Australia

Australian auction house Mossgreen is in administration and a creditors’ meeting will be held this week.

Timed to coincide with the start of the 70th Ashes series, a silver presentation tray marking the very first ‘Ashes’ test series in 1882-83 will be offered at auction by Leonard Joel in Melbourne on December 7.

A rare Chinese scroll by artist Fu Baoshi (1904-1965) has made an auction record for Bonhams in Australia.

Antiques owned by the late businessman James Fairfax caught the eye of buyers with a set of four Victorian novelty kangaroo salts among the highlights at the auction in Sydney.

An early painting by UK-born Australian artist Thomas William Roberts (1856-1931), was authenticated on the BBC’s ‘Fake or Fortune?’ after being lost for more than 130 years.

Art and antiques owned by the late businessman James Fairfax will be offered at auction next month.

A painting by UK-born Australian artist Sir Russell Drysdale (1912-1981) has fetched AUD$2.97m when it was sold by Mossgreen in Adelaide on Sunday 25 June. The price is the fifth highest at auction for any Australian artwork.

Bonhams has promoted Merryn Schriever to become the company’s director in Australia, following the departure of chairman Mark Fraser.

A lifelong interesting in collecting can be sparked off by so many different things. For Australian Denis Joachim it was a purchase in a second-hand bookshop when he was just 18 years old.

A portrait of a Maori chief by New Zealand artist Charles F Goldie (1870-1947) more than doubled its money in the space of five months after returning to its homeland from the UK.

Australian auctioneers Mossgreen set an AUS$2m record for a single-owner sale of Asian Art sold down-under when they offered part of Raphy Star’s collection in Sydney earlier this month.

Auction specialists in Australia have found a rare Ming Dynasty banknote hidden within a Chinese wooden sculpture. The discovery came at Mossgreen as they were cataloguing the extensive collection of Raphy Star – one of the most important collections of Asian art ever to be offered in the country.