Prices many times the estimates were paid in London for works destined for Australia while in the same rooms art sold consigned from Australia with overseas buyers in mind duplicated this process.
The response was very different to Australia's international antique trade. This produced a spectacular disappointment when the most highly publicised Australian find of the year, a "Richard II" quadrant consigned from Sydney with an estimate of failed to reach its reserve at a clock and scientific instrument sale held by Bonhams in London on December 13.
Auction houses are frequently criticised for boasting of prices when these run way ahead of estimates when they, as fonts of specialisation and market awareness, ought to have a better idea of real values.
But in a world where wealth is becoming polarised, and two moneyed bidders want an item, the sky can be the limit. The market can be especially fickle in times of economic stress - as now.
Of all the international items that surprised this year the one which disappointed was also the one which received the greatest hype, the quadrant. The estimate was £150,000 to £200,000 and bidding failed to reach it, so the much televised object failed to sell.
Yet the same auction house sold the less publicly flaunted Three peaches on a stone ledge with a Painted Lady butterfly sourced from Melbourne sold for £2.1 million at a Bonhams London Old Master sale on December 7.
The price set a new record for the Dutch artist Adriaen Coorte. The painting was stated by Bonhams to have been in the one family for over 150 years, "believed to have been purchased in Europe by the owner's great grandfather.
"It came to Australia from Europe with the family in 1956.
“Its owners 'left it alone, hanging in a cool dry corner away from the light. It was just part of the family history.'"
The 31 by 23 cm work is in the unusual technique, identified with the artist, of oil on paper laid down on board.
This kind of find helps Bonhams in its bid to build up its strength in pictures although it has a long way to go still, to rival the two majors, Sotheby's and Christie's who have both reduced their commitment to the Australian market.
Continuing the repatriation of Australiana on the back of a strong Australian dollar, two of the best end of year surprises were views of early Sydney and Perth.
At Bloomsbury Auctions in London on 29 November 2011 when the early 19th century Sydney view went for £3200 against £300 to £400. and at Bonhams also in London, a view of Fremantle sold for £37,250 IBP against estimates of £1500 to £2000.
The 17 by 32 cm Bloomsbury offering in pen and ink with grey wash, showed the first formal public space in Sydney, and was catalogued without an attribution and as a view of Macquarie Place.
A title and key panel identified the Prussian and Hanseatic Consulate, the Custom House Hotel, various merchants and the obelisk erected by Governor Macquarie in 1818. There is also a key to all the public roads in NSW.
In the same rooms at a Travel and Exploration sale on December 7 the 32 x 43 cm watercolour heightened with scratching HMS Success on the rocks off Pulo Carnac, Swan River, Fremantle signed 'H? Worsley' (lower right) and inscribed 'H.M.S. Success Nov 30th 1830 on the Rocks off Pulo Carnac Swan River" sold for £37,250 including buyers premium
HMS Success was an Atholl-class 28-gun sixth-rate wooden sailing ship which explored Western Australia and the Swan River in 1827, as well as being one of the first ships to arrive at the fledgling Swan River Colony in 1829.
The authorship of the Fremantle picture invites more research but both lots are reliably reported to have gone to buyers for the Australian market.
She ran aground off Carnac Island on 30th November 1829.
Tribute to Brendan a large triangular painting., not so easily hangable, by Brett Whiteley estimated to make $US80,000 to $US120,000 sold in Sotheby's Contemporary Art day auction in New York on November 10 for $US230,000 against estimates of $80,000 to $120,000. It was painted in the 1960s when Whiteley was staying at the Hotel in New York.
At an Old Master and British Paintings evening sale held by Christie's on November 11 another work by an Australian artist sold for a solid price if only just within estimates.
A 147 x 239 cm oil painting of Durham Cathedral sold for £241,250. It was estimated at £200,000 to £300,000. Estimates do not include buyers premium.
Sotheby's credited David Hansen of the independent Sotheby's Australia for help in cataloguing the picture which was a view of one of Glover's favourite subjects.
Some of Glover's UK views have been sent from Australia to London for sale because of the better market there.
Even the late Joseph Brown, the Melbourne art dealer who was a stickler for protecting Australia's patrimony, sent a view of St Paul's Cathedral, London for sale to London while declining to sell other Australian works to overseas buyers.
