Saleroom: Forget those rumours

Dunbar Sloane's sale tonight is special, coming in the wake of the announcement that it is "restructuring" its business in Auckland.

That does not mean, Sloane's says, while urging patrons to "forget all the bizarre rumours", that it is closing down. But it will no longer maintain the auction rooms at 20 St Marks Rd and it will cut back its Auckland staff to two - Dunbar Sloane and his son, also Dunbar.

Art and artefact sales will continue in Auckland, they say, as will auctions of rare books and militaria. Other sales - antiques, collectibles and so on - will go back to Wellington.

Sloane's blame an expiring lease and the problems getting suitable economic long-term accommodation in Newmarket. But other auction houses suggest - as they would - that the long-established Wellington firm has struggled to make money in the competitive, expensive and deeply entrenched Auckland market.

Tonight's sale, with about 140 lots, mixes contemporary and colonial works with a smattering of photography and some good works in glass. The affordable art on Sunday looks like a real clean-out and there may be some bargains.

Tonight's leading work is a fine Goldie portrait of Rutene te Umairangi, alternatively titled Forty Winks. It is one of Goldie's last completed works, done in 1939, and his only known portrait of this Kingite warrior from Taupo.

The painting has been in the same family since it was bought from Goldie's widow, Olive, in 1948 for 600 guineas. The estimate is $240,000 to $290,000.

Another interesting early painting shows the battle honours of the 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment, which fought at Quebec in Wolfe's campaign and in the first war with the Maori in 1845, against a landscape illustrative of both countries and with soldiers and adversaries from both campaigns. The estimate is $10,000 to $15,000 but it could well go higher.

Sloane's sale last month was very successful. A Seuffert wine table went for $65,000 ($74,100, with 12.5 per cent buyer's premium and GST), and a self-portrait of yellow peril fanatic Lionel Terry was sold for $4500. Terry put words into practice in 1905 by murdering a penniless, elderly Chinese person in Wellington.

A very early bedside stand made from whalebone went for $32,000.

Webb's first major sale of the year saw an excellent turnover of $2.3 million, with records set for many artists, including Auckland favourite Dick Frizzell ($35,000), Allen Maddox ($37,000), Michael Parekowhai ($9250), Jacqueline Fraser ($10,000) and Richard McWhannell ($11,000).

Works by Shane Cotton (top price $90,000) and Colin McCahon (top $170,000) sold well, and many sales were negotiated in the days after the auction. For example, Eve figure in landscape with portraits, by Michael Illingworth, struggled to make its bottom estimate of $160,000 on the night but sold the following day for $125,000 - a very good price for this artist. The reality of the saleroom can cast cold water on vendors' high expectations.

Coming up:

Dunbar Sloane's art sale is at 6.30 tonight and 150 lots of affordable art will be offered on Sunday from 1pm.

Cordy's art and antiques catalogue sale is next Tuesday.

Webb's A2 sale is next Tuesday (jewellery), Wednesday (art) and Thursday (oriental arts and furniture).

The huge taxidermy collection of Adele Crofskey and Ian Smart, of New Plymouth, will be sold at Penrose the following Saturday. If you're looking for a musk ox, leaping lion, polar bear or raccoon, this is the sale for you.

The International Art Centre's sale of collectable art is on May 29, with an investment sale planned for next month.