Dealers were delighted with the easy access and airy exhibition space. And while times remain tight, quite a few of the punters spent money on treasures to take home.
Unlike previous fairs at Wharf Eight, in the unexplored canyons of the city’s Sussex Street, Randwick offered plentiful parking, agreeable ambience, courteous staff provided by the Jockey Club, and a pleasant restaurant.
And even Sydney’s newest taxi drivers could figure out where the racecourse was.
Francis Dunn, of regular Melbourne exhibitor John Dunn Antiques of Malvern, summed it up: “This venue is fantastic, restaurant facilities are wonderful, the coffee is great. It’s a pleasure to be here”.
Chris Snook of Tooronga Hall in Caulfield, whose massive 20-seat mahogany dining table dominated the foyer, said he had done very well out of the fair, but it was mainly “smalls” that had sold rather than large pieces.
Among other items, his delicate satinwood inlaid demi-lune side table circa 1890 priced at $7500 had acquired a red sticker by Saturday.
But the 8-leg mahogany 1840s dining table attributed to the renowned English maker Gillows, matched with a rare set of 20 carved chairs from a similar date and offered at $160,000 for the lot, was unsold.
Paul Sumner, exhibiting under the Mossgreen Collections banner, also praised the venue. “We had a fantastic opening night, though Thursday and Friday were slower”, he said. His sales had mostly been “smalls”, he says, though he had sold a Japanese lacquer cabinet for around $10,000. “Anything Asian” was selling quickly, he said.
Mossgreen also offered an assemblage of 1950s terracotta toadstools in lurid colours – perhaps made for a shop window display which sold well at $400 a pop.
Prime offering at the stand of Anne Schofield of Sydney’s Woollahra, along with top Art Deco and other jewellery, was an elaborate Tsar Alexander II gold box, embellished with a diamond studded imperial cipher in blue enamel, fashioned in 1870s Vienna. This bauble had been gifted to a Swedish doctor who had treated the Tsar in St Petersburg, and had come to Australia via another medical family. But at $50,000 it was a big bite for all but the wealthiest collector. Schofield said she had made no major sale at the fair but had had a great deal of interest which often turned into follow-on business. She also praised the venue and its facilities.
Online Antiques from Harcourt, Victoria, did good business – its smart Deco dining table and eight matching chairs in unusual Queensland tiger maple by the Australian firm Standis had won a red sticker from a New South Wales buyer, as did an elegant German art Deco hallstand in chrome, priced at $2400.
Also doing well in the furniture stakes was Jamie Allpress of Malvern, who sold an early 19th century oak dresser base with cupboards and drawers for $18,500 along with a 2.5 metre farmhouse table in beech and fruitwood circa 1820 for $9500. Allpress said he’d sold a stack of pewter and majolica wares.
Sydney’s John Pettit, a major force in the rare banknote business, sold an 1836 Kingscote, Kangaroo Island, one-pound note issued by the South Australia Co for a buoyant $95,000 to a retired antique dealer “who likes colonial”. And another punter bought a classic 1927 one-pound note with the Riddle-Heathershaw signature combination for $10,250 for his super fund. “In the late 1980s I would have struggled to get $350 for it, said Pettit.
Unsold as of Saturday was his set of 1966 specimen decimal notes presented to the then Reserve Bank governor Nugget Coombs priced at $225,000.
Elsewhere sales seemed a little slow, perhaps reflecting the confused economic times. Certainly most big ticket sales take a while to consummate, according to most exhibitors.
Sydney Australiana dealer Andrew Simpson had sold a nicely patinated colonial cedar elbow chair with turned legs for $2000 by Saturday, but still for sale were his cedar inverted breakfront dwarf bookcase with silk-lined doors at $90,000 and fiddleback blackwood tilt-top centre table at $15,500.
Melbourne silver dealer Kevin Murray said he had sold several pieces of rare Scottish silver circa 1720-40 including a fine caster for $15,000.
His fine pair of George III campana wine coolers, Sheffield 1813, and priced at $87,500, were still in the cabinet.
Sydney oriental art dealer Ray Tregaskis was another who was happy with the racecourse venue but said the fair had been “just average” for him. A Hong Kong buyer had taken his Ming dynasty blue and white porcelain charger priced at $12,500, but his rare 8th century stoneware ewer, the spout fashioned as a fantastic creature, failed to sell at $100,000.
Porcelain specialist Alan Landis, who trades from Sydney’s Pitt Street, sold a Grace Seccombe figure of a galah for $5500 and a small Moorcroft vase with the rare waratah design for $4000. Two large Moorcroft waratah vases were unsold, though, at around $20,000 each.
Craig Broadfield of Tasmania’s Leven Antiques said he had done well with glass, and had seen unexpected sales of silver flatware or cutlery – which has been relatively subdued. A couple of antique glasses had fetched around $1500 apiece, he said, while one enthusiast swooped on four Georgian opaque twist wine glasses priced at $500 plus apiece.