The Bonhams & Goodman auction of the Mallesons Collection was held on Sunday 18 May in Waterloo, Sydney.

The auction drew a crowd of more than 450 people, and sales totalled $346,095, with 90 per cent of the works sold by volume and 99 per cent of the works in the sale sold against the low-end estimate.

Woollahra art dealer Eva Breuer purchased several works, including the second-highest priced painting, Ulysses by Dick Watkins, for $24,000 (estimated value $18,000-25,000)..

Paul Parto’s Untitled, oil on canvas, took out the highest bid, selling for for $25,200 (estimated value $18,000-25,000).

The sale was prompted by the firm’s desire to “concentrate on a more focussed collections approach”, and comprised 10 per cent of the Mallesons Stephen Jaques Collection.

Much of the work was procured in the heady days of the 1980s economic boom, and it made for rather an eclectic collection.

“It’s also not often that a unique snapshot of Australian art during the 1980s is presented fresh to the market”, said Anne Phillips, the Senior Specialist in charge of cataloguing and coordinating the auction from Bonhams & Goodman.

Phillips attributed the success of the auction to a combination of factors, not least of all the Malleson’s brand name.

“We offer our vendors a very well mapped out and proven marketing plan. This plan, coupled with the Mallesons’ brand name and reputation helped to pique interest in the collection,” she said.