Wisely, the auctioneers also placed the 119 lots in the Letty Jewell Collection at the beginning of the sale, giving a positive note to the first quarter of the sale.
Letty Jewell, who died in 1992, was a personality in Melbourne's High Street for over 20 years, and operated an antiques business covering the full gamut of traditional antique collecting areas.
The estate sold 104 of the 118 lots (88%) raising $134,000 (hammer), just slightly below the total of the high estimates for the lots, of $144,000.
Demand for silver continued its resurgence, and two silver tea sets sold well.
An Edwardian four piece tea set dated 1904 (Lot 35 ), doubled its high estimate to sell for $4,000 (hammer), while a three piece Georgian tea set (Lot 45 ) dated 1823 sold on the high estimate of $3,000 (hammer).
Also keenly bid was a silver spoon warmer in the form of nautilus shell (Lot 40 ), estimated at $800-1,200, which sold for $2,600.
When the auctioneer came to a Chinese export silver tea set (Lot 90 ) estimated at $800-1,200, with a Hong Kong maker's mark, he announced that there were four phone bids on the lot. Whether it was the the silver, or the connection with China that prompted one of the phone bidders to immediately make an opening bid of $4,800. The offer removed all the other potential buyers, and the tea set sold on the single bid for $4,800 (hammer).
Head of Decorative Arts at Leonard Joel, Guy Cairnduff remarked that the success of the sale of Jewell Estate was assisted by clients and friends who attended and bid at the auction.
Potential buyers for Australian decorative arts and design weren't as enthusiastic as those bidding for items in the Hetty Jewel Estate.
As well as Australian ceramics the section included some fine examples of Australian woodcarving and cabinetmaking by the two master of the craft, Robert Prenzel and John Kendrick Blogg.
Four of the five Robert Prenzel items offered carried the top high estimates in the sale, from $25,000 to $35,000, and three of these were carved wood panels with Australian flora and fauna. According to the catalogue the three panels had been purchased by the vendor at a Sotheby's sale in 2002.
Of the five lots, only a minor Prenzel screen managed to find a new home at $2,000 (hammer), the remainder being passed in, including the Prenzel clock (Lot 145 ) featured on the back cover of the catalogue and in Joel's advertisingand estimated at $18,000-25,000.
Two of the four Blogg carvings sold, but the major piece, a carved eucalypt floral panel (Lot 144 ), estimated at $18,000-22,000 was passed in.
In terms of numbers of items sold, the Estate of the late Philomena Skurrie did not fare as well as that of the Estate of Hetty Jewell, with only 66 of the 101 lots selling.
However the dollar value results for the estate were boosted by a single lot, an exhibition quality pair of 19th century Sevres style ormolu mounted vases (Lot 265 ), which also set the top price for the sale.
Estimated at $18,000-25,000 the pair of vases soared to $34,000 (hammer).
Overall the Skurrie estate realised $138,050 (IBP) again just slightly below the low estimate total of $155,800.
Except for the Meiji period Japanese vase, there was obviously little of interest in the 32 Asian works offered to excite the buyers, with only 14 of 34 lots sold.
The Japanese Namikawa Yasuyuki cloisonne covered vase (Lot 337 ), estimated at $8,000-10,000, sold for $38,400 (IBP), and contributed almost half of the total of the Oriental section of $72,000.
The interest in remaining 122 lots, comprising items of interest, furniture, and clocks was lacklustre with only 71 of the 143 lots selling.
Overall the sale grossed $655,000 (hammer) at the auction, but this will be assisted by after-sales as with any auction. The hammer total was below the low estimate total of $974,000 with 299 of the 480 (62%) lots finding new homes, a disappointing result considering that the sale took 7 months to assemble (the last comparable Leonard Joel sale was on November 21, 2011).
All estimated quoted exclude Buyers premium. Where prices are quoted, they are either hammer, or including buyers premium, and indicated as such as appropriate.