Sixty art patrons sat in subdued anticipation as auctioneer Anita Archer took the rostrum for Cooee Art MarketPlace’s final auction of 2018.
With eighty-eight carefully selected lots on offer, Archer held absentee bids on behalf of dozens of collectors who would compete against telephone bidders and online participants via Invaluable and LiveAuctioneers.
The sale opened with a small early bark painting by John Mawurndjul, which achieved $8,155 against a pre-sale estimate of $5,000–$7,000. Momentum built steadily, with 65% of the first thirty lots finding new homes.
Lot 31 marked the arrival of the sale’s first major highlight: an important early West Kimberley ceremonial painting by Jarinyanu David Downs. Estimated at $25,000–$30,000, the work sold comfortably for $28,000. It was immediately followed by one of the auction’s more surprising opportunities. A large Equatorial Queensland Rainforest Fig Shield, expected to exceed its estimate, sold for just $15,000, equal to its low estimate. Several lots later, Rover Thomas’s beautiful *Rainbow Jowie – Lake Billiluna*, 1995, was secured for $37,250, well below its low estimate of $50,000.
By this stage, all eyes were on Lot 42, the highly anticipated *Emu Dreaming*, 1972, by Western Desert founding artist Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri. Archer ignited a bidding battle as an absentee bidder pushed a telephone participant from $60,000 to $80,000 in rapid succession. After the book bidder was exhausted, a second telephone bidder cautiously entered the contest. At $90,000, Archer accepted a half bid from the determined local collector, but he too soon reached his limit. At $95,000 ($110,675 including buyer’s premium), the magnificent early board was secured by a renowned international collector.
Three lots later, the same successful bidder faced renewed competition from a local collector for an exceptional work by Ronnie Tjampitjinpa with Papunya Tula provenance. Bidding climbed rapidly from $5,000 to $20,000 before the international bidder once again delivered the decisive blow, securing the work for $22,000 ($25,600 including buyer’s premium).
The sale delivered mixed fortunes for vendors. Rare artefacts undoubtedly faced challenges amid ongoing debate surrounding the sale of early cultural material from New South Wales and Victoria. Nevertheless, the auction achieved a clearance rate of 61%, exceeding the average results achieved by many major Australian auction houses during the year.
Total sales reached $466,233.
Importantly, Cooee Art’s unique hybrid model, combining auction offerings with high-end retail representation, ensures that works not sold on the night continue to be actively marketed through the gallery’s exhibition program and private sales channels. Rather than carrying the stigma often associated with an unsold auction lot, these works remain visible to collectors and institutions through Cooee Art’s established network, often resulting in successful post-auction sales.