Top Prices For Furniture
Sydney Morning Herald
Sunday March 28, 1993
Lord McAlpine's collection of colonial and bush furniture found new homes in Melbourne last night, selling at auction for a total of $308,841.
The McAlpine collection formed the core of a Sotheby's offering which grossed $386,834 and 94 per cent of the lots were sold.
"It is the best result from a colonial and bush furniture sale since we sold the collection of Dr John Buttsworth at his Balmain home in 1987," the general manager of Sotheby's Australia, Mr Justin Miller, said.
"The competition for the pieces of primitive furniture and rustic toys, weather-vanes and decoy-ducks was the highlight of the auction.
"In many instances, the hammer price was quadruple the estimates."
Of the formal pieces, a cedar break-front bookcase from NSW, circa 1840, sold for $44,000. The bush furniture included a stringy-bark dresser and bench(NSW, circa 1855) which sold for $8,800.
Many of the McAlpine pieces were exhibited at the Powerhouse Museum in 1990.
© 1993 Sydney Morning Herald