Dale Frank was born in 1959 and travelled overseas in his late teens to pursue his career. His output has been phenomenal and he is represented in the National Gallery, all mainland state galleries, and many public and private collections in Australia, Europe and the USA. He returned to Australia in 1989 and since then has enjoyed living in country homesteads with elegant interiors and large, airy rooms. For the last seven years he has collected Australian colonial furniture, an austere counterpoint to the vibrant colours and swirling patterns of his paintings.
Five years ago, Dale Frank invited members of the Australiana Society to view his collection in Queensland. As well as opening his house to collectors for a viewing, he and his family were exceptionally generous with their hospitality. In that imposingly large house, as well as his collection of Australian furniture and decorative arts, he had a family room with a whole wall of glass, imaginatively designed so they could watch the violent tropical thunderstorms advancing from the west.
Since then, he has moved back to a colonial homestead near his birthplace at Singleton NSW – a two-storey Victorian homestead completed in 1865, with cedar joinery, French doors opening to the verandahs and extensive gardens, formerly operated as a B&B. Just as well, as the house in the Lockyer Valley must have been inundated by the Toowoomba floods.
The fact that Dale Frank has put his name to this collection should give buyers confidence that, although the viewings are yet to take place on 17-20 November, the pieces generally appear to be what they purport to be. Bonham’s have offered Australiana Society and Furniture History Society members the opportunity to inspect the offering, so they must be confident of the quality. Anything not up to scratch is likely to be panned by these astute collectors. I suspect that the bookcase (Lot 10F ) will be closely examined.
Although the catalogue is short on provenance information, most of the pieces have been acquired through specialist dealers such as Brenton Kinnear, Andrew Simpson, David Kelly and Kevin Dahya, whose professional reputations depend on the quality of their stock.
Simpson sold the secretaire bookcase (Lot 3F ) that I remember fondly when it was in the late Kevin Fahy’s house at Hunter’s Hill, although the estimate of $30,000-40,000 seems light. The very early 19th century tea table (Lot 25F ) came from David Kelly, and is a more esoteric offering in the same price range. The pair of Tasmanian beds, one with the Prince of Wales’s feathers carved on it, are surely a desirable acquisition for a Government House, or for someone angling to have Royalty to stay. These are offered as two lots (Lot 11F )(Lot 12F ) with an estimate of $20,000 – 30,000 each.
A casuarina, beefwood and cedar chest of drawers dated around 1810 (Lot 26F ) is inevitably attributed to the Irish convict Lawrence Butler, the best known of the early Sydney furniture makers. Although no piece has been identified as definitely by him, it is probable that he made the Governor King secretaire bookcase purchased privately this year by the National Gallery of Australia for an undisclosed but probably record price for Australian furniture, through dealer John Hawkins of Mole Creek, Tasmania.
Charles Hunt was the maker of a pair of rosewood and cedar card tables (Lot 29F ). Andrew Lenehan’s label is on a wardrobe (Lot 8F ), while a table (Lot 13F ) is attributed to the same maker on the basis of similarities to others in Government House, Sydney.
Several dining tables, a set of 20 Tasmanian dining chairs, a Tasmanian musk-veneered circular table, and a cedar sofa are among the more impressive pieces.
The estimates are realistic and, if all the lower estimates are reached, the sale will gross over half a million dollars. Depending on reserves and on closer examination, most of the pieces should sell if there is still money out there and enthusiasm for good pieces of Australian colonial heritage.
The viewing is from 17 to 20 November and the sale at 3.30 pm on Sunday 20 November at Byron Kennedy Hall, The Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park in Sydney’s east. Bonham’s Fine Furniture and Decorative Arts sale, at the same venue and date starting at 11 am, also has a few Australian pieces at the end of the catalogue.
Please note: For technical reasons the Australian Art Sales Digest has had to combine and publish The Dale Frank Collection and the Fine Furniture & Decorative Arts sales as a single sale. To distinguish the common lot numbers on the Antiques Reporter site, The Dale Frank Collection catalogue lots have been allotted a suffix of "F", (1F, 2F, 3F etc.).