Those attending may have thought the television cameras outside the auction house at the start of the sale were there to record the sale of the headline sale items, the 1867 Melbourne Cup and the 1867 Queen's Plate Trophy won by the horse, "Sydney" Tim Whiffler, but in fact it was a union protest against the treatment by Sotheby's of it's New York art handlers who were locked out of their jobs three months ago.
Perhaps the protesters weren't aware that Sotheby's Australia only connection with the public company Sotheby's is a licence agreement allowing the Australian company to use the Sotheby's name.
Surprisingly there were no television cameras in the sale room to record the sale of the 1867 cups (Lot 63 ), but in any case it would not have made good viewing, as bidding within the room seemed to be non-existent, and the lot was knocked down to a telephone bidder at the low estimate of $600,000 ($720,000 IBP).
With the cup's rich history, the expected repository for this lot would be the Australian Racing Museum and Hall of Fame, but no announcement has been made as yet.
Earlier in the sale, several other important lots had struggled to the low estimate, at which point they were sold.
These included a silver covered trophy cup by Edward Fischer of Geelong (Lot 22 ) sold for $15,000 hammer; the important silver claret jug by William Edwards (Lot 39 ) sold for $40,000 hammer; the silver centrepiece by H. Steiner (Lot 41 ) sold for $20,000 hammer, and the presentation ostrich egg casket (Lot 50 ) sold for $30,000 hammer.
There was little interest in the 15 lots of Australian furniture, and the last and most important of these, the Robert Prenzel blackwood bedroom suite, estimated at $30,000 - 50,000 was passed in.
An 18ct gold pocket watch (Lot 74 ) salvaged from the wreck of the Loch Ard off Port Campbell in 1878, and estimated at $12,000 - 18,000 was keenly sought and sold for $17,000 hammer, with likely repatriation to the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, near to where it was found.
The sale continues this evening with Chinese and Japanese Works of Art, and on Thursday with ceramics, silver furniture and works of art.
Postscript: On the day following the auction, Arts Minister Simon Crean announced that the National Museum of Australia was the winning bidder for the 1867 Melbourne Cup and Queen's Plate at the Sotheby's Australia auction in Melbourne on Wednesday night.