Gibson's has a bonanza auction with the personal collection of the late Graham Joel.

By Richard Brewster, on 21-Jul-2020

With Melbourne in lockdown, bidding was limited to absentee, phone or online, but it didn’t prevent keen competition among the buying public with an incredible 1400 registrations (including a massive number of phone bids) and a clearance rate of 98 per cent by lot and 334 per cent by value.

With Melbourne in lockdown, bidding was limited to absentee, phone or online, but it didn’t prevent keen competition among the buying public with an incredible 1400 registrations (including a massive number of phone bids) and a clearance rate of 98 per cent by lot and 334 per cent by value. Highest price for decorative arts was for French glass artist Emile Galle’s (1846-1904) rare ‘Noisette’ table lamp (above), selling for $48,800.

With Melbourne in lockdown, bidding was limited to absentee, phone or online, but it didn’t prevent keen competition among the buying public with an incredible 1400 registrations (including a massive number of phone bids) and a clearance rate of 98 per cent by lot and 334 per cent by value. Highest price for decorative arts was for French glass artist Emile Galle’s (1846-1904) rare ‘Noisette’ table lamp (above), selling for $48,800.

Understandably, director Jenny Gibson was delighted with the result and was quick to thank both the auction house’s long term collectors and new buyers for their continued support throughout “these strange times”.

The keenest competition was for the paintings by Ethel Carrick Fox (1872-1952), which Graham Joel purchased in 1952 from her estate.

Because Gibson’s might have been unsure of how the auction would pan out under such difficult sale conditions, the catalogue estimates may have been a little lower than normal.

Nevertheless, the ensuing results would have surprised even the most seasoned auction goer.

Top of the list was Fox’s The Garden Terrace (lot 121), which carried a catalogue estimate of $3000-$5000 but rocketed up the financial charts to change hands for a whopping $67,100 (including buyer’s premium).

Second spot was taken by French glass artist Emile Galle’s (1846-1904) rare ‘Noisette’ table lamp (Lot 31 ), selling for $48,800, before Fox resumed her domination of the top prices with her Hydrangeas in Spring (lot 116) bringing $39,040.

From then on the remainder of the top 10 lots was a bit of a Fox procession with the fourth and fifth highest prices being for her Venice (lot 110 - $36,600) and Champs Elysee (lot 115 - $24,400), before Frederick McCubbin (1855-1917) chimed in with The Pool 1905 (lot 153 - $21,960), and the seventh and ninth places featuring her Roses (lot 131 - $18,300) and Under the Bridge 1907 (lot 114 -$17,080).

Walter Withers (1854-19-14) snuck into eighth place with Through the Trees 1903 (lot 144) at $18,300, while in tenth position was Bernard Hall’s (1859-1935) Camellias and Porcelain, also for $17,080.

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About The Author

Richard Brewster has been writing about the antiques and art auction industry for almost 20 years, first in a regular weekly column for Fairfax's The Age newspaper and also in more recent times for his own website Australian Auction Review. With 45 years experience as a journalist and public relations consultant, in 1990 Richard established his own business Brewster & Associates in Melbourne, handling a wide range of clients in the building, financial, antiques and art auction industries.