Despite a run of new artists' records and handsome profits on prices paid for numerous items, the sale lacked the drama and enthusiasm that a collection of such high stature with its many once in a life time buying opportunities should present.
It was also out of keeping with the nature of their most eminent TV show which relied on suspense to attract viewers. The collection is also that of "show people" as the paintings appear to have been chosen for their bold imagery. The work of foggy Clarice Beckitt for instance was eschewed by the couple.
However, the total was well over the previous record for any single owner Australian art auction, which was held by the Harold E. Mertz Collection of New Jersey. This sold in 2000 for $15.9 million.
Twelve new artists’ records were set during the sale: Fred Williams, Margaret Preston, Herbert Badham, Narelle Jublin, Frank Hinder, Tony Ruckson, Weaver Hawkins, Sam Fullbrook, Rosalie Gascoigne, Timothy Johnson, Paddy Jaminji, Robert Campbell (Jr.)
The auctioneer, the company's managing director Mr James Hendy, was given a resounding round of applause at the end of the sale which he conducted in a most professional and timely manner. But there was only one other occasion the audience burst out clapping.
"Look at the empty reserved chairs which remained unoccupied," said Sue Hewitt, an art consultant with many years experience in the saleroom. "The merchant bankers are away doing their sums as to what the political events means for the art market."
John Cruthers, the art consultant who advised the Grundys on the development of the collection, toyed with another possible explanation for his modest disappointment of the sale, conceding that ten thousand people had seen it in London, Sydney and Melbourne. He said collecting had moved on from the Australian moderns and Impressionists and certainly the colonials on which the collection was based. A new generation of collectors preferred the contemporary.
The cover lot was a colonial work, Eugene von Guerard's The Farm of Mr Perry on the Yarra 1855 (Lot 17 ) which came into the collection from a Christie's sale in Melbourne in April, 1997. It had sold then for $675,000 including buyers premium and now had estimates of $900,000 to $1 million excluding the premium. Bidding was taken to $840,000 which was called with a paddle number which is Bonhams' practice when a lot is unsold.
Cruthers told AASD's writer Terry Ingram that the association between the Grundys and Bonhams had worked very well. This was obviously despite, if reports are correct, his recommendation was the collection go to Deutscher and Hackett. He declined to comment on the reports, although D + H clearly had sold many more works at big prices by the artists in the collection than Bonhams had.
The Grundys regarded their collection as an international collection of Australian art which deserved exposure in London (in Bonhams rooms) where the couple had a town house. The exhibition of a group of lots from the collection had drawn the attention of expatriate and other art lovers.
A very satisfactory total of 84 per cent of the collection was sold by lot and 85 per cent by value, with 12 new artist auction records being set, including for the top lot of the auction, Fred Williams' You Yangs Landscape 1, 1963 (Lot 49 ) depicting the area near Melbourne, which sold for $2,287,500. The hammer of $1.85 million compared with estimates of $1.5 million to $2 million with the proprietor of another auction house, Mr Andrew Shapiro leading the bidding.
He secured that lot together with another Williams, Sapling Forest, 1962 (Lot 88 ) for $550,000 hammer against estimates of $500,000 to $700,000.
Mr Shapiro also purchased Emily Kngwarrey's Alhalkere (Lot 18 ) for $250,000; John Brack's The Jockey and his Wife 1953 (Lot 30 ) for $1.2 million and Rosalie Gascoigne's Sunflowers 1991 (Lot 51 ) for $610,000, all for Australian private clients
With the works already loaded with a value for the Grundy provenance, Sydney dealer Denis Savill, normally the biggest buyer at auctions, sat on his hands for most of the time, albeit next to one of the financiers who did come along, John Symonds.
A dealer who has turned up at past major one owner sales, Michael Nagy, continued the tradition securing among others Tom Roberts' The Old Sacramento (Lot 59 ) for $90,000 (estimate$ 100,000 to $250,000). It was one of several paintings of old tubs in the collection which clearly appealed to Mr Grundy who once owned a yacht called Boadicea. Nagy also acquired Herbert Badhams' Travelers (Lot 13 ) for $400,000 in competition with Sydney consultant Annette Larkin.
The painting was estimated at $200,000 to $300,000 and last appeared on the market in 1999 at Sotheby's when it made $178,500. Larkin made several buys including Tim Johnson's Eden Burns of 1991 for $24,400 and Susan Norrie's Vanity Unit 1986 (Lot 42 ) for $39,040.
Contradicting beliefs that sinking tubs do not sell and the Impressionist period was off-colour Charles Conder's The Wreck of 1889 (Lot 7 ) made $500,000 hammer ($350,000 to $450,000). It was last on the market in August 1995 when it sold for $134,500 at Sotheby's in Melbourne. Called numberless from the rostrum were lots five (an Ian Fairweather) and eight, (a Rosalie Gascoigne.) Auction houses tend to like to open on full throttle with the first dozen lots being chosen for their saleability. But these stumbled and failed to sell.
Reg Grundy and Joy Chambers-Grundy said: "We were surprised and touched by the amount of interest shown in our works and the auction and we are pleased that paintings of this quality will again be seen and treasured in new homes and collections."
A lot of money was expended buoyantly on John Brack whose The New House, 1953 (Lot 65 ) sold for $1,952,000 and the Breakfast Table, 1958, (Lot 45 ) sold for $1,464,000.
Donald Friend's Love Me Sailor (Lot 12 ) which had once been in the collection of margarine manufacturer Richard Crebbin went to a representative of Bathurst Regional Art Gallery for $146,499 ($80,000 to $120,000). Friend was once in the nearby Hill End area.
Many of the lots ticked all the boxes as to provenance with James Mollison and David Thomas among previous owner's of works. But so too was Peter Gant. This being so, lot three, catalogued as John Brack, with only the Gant provenance, Footballers, (Lot 3 ) an ink on paper, was withdrawn from sale.
