A Decade of Discovery

This past November marks 10 years since we conducted the first catalogue auction for our Sydney salerooms. It was a mix of Decorative Arts, Jewellery and Fine Art and it took place at the InterContinental Hotel in Double Bay. Our offices in Queen Street at the time, as lovely as they were, with their Art Deco aesthetic, were simply too small to hold an auction. Since then, at least one extraordinary auction event has taken place in Sydney each year. Unquestionably, the highlight for us was our appointment to manage the Decorative Arts Collection of the Late J.O Fairfax AC. The two visits to his Bowral property will stay in my memory forever. As will his two imposing Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs that protected the home and the English-inspired gardens most convincingly. I’ll never forget being served sandwiches there but only after the dogs were made to leave the room!

Not long after this a move to The Bond, across the road in Queen Street, provided salerooms and expanded our capacity. This enabled the establishment of a calendar of local auctions for our Sydney clients. Over time this evolved from mixed decorative arts offerings to what is now a well established offering of seasonal auctions across jewellery, art and decorative arts. The Collector’s Auctions, Important Jewels and now The Sydney Jewellery Edit, are part of the Sydney collecting calendar, peppered by the unpredictable arrival of single-owner collections throughout any year.

The Collection of the Late John Schaeffer AO, The Private Collection of Trevor Kennedy AM, and The Robert Compton Jones Collection, are just some of the named collections that we have had the pleasure of celebrating in our Sydney rooms and it remains every auctioneer’s delight, including ours, to wonder what that next collection or important single item might be that comes through our door, or these days, more often than not, our Inbox! Perhaps the discovery of another “lost painting” like our Madeleine Norton’s discovery of Jeffrey Smart’s E.U.R II, 1965 or the sale of a new record-breaking diamond like Hamish Sharma’s $1.3 million solitaire ring. Whatever presents, we like to think of our Sydney salerooms as flexible as they are adventurous, and this is ultimately what makes an auction room fascinating – dealing with all walks of life and all manner of collecting!

Today, a decade on, Leonard Joel Sydney is unquestionably the centre of the local jewellery auction scene, with 8 annual jewellery events and just as importantly, their unique take on decorative arts and art auctions, with its continued ability to reflect and blend old and new collecting habits. After all, what other auction house was open and playful enough to take on the sale and yes, celebration, of the design and history behind the Sydney Opera House ‘Doughnuts’. Every consignment, every visitor and every buyer has made this all possible and it remains our goal, in this second decade, to continue to reflect your collecting habits and tastes, wherever that might take us.

By John Albrecht / Managing Director & Head of Important Collections

Top Image: Concert Hall with Musica Viva, March 1973 photographs by Max Dupain. Credit_ Sydney Opera House Trust and Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW

February 2025