The undead

Having just posted Webb’s on Webb’s announcement of a record price for a living New Zealand artist (Bill Hammond at $290,000) we were kinda surprised to hear from a reader that back in 2004 Dunbar Sloane in Auckland got $308,000 off an estimate of $300,000-400,000 for lot 25, Ralph Hotere’s Song Cycle The Voyage, 1976. So competition rules in the auction record business like many others. Hotere (still alive) also beat the Hammond price in 2003 with lot 27, Black Window, which achieved $302,500 off an estimate of $230,000-280,000. And that was at Webb’s. No doubt there will be talk of commissions not included etc etc. which might end up giving Bill the edge on the Webb’s price, but Dunbar can probably still claim the record.