John Symond moves to sell some artwork

John Symond, the high-profile founder of Aussie Home Loans, is selling off some paintings set to fetch around $5 million or so from the Sotheby's sale.

Some were mentioned in a privately published book on his collection.

The 14 of Symond's surplus artworks top the line-up at Sotheby's November 20 sale including John Brack's Pantomime (above).

Pantomime has a presale estimate of $500,000 to $700,000. It last publicly sold at auction for $282,000, including premium, in December 2003.

Jeffrey Smart's 1965 Piazza D'Esedra has a presale estimate is $300,000 to $400,000, compared with the $135,250 the picture last fetched at Sotheby's in November 2003

He wants nothing in storage, following a rationalisation of what has always been a relatively disciplined collection.