Rival auctioneers rolled up to the Armadale showroom to watch Goodman take to the Sotheby’s podium, among them Deutscher-Menzies’ national head of art, Tim Abdallah, and Deutscher and Hackett’s head of Aboriginal art, Crispin Gutteridge, and head auctioneer Anita Archer.
The night’s results were promising, with $6.04 million worth of art – or 65 per cent of all lots – being sold. One of the highlights was the phenomenal result achieved for the small Sidney Nolan work Ned Kelly, which sold for $624,000 including commissions, more than three times its lower estimate of $180,000. Sydney art dealer Michael Nagy bought the painting for a private collector.
