A strong attendance during the viewing and a good crowd at the auction augured well for the start of Deutscher and Hackett's second auction of aboriginal art, put together by ex-Sothebys expert Crispin Gutteridge and held on Wednesday night, 14th October.  However, the passing-in of the first two lots indicated that a different direction may be taken.  Three hours later a sale rate of 61% by volume resulted in a $1.1m turnover for the sale.

The most interesting aspect of this auction was the confidence factor.  The majority of the top lots went unsold but this did not appear to dampen spirits in the room.  Indeed, at times there was often a spirited depth of bidding.  Of particular note was bidding on lot 7, Johnny Warrangkula's Water Dreaming at Kalipinya which achieved a final price of $76,250 against an estimate of $35-45,000.  Similarly three buyers fought over Brooke Andrew's Sexy and Dangerous (small version, lot 17, estimate $30-40,000) to pay $48,800 and Albert Namatjira's McDonnell Ranges (lot 34, estimate $22-28,000) was hotly contested to achieve a final price of $38,400.    

Big works that failed to sell included the front cover Rover Thomas Yillimbiddi Country (lot 26, estimated at $350-450,000), the George Tjungurrayi Kirrimalunya (lot 76, estimate $60-80,000) and Tracey Moffat's Something More No.1 (outside edition, lot 19, estimate $30-40,000) - a previous darling of the auction room that in past times has sold for much more.  According to the auction house there are a number of clients waiting to discuss post auction opportunities on the major lots.

There appear to be two issues at work in this market at the moment particularly in the mid to upper end.  First is a crisis of confidence.  Once an artwork had attracted a bid then other potential buyers were happy to jump into the fray.  This certainly has something to do with current economic conditions and a nervous yet hopeful anticipation that the worst is over.

The second issue appears to be depth of market.  The depth of the secondary market for aboriginal art is heavily impacted by the large quantity of artwork available through primary market sources.  There are now a considerable number of galleries and dealers marketing their artist's works in the $20,000 to $70,000 bracket.  Considering the majority of these artists are still alive and painting it can make it very difficult for an auction house to encourage a buyer to select a certain work by a certain artist when there are so many other to choose from in the marketplace.  An example of this is possibly lot 10, the Paddy Bedford Mendoowoorji which was estimated at $120-150,000 and failed to attract a buyer.  Whilst initially this may appear a fulsome price it is conservative when compared to the apparent Euro 250,000 price tags on the Bedford paintings currently being exhibited in Utrecht.  Similarly, the large Fiona Oomenyo Big Family (lot 137, estimate $16-20,000) passed in without a bid whilst the small work We Are One (lot 136, estimate $2-3,000) was well contested and achieved $2,928.  There are a limited number of collectors both in Australia and overseas who are prepared to spend over $20,000 on aboriginal art so they can afford to be choosy - to the current detriment of the auction rooms.