and Oliffe Richmond $11,400. Both offerings by Ellioth Gruner were very well received, with lot 6 Study for 'On the Murrumbidgee’ realising $87,000 and lot 7 Silver Sands – Bondi realising $108,000
Lot 8, Promenade at Manly by Ethel Carrick Fox had a number of bidders in the room including dealer Larry Foley who underbid the work to a healthy hammer of $85,000.
But it was not until lot 16 that Denis Savill, Matt Stafford and the telephone looked tenacious vying for The Letter by Garry Shead, (Lot 16 ), with it finally going to Mr. Stafford for $145,00, just below the low end estimate, but a good result.
Georgina Pemberton’s brisk efficient style was welcomed but did little to affect a change in tone until the Hawkins Collection, lots 151 to 174 were offered, with exceptionally success.
Of the twenty three works in the collection, only three passed in, a clearance rate of 87% by number. The low end estimate of the collection was set at $336,600 yet the collection achieved $583,392, 173% by value. This collection stood alone however, and is hopefully an indication of the potential for the Austcorp Group Ltd collection that will be sold tomorrow.
The grouping of 10 Glover works, documented as the property of various vendors, beginning at lot 141 exceeded expectations with lot 147 A Portrait of John Glover, attributed to John Glover, achieving $87,500 against a low end estimate of $30,000.
Damien Hirst’s For the Love of God sold for $15,000 with all proceeds, including buyer’s premium, benefiting the Australian Childhood Foundation, but attracting only a single bid.
On the whole the atmosphere was subdued, not shocked or silent but simply composed, even a little boring at times. Perhaps the market for Australian Moderns that have been the backbone of the auction and investment market is waning.
Tonight the Austcorp Group Collection, formed under the guidance of Barbara Flynn, will be presented. The works enlivened the viewing and, whilst not significantly impacting on the bottom line of the auction, the collection will hopefully attract a new crowd and lift the tone and buoyancy of the sale.
