Oceania

The original watercolour draught for Sydney Harbour Bridge that featured on the front page of ATG No 2538 was bought by the Australian National Maritime Museum, it has been revealed.

An oil on panel of a Spanish water carrier with his donkey in Granada by the Australian Impressionist Tom Roberts (1856-1931) accompanied by the artist’s pen and ink sketch for the work is to be offered in the sale at Smith & Singer in Sydney on April 12.

Michael Wajszczuk has joined Heritage’s Beverly Hills office as a consignment director in the auction house’s timepieces category.

On December 2 Australian auction firm Shapiro will be offering the collection of Spode blue and white earthenwares assembled over the past 25 years by Russell Brooks. The majority were purchased in first 15 years mainly in England but also in Australia.

A couple of surprise results emerged in a sale held in Armadale, Victoria, by Australian Book Auctions (19.8% buyer’s premium).

This first edition of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale will be offered for sale by Scammell Auctions in Adelaide on October 11.

Robert Souch of Souchebys Antiques in New Zealand has been in the business for more than 30 years and says he has to be “eclectic to survive” in the South Island. He sells a wide range of antiques and collectables but art, musical instruments and ceramics are his three specialties.

A very early coloured litho view of Melbourne formed part of an Australiana sale held by dealer and auctioneer Peter Arnold (18% buyer’s premium).

An important work by Modern Australian artist Russell Drysdale (1912-81) equalled his auction record when it sold at Deutscher and Hackett (25% buyer’s premium).

For those in the southern hemisphere, Christmas means summer, sun, flowers and exotic wildlife. In this year’s Australian Antique and Art Dealers Association (AAADA) Christmas Catalogue, dealer Josef Lebovic offers a group of 11 Antipodean Christmas cards from c.1883.

Twenty lots from a private Sydney collection will open the sale devoted to Chinese Paintings to be held by Bonhams on December 2 in Sydney.

The highlight of Bonhams Australia’s (27.5/25% buyer’s premium) latest Jewels sale was this agate intaglio seal from the collection of Brisbane Catholic priest Father Peter Grice (1943-2019).

One of the highlights of Leonard Joel’s jewellery auction in Sydney on August 26 is this Art Deco platinum and diamond bracelet dated to c.1930 fashioned as an articulated line of geometric links of carré, baguette and circular cut diamonds weighing a total of approximately 33cts.

Auckland gallery says it has been doing well despite lockdown as UK firms relaunch

MADAM – Re: the article on the front page of ATG No 2446 regarding art and antiques premises reopening.

The first sale held by Bonhams Australia (22% buyer’s premium) behind closed doors in Sydney was devoted to Asian art,

Louis Wain (1860-1939) is famed as an artist for his humorous anthropomorphic paintings of cats – typically producing several hundred drawings a year. However, perhaps his most progressive work was the series of ceramic designs in which the cats were rendered in distinctive Cubist form.