But slow bidding also on the top lot - a Maori medal which went to the Museum Te Papa in Wellington NZ jointly with the Auckland Te Papa, for its lower estimate - as well as on that of some of the choice European lots in the sale was a bit of a bother.
The bidding sometimes took up to seven minutes a lot as auctioneer Martin Gallon dragged the hammer as undecided buyers mulled over and questioned the company's telephone bid takers on what was happening in the room.
The situation shows there is still some anxiety or misunderstanding on the part of Chinese bidders after many highly publicised failures of bidders on similar lots elsewhere to complete their purchases or otherwise settle their accounts.
The slower bidding suggesting tougher times in China, was admittedly not helped by a crowded room with a mixed group of buyers with different interests in the sale.
The most continuously productive section of the sale were the French gold boxes helped by one obviously dedicated buyer or collector, and perhaps underpinned by the Russian market.
That Sotheby's bid takers struggled to extract ready bids from the presumably offshore buyers, appeared to be partly because the primary language of the bidders was not English.
But it was still hardly appreciated by the habitual Australian art buyers who stamped their feet in disdain when they found they could have arrived 90 minutes later, and still been in time for the items towards the end of the 346 lot sale which began at 6 pm and would proceed on towards 11 pm.
There was a large number of Chinese lots in the middle of the sale, the most taxing of which for the auctioneer was a rare “famille rose” figure of Amitays (lot 149), probably 20th century.”
Estimated at $10,000 to $15,000 it found its way ultimately to $185,000 hammer with two of Sotheby's staffers taking bids over the phone for most of its journey and one of whom, Imogen Reed, secured it for her bidder against Ann Roberts.
'Problems on the line” were announced by Ms Roberts as she raised her arm in the “wait on” position trying to stop Mr Gallon hammering it down.
Due to the difficulties of making these complex figures they are extremely rare and were especially made for temples and imperial palace precincts.
The Buddha is invoked to cure illness and the hope after death to be transported to a world of paradise.
The Buddha was sold a few lots after the silver medal presented by Governor King of New South Wales to Te Pahi chief of New Zealand in Sydney in 1806 (lot 125).
To stalwarts of coin and medal sales there was a surreal aspect to this sale too, although it only made the lower estimate of $300,000 ($366,000 IBP) after bidding began at $200,000. The top estimate was $500,000.
The bidder on this 4.5 cm sliver of engraved silver took up his seat in the front row at the end of the aisle in a function room at the Intercontinental Hotel, one quarter of the way through the sale.
He was Mr Jim Noble, managing director of Noble Numismatics, who usually bids in that seat in other rooms when attending his own auctions bidding for clients.
Mr Noble, has handled lots of rare NZ coins through his auctions, and two weeks ago had been sitting in on his own sale of coins and medals in a function room at the nearby State Library of NSW when Westpac purchased the first 10 shilling note issued in NSW 200 years ago.
The lack of competition for the medal may have been due to superstition about the power of the haka delivered by a Maori group the day before the sale outside the hotel.
Or it could be in fear of continuing claims to ownership of the medal by the Maori people after the sale.
Representatives of the Maori people stood up after the medal had been knocked down expressing in Maori the regret at what had happened and hope it would be returned to New Zealand
Button-holed after the medal was sold, Mr Noble said when asked what he would do with it, it he said in an obviously well rehearsed line: "Polish it.”
Mr Noble sold an important relic from the First Fleet, the Charlotte Medal, for $750,000 at one of his auctions, and must have been disappointed he did not have the Maori medal for sale.
However, Mr Noble, who was escorted by security for his protection out of the building via a back entrance appears to have been acting under instructions from the Auckland Museum and the National Museum of New Zealand, for they have announced that the medal was purchased jointly.
Early today a Arapata Hakiwai, Te Papa’s Auckland Kaihauta (Maori Leader), said of the joint bid: “The partnership between Te Papa and Auckland Museum, working in collaboration with Te Runanga a Iwi Ng Puhi, demonstrated the importance for this nationally significant taonga to return home.
“It is important to uphold the principle of Mana Taonga, which recognises the relationship between treasures and their descendant source communities.
“In the case of the Te Pahi medal, this acknowledges the value of this tribal treasure to present and future generations.” An announcement to this effect would be made shortly.
Given the identity of the buyer, it presumably will be granted export permission to leave Australia.
It was presented to celebrate the beginning of early Australian NZ diplomatic relations, and Australia is unlikely to tempt fate on the continuation of these relations by imposing an export ban.
The medal was walked in to Sotheby's rooms presumably because of the value of the Sotheby's brand by its unidentified NSW owner. It would probably have sold for less in NZ as there it certainly would not have been granted an export permit.
Maori related objects sell for less outside that country than within, due to the severity of these restrictions.
There was little else of notable Australian interest apart from some art and an early Australian platypus rug (lot 122) from the 19th century with an estimate of $10,000 - $15,000 which sold for $24,400.
The Sotheby's Australia auction marked a new concept in mixed sales which are separate to the company's Important Australian Art sales.
Most Chinese lots which fired, sold for comfortably over their estimates rather than many times their estimates.
A doucai 'mandarin duck and lotus' ceramic bowl (lot 209), seal mark and period of Jiaqing with an estimate of $6,000 - $8,000 which sold for $15,860.
The most titillating art lots in the sale were overseas works with The Village Surgeon (lot 36) catalogued as a Jan Steen with an estimate of $40,000 to $80,000 selling for its lower estimate of $40,000 or $48,800 IBP.
In an a sale in which design was emphasised, abstracts could be expected to do better and one was a wool tapestry by Le Corbusier, Traces des Pas Dans La Nuite (Lot 290 ) which sold for $110,000 ($134,200IBP) hammer against an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000.
Abstracts usually sell for a discount but those in this sale were brightly coloured and by popular John Coburn. His oil on canvas, White Bird in the Garden (1983) (Lot 289 ) sold for $24,400 (estimate $6,000 - $8,000.)
The several regular art punters who were at the sale obviously felt they had to splash out in view of the long wait and the splashings they had received on the way to the sale from the torrential rain.
The most exciting of the gold boxes was a late 19th century Philippe Francois box (lot 94) with an estimate $4,000 - $6,000 which made $9,150 IBP and a German mid 18th century vari-coloured gold snuff box with a maker's mark that was indistinct (lot 86). This was probably that of Les Freres Toussaint, Hanau. With an estimate $10,000 - $15,000 it sold for $20,740,
While some of the lots in the sale purchased in Geneva came from the collection of Mrs Gayle Rivkin who has sold jewellery there, the 23 gold lots were simply sourced to “private collection, Sydney.
Ploughing ahead with the re-opening of her antique shop at Springwood NSW, jeweller Veronica Bunda made several purchases including, for $2074, a 19th century Italian five-fold tooled leather screen, (lot 60), with an estimate $2,000 - $4,000.
This was among six lots illustrated on the cover of the catalogue from the collection of Mrs Rivkin, former wife of the Sydney stockbroker Rene.
The European paintings produced an occasional sleeper but only because they had been marked down.
Estimated at $3000 to $5000 Ferdinand Andri's Woman with a Blue Shawl (circa 1910) (Lot 19 ) sold for $17,080. This was in line with the £8000 paid for it at Sotheby's in London in 1996.
*waimarie pai – good luck
