Highlights of the collection were the early Australian colonial furniture, the Argand oil lamps, the Hopper figures and the long-case clocks. Most of the best items came from dealers, and some of them are acknowledged in the catalogue. Bill Bradshaw and Paul Kenny, both noted for their early 19th century antiques, supplied clocks, furniture, and Argand lamps. Some pieces came from local dealer Elvy Stewart – grandmother of Hobart dealer Warwick Oakman – and some from John Hawkins.
Some browsers grumbled that the estimates were high, perhaps to reflect the cachet of the Okey collection. And so it proved, with the trade generally abstaining from bidding at this high profile sale. Some restorers or agents were buying on behalf of clients. The good news was that there seemed to be some new, and previously unknown, private buyers.
Tim Goodman got the auction off to a flying start when the cedar hall chair (Lot 1 ) far exceeded estimates at $6,600 and the pair of documentary hall chairs associated with Verge houses (Lot 3 ) fetched $12,300, bought by the Historic Houses Trust of NSW. The mahogany table described as in the manner of George Bullock, with a flashy inlaid marble top (Lot 5 ), failed to sell.
Euphoria was restored when a cedar armchair of clumsy design, (Lot 12 ), made $31,200. With winter coming on, armchairs to pull up by the fire are in vogue. Someone will rest comfortably in the lyre-shaped reeded arms of (Lot 32 ), and contemplate its $24,000 cost against the $10,000-$15,000 estimate.
The top bid in the sale was $320,000 for (Lot 17 ), James Oatley’s long case clock number 16 and dated 1822, by Woollahra dealer Martyn Cook, which, well below the low estimate of $400,000, and was referred to the vendor. In May 2009 Bonhams & Goodman sold the 'Badgery' longcase clock by John Oatley for $336,000.
A cedar hall table two lots further on with an estimate of $20,000-$30,000 failed to excite interest. A delicate cedar and casuarina work table, (Lot 25 ), reached the lower estimate, $24,000, and went to the same buyer as the armchair (Lot 12 ), as did the games table (Lot 38 ) at $21,600. The drum table (Lot 26 ) made a respectable $26,400.
The fine cedar secretaire bookcase (Lot 39 ), one in which the details of top and bottom match, but the surface has apparently been refinished, was hammered at $84,000 ($100,800 with BP), just below the low estimate of $90,000, to one of the more restrained members of a family with health care interests. The same buyer also bought the best of the sofas (Lot 87 ), for $31,800, and the Andrew Lenehan console table (lot 134, $78,000), all quality pieces. This was sensible buying for someone with around $200,000 to invest in colonial furniture. He also bought the Hopper figural lamps for $4,200 (Lot 130 ) and $3,600 (Lot 131 ).
The early cedar card table (Lot 46 ), optimistically attributed to Irish cabinetmaker Thomas Shaughnessy’s workshop, was passed in, as was the repaired and repolished Pembroke work table with design elements linked to Scottish-American cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe (Lot 48 ).
Dr Okey got more joy from the music stand (Lot 59 ) which exceeded estimates at $19,200 while the cedar sofa table (Lot 88 ) almost made the estimate at $108,000. The interesting Tasmanian desk (Lot 220 ) which John Hawkins attributes to US convict cabinetmaker Edward Augustus Wilson, and may have been made for the US consul in Hobart Elisha Hathaway, was sold just under the low estimate at $66,000.
Furniture consisting of one piece atop another – bookcases, presses and so on – often raises the question whether the top matches the bottom. Clearly this troubled bidders with some of the lots. The corner cupboard (Lot 54 ) at $6,900 made less than half the low estimate, a press (Lot 104 ) sold for $8,400 (est. $12,000 – 18,000), and a bookcase (Lot 200 ) for $9,000. Sotheby's Jenny Gibson could not drag out a bid for the bookcase (Lot 221 ), buyers clearly regarding the base with suspicion.
Day 2 began with a bigger crowd and a more flexible attitude to estimates. The 16 dining room chairs – six 19th century mahogany chairs plus 10 replicas (Lot 281 ) – exceeded the top expectation with $25,200, but the accompanying Regency mahogany dining table (Lot 282 ) was passed in. The genuine built-in cabinet in the dining room (Lot 285 ) reflected a more buoyant atmosphere than the first day, making $30,000.
Much of the silver was passed in, but the pair of simple cedar bottle holders (Lot 297 ) rocketed to $3,900. At that price, expect the fakers to use up their off-cuts of old cedar to produce more of these.
A Tasmanian serving table (Lot 309 ) estimated at $80,000-120,000 was knocked down for $48,000 to an agent, while the buyer of the sarcophagus cellarette (Lot 312 ) may have paid too much at $5,040.
Martyn Cook paid the highest price of the sale, $204,000, for the early 19th century six-legged sideboard with elaborate casuarina veneers and pine stringing (Lot 321 ). Dr Okey bought this at auction in 2000 for $55,000 plus premium. Cook, in bullish mood, paid $22,800 for an 1861 watercolour of the Blue Mountains (Lot 323 ) by Eliza Thurston (1805-1873) – described vaguely in the catalogue as ‘one of the first female Colonial artists’. That far surpassed the estimate of $3,000-6,000.
John Buttsworth bought or was the underbidder on several items, especially those formerly in his collection. He laid out $84,000 for an imposing cedar kitchen dresser (Lot 330 ), while the next lot, a mid-century cedar chiffonier – illustrated in 19th Century Australian Furniture plate 168 but not noted as such in the catalogue – was a bargain at $10,200. So was (lot 365), a press originally from Denham Court and illustrated in the same book at plate 115, for $5,400.
The fine Argand lamp (Lot 4 ) in the saloon, which did not come with its counterweights, was passed in at $15,600, as were many of these oil lamps, a passion of the late dealer Bill Bradshaw. The carriages at the end of the sale were mostly unsold or sold below estimates with the grandest, (Lot 520 ), referred at $33,600.
The catalogue was not as informative as it might have been. Lots were described, but there was disappointingly little other information, such as provenance, restoration and sometimes published references. Occasionally the cataloguer indulged in pretentious and meaningless terms: buyers clearly did not share the cataloguer’s enthusiasm for ‘an important and rare’ hall table (Lot 19 ), passed in at half the lower estimate.
As the sale conditions caution that ‘buyers [are] to satisfy themselves’ regarding condition and accuracy of the descriptions, serious buyers could be seen forensically examining the works. Sotheby’s organised a private viewing the weekend before the sale for members of the Australiana Society and the Furniture History Society.
Although the catalogue stated the buyer’s premium was 15% plus GST, a ‘saleroom notice’ inserted loose into the catalogue advised that the premium was 20% plus GST.
While some lesser lots and those which may have had new finishes or alterations were passed in, the outstanding examples fetched top prices, reflecting the proposition that antiques not only give the owner pleasure, but generally retain or increase their value as an investment.
Prices listed above are hammer plus the buyers premium of 20% unless otherwise indicated.