Oceania

Listing of auctions coming up in Australia.

After almost a decade of flatlining annual sales and the collapse of Mossgreen, Australia’s auctioneers are vocal about the improving market.

“If I was to select just one lot we have sold this year,” says John Albrecht, managing director at Leonard Joel, “it would be the haunting, period photo of Australia’s infamous bushranger, Ned Kelly, taken in 1874 after a boxing match.”

Leading New Zealand firm Webb’s – established by Auckland gallery owner Peter Webb in 1976 – became part of Mossgreen in October 2014. Two businessmen and art collectors from the city, Ewen Mackenzie-Bowie and Bruce Qin, rescued the saleroom earlier this year following the collapse of the parent company and a regular calendar of sales is now in operation from new premises in Mount Eden.

Presented to Captain William Lonsdale (1799-1864) in 1842 by the people of Melbourne in recognition of his services to the founding colony, the Lonsdale Silver Presentation has remained in his descendants’ care for 176 years.

Eight envelopes from the 1870s, each decorated with a scene from Lewis Carroll’s famous book Alice in Wonderland are to be offered at Abacus Auctions’ December 1 sale of stamps, postal history and picture postcards.

The strong suit in the extensive cricket section of Abacus Auctions’ (18% buyer’s premium) Sporting Memorabilia sale in Melbourne on July 22 proved to be a collection of early 20th century autographed real photo postcards of test cricketers that were offered individually.

Sotheby’s Australia has moved to new premises in the ‘Paris End’ of Melbourne.

Australia gains three new auction houses as specialists go it alone in Melbourne

Newly formed Australian firm Abacus Auctions holds its second sale on July 22, devoted to coins and banknotes plus a selection of collectables and sporting memorabilia.

Having successfully dispersed the collection of Lalique glass formed by Hans and Gertrud Mueller in March this year, Sotheby’s Australia is now selling the couple’s collection of other European Art Glass.

Ken Hose, who has published three books on Australian clockmakers, has been fascinated by clocks and their mechanics since he was a teenager.

The Auctioneers and Valuers Association (AVAA), a trade body representing Australian auction houses, has called for client accounts to become a compulsory legal requirement in the country.

The administrator BDO’s report into the collapse of Mossgreen has recommended that the Australian auction house’s former management be investigated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) over possible criminal activities.

When John Schaeffer visited the pre-Raphaelite exhibition at the Tate Gallery in 1984 it changed the course of his art enthusiasm.

Consignors to collapsed Australian auction house Mossgreen will not have to pay fees to have items returned, a Sydney court has ruled.