The collection has been put together by Mr Kenneth Reed and is to take the form of a bequest, writes a special correspondent.
Several decades ago Mr Reed came into the family's stevedoring fortunes accumulated by his father who had begun his working life as a wharfie.
The collection appears to have been put together with the help of a dealership whose senior partner began his working career as a dentist.
The dentist swapped the careful placing of porcelain caps for the placing of antique porcelain in post WWII war Britain when Australian dentists migrated to Britain to take advantage of the development of the UK'S national health service.
The collection in this instance could then be as much a tribute to the ex-dentist, Mr Robert Jones, put through school on the proceeds of the family's petrol pump at Sydney's Coogee, and his wife Judy, as Mr Reed himself.
The Joneses had a small private gallery off Sydney's Queen Street in the 1980s commuting between London and Australia. They settled more permanently in London and Paris in the 1990s after selling up much of their stock in Sydney.
They became regular exhibitors at the Biennale des Antiquares, still the leading French antiques fair, during that decade - a rare distinction for an Australian dealer.
Mr Reed's interests appear to reflect the special interests of this dynamic dealing duo noted for its shrewd recognition of under-catalogued bargains and deft execution, sometimes in disguise, of succcessful bids at auction.
They appear to have been fast learner,s for works they handled sometimes appeared at loan exhibitions at what is now Tate Britain.
These especially included portraits of the Tudors, which may well be included in the bequest.
Most of Australia's Old Master picture collections appear to have been put together by the London firm of Agnews or Colnaghi's and its breakaway partners.
Mr Reed has been a big donor to Australian ballet and collected European art for 25 years.
He retired seven years ago as a senior partner in a George Street law firm and lives on Macquarie Street from which he often takes an evening stroll to the ballet.
He is not married and does not have any children, which must help explain his attachment to his very secret art collection.
His late father, Sir Reginald Reed, was a wharfie who rose to become the head of Australia's largest stevedoring company, James Patrick and Co.
The bequest includes 25 old master paintings along with collections of Italian maiolica and 18th century porcelain.
The paintings include The Virgin at prayer, painted after 1640 by Giovanni Battista Salvi called Sassoferrato.
They promise to give new life to the gallery's Old Master collection which lost direction over the past two years when Mr James Fairfax sold the last outstanding gems in his collection on the overseas markets, dismayed, it is believed, by the theft of one of his donations from the collection.
Mr Reed, who tends to eschew publicity, is expected, however, to launch the collection at the gallery this week and a celebratory dinner is being held there on Saturday.
What remains puzzling is what happens to his "crockery" for this is how the Art Gallery of NSW in recent years has appeared to view its English decorative arts.
The majolica is sculptural enough to be unquestioned even by the dullest student as fine art but fine rococo paintings on porcelain are another matter.
The AGNSW has tended to de-access its decorative arts by sale (such as the Gillies Bequest) or pass them onto the Powerhouse Museum.
It is only interested in butter dishes if they are Yongle, mark and period.
