The catalogue’s front cover image, Donald Friend’s Figure with Kites (Lot 46 ) was overlooked but was one of the few higher priced lots to suffer this fate. Keeping it company was Dandenongs Landscape 1936 (Lot 76 ) with bidders unresponsive to Arthur Streeton’s strategically placed ‘For Sale' sign; and Andy Warhol may have also been disappointed to find that fame is now so cheap – Fraser Fair’s portrait of the artist (Lot 44 ) sold for $1,500 well below the $2,000-4,000 estimate.
On the flip side, the highlights outweighed the disappointments; Criss Canning’s Bell Wind and Wallflowers 1989 sold for $18,000 hammer, one bid away from equalling her auction record. Garry Shead’s market was firm; The Flag 1996 (Lot 91 ) was hammered at low estimate for $20,000 and his early oils, Mount Pleasant Landscape 1966 (lots 220 and 221) more than doubled their estimates to sell for $4400 and $5500 respectively. David Larwill’s Diggin’ Worm 1988 (Lot 34a ) exceeded upper estimate to sell for $8,500 hammer and David Bromley’s Painted Cube (Lot 40 ) almost doubled its upper estimate selling for $2,200.
David Boyd’s The Blessing 1973 (Lot 55 ) lived up to its title for its vendors, leaping in price to $18,000 against a $10-15,000 estimate. Likewise, Norman Lindsay’s Lovers (Lot 130 ) followed the same pattern selling for the same price against the same estimate bracket.
A stampede of bids greeted the auctioning of J. H. Scheltema’s Cattle at the River (Lot 140 ) and it achieved $7,500 well above its $3,000-5,000 estimate. Artists of the 1960s and 70s also found favour in this auction with works of this era consistently reaching upper estimate or exceeding it. Collectors appear to be reappraising art by Dale Hickey (Lot 85 ), Judy Cassab (lots 67 +68), Louis James (Lot 73 ) and Isabel Davies (Lot 90 ) and subsequently the prices are beginning to inch up.
Given that Leonard Joel maintains a strong focus on the infallible lower end of the art market and the (now recovering) middle market, and that their estimates were fair, if not modest, then it was a touch surprising that this sale did not break through 70% sales rate mark. The room was packed, and bidding was steady, and at times competitive, across the room, books and telephones, although most works sold within the conservative estimates.
Did the spectre of both a new and looming government initiative spook the buyers? Leonard Joel staff reported that throughout the viewing period a stream of collectors and members of the general public expressed their confusion over the introduction of the Resale Royalty and the Cooper Review’s recommendations to disallow art investment from Self-Managed Super Funds. This double whammy of new and proposed legislation appears to be creating hesitancy in an already delicate market battered by the GFC.
The recommendation from the Cooper Review has already reportedly been affecting sales in gallery and dealer quarters, so it will be interesting to see if the other auction houses are in danger of encountering dampened confidence in their next round of sales.
