Good sale in the eyes of the beholder

What makes a good sale? The answer depends on whether you are buyer or seller - or auctioneer, come to that. (Which is really saying seller, since the auctioneer's role is to get the best possible price for his vendor).

Buyers want low reserves, low prices and plenty of bargains. Sellers want the best possible gain they can get from the market and hope for good attendance, spirited bidding and high prices.

Last week's sale at Webb's looked, on the night, to be a fizzer. Attendance was low and bidding slow - so much so that auctioneer Ben Plumbly was near halfway through when sudden lively interest in a particular lot moved him to comment wryly: "At last we have an auction."

Post-election blues? A bitterly cold night? Worries over coalitions, wars, hurricanes, petrol prices? A sale that had few stand-out works? Or simply recognition that the secondary market turnover has fallen by some 23 per cent, in Plumbly's estimation, from "the lofty heights of 2003".

Certainly an unusually large number of lots were sold "subject" on the night, as bids failed to reach the reserves set by vendors. But appearances are deceptive, and many sellers revised their expectations, and some buyers their offers, in negotiations after the sale.

It's a reminder, as Plumbly points out, that the best way to secure a picture is to put one's hand up on the night.

Even if the bidding falls short of the reserve, a "subject" bid puts a contract in place allowing the first right of refusal. So Bill Hammond's Watching for Buller (Costume Design), a lovely little work, went to only $64,000 on the night. But it sold later at the reserve of $100,000.

An 1880 work of Alfred Sharpe, View of the Rock of Maketu, near Drury, sold the morning after the sale for $95,000, against a lower estimate of $120,000; and a Goldie portrait of Harata Rewiri Tarapata, widow of the Orakei chief Paora Tuhaere, reached just $130,000 on the night but sold for $160,000 later. It was estimated at $200,000 to $300,000 - clearly too high on today's market.

Moving forward in time, a fine still life from around 1937 by Frances Hodgkins went to $200,000 on the night, selling later to the high bidder for $230,000. This was the highest price for the sale, which ended up totalling more than $1.3 million - a good result, considering. Will things pick up once Helen Clark et al sort out their affairs?

Next week sees many attractive works at the International Art Centre's collectable sale, including more from the estate of William James Reed, the Dunedin painter and teacher whose pupils included Ralph Hotere and Stanley Palmer.

Coming up:

The International Art Centre's collectable sale is next Tuesday, with an investment art sale planned for November. Both will be in the refurbished downstairs premises at 272 Parnell Rd, below the retail gallery.

Cordy's next antiques and art sale is October 11.

Webb's next A2 sale is on November 1 (jewellery), 2 (affordable art) and 3 (antiques and collectables). What Webb's says is New Zealand's first stand-alone photography catalogue will be offered on November 24. It will include historical and contemporary works.

Dunbar Sloane has arranged a new venue for its December sales - the Pavilion, behind the old central Post Office in the Britomart precinct. The sale will include militaria, on December 11, Maori artefacts on December 12, and art on December 13.