This June, we look forward to celebrating a collection of classical bronze statuary and a unique collection of Blackamoor figures belonging to Melbourne based couturier Victoria Cascajo. When considering Melbourne couture royalty, Victoria Cascajo is one of a handful of designers that have shaped Australian fashion history. Starting her career with Spanish Fashion house Balenciaga, she […]
Appointment of Hamish Sharma, former Head of Jewels at Sotheby’s Australia — Hamish Sharma, Australia’s most credentialed auction jewellery expert, joins the Leonard Joel team in Sydney on July 6th 2020. Based full-time in our Sydney salerooms, Hamish Sharma will curate and present three Jewels auctions annually, with a focus on international, designer […]
Before the rise of modern gemmology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was often believed that rubies and spinels were the same stone as they are often found in the same mines. Nevertheless, these two minerals are quite distinct and chemically different. Subsequently, as jewellery owners were told some of their treasured rubies and sapphires were actually spinels, the stone’s […]
Our Centum contemporary art auction exceeded all expectations in its online auction on 5 May. The excitement and fast pace of an auction can often mean that little thought is given to the works after the hammer falls. So here are three works and personal favourites that I think are worth another look: Lot 32 […]
A Look Back In Time: Two Important Figures in 19th Century Australia JAMES WALKER (Scottish, 1785-1856) In 1823, James Walker arrived in Sydney from Scotland, joining his younger brother, William Walker. Together the two brothers developed Walker and Co., engaging in coastal shipping and whaling from their wharf and warehouse at Dawes Point. During the late 1830s the company exported […]
My last memory of a normal hug was when someone from IFAW I was saying goodbye to at LA airport on Friday February 28th declined a handshake and embraced me instead. My last memory of a normal auction moment was my meeting with Thomas Keneally in Sydney on March 13th – the welcome I received […]
Following weeks of unprecedented conditions within the fine auction industry and beyond, we are thrilled to announce that on Tuesday 5 May our Centum auction delivered exceptional results, with competitive internet, phone and absentee bidding at all price levels achieving an 80% sale rate and a total hammer of $771,962 (IBP). Leonard Joel’s Managing Director, […]
A Masterwork by Alun Leach-Jones Leonard Joel Sydney presents The Moon Has Set, 2003, by Alun Leach-Jones (1937-2017), a colourful and vibrant example of the artists signature approach to abstraction. Featuring complex yet clean shapes arranged on planes of colour, this painting features motifs familiar to the artists oeuvre such as snakes and ladders. Believing that colour drove […]
Art is most needed in times of adversity. Now as most of us are adjusting to spending most of our time at home, we are unsurprisingly turning to art, music, and moving image to satisfy our brain’s need for stimulation. The arts make a very important yet varied contribution to our national economy and, in […]
Cool, Calm Collecting Delivers Staggering Results For Design Icons Week After three weeks of tumult and change within the fine auction industry we can report that our Design Icons smashed all sales expectations and confirmed that both the appetite for collecting and decorating our homes and our lives remains as strong as ever and online-only […]