Auction week, and the auction year, closed in Melbourne on a high note. Forthe first time in eighteen months it appears that vendor and buyer expectations have met to such a degree that a depth of bidding was apparent at all three auction houses: Sotheby's, Bonhams and Goodman and Deutscher and Hackett.  Sales rates by volume and value were the best they have been for a long time and reflected the depth of the market that appears to be peppered with a lot of new faces.

The Australian art world is reeling today after shock news that leading auction house businessman Tim Goodman has purchased the Australian arm of the prestigious international auction house Sotheby's.

Tim Goodman, currently Chairman and CEO of Bonhams and Goodman auction house announced that he will be terminating his license with British firm Bonhams on December 22 of this year to replace it with the far more prestigious and distinguished brand name of Sotheby's.

There is a maxim in the art market that in troubled times there is a flight to quality.  The August round of auctions which included sales at Sothebys, Bonhams and Goodman and Deutscher and Hackett certainly had a good smattering of quality offerings.  However, with the limited availability of stock to sell due to nervous or reluctant vendors, the auction houses needed to be bullish in their estimates in order to persuade owners to part with their artworks.  Consequently the issue in this round of sales was The Price.