John Laws’ antiques and golden bling sell for millions at auction

The legendary Australian radio broadcaster with the golden tonsils is the man with the golden gavel in death.

Three live auction sales of items from the personal collection of John Laws and wife Caroline have netted more than $4.6 million, with all 188 lots sold through Bonhams Australia and another four online auctions yet to conclude.

Auctioneer Merryn Schriever dressed in gold sequins to honour Law’s bold, gold aesthetics and deliver “white glove” results, meaning all lots were sold under the hammer.

“We had a floor-to-ceiling black and white photo made for behind the rostrum of John Laws,” she said. “He was such a force of nature and reshaped our media landscape.”

The first live auction of fine art, classic furniture, antiquities and French mantel clocks drawn from Laws’ properties raised $2,079,729.40, inclusive of buyer’s premium, for his estate against a low estimate of $961,400.

Laws’ car collection went for $815,040 (plus buyer’s premium) against a low estimate of $700,000. His pride and joy, a 2007 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, delivered new to Australia, maintained “with no expense spared” and used in the 2022 movie Poker Face was the highest-selling lot at $308,000. A heritage number plate, 123:123, sold for $106,400.

Wednesday’s sale, billed as the largest single-owner collection of prestige watches ever to come to market in Australia, fetched $1.73 million against a low estimate of $923,000.

Not all lots achieved their estimate highs, while others exceeded their estimates.

A rare yellow gold bracelet watch by Patek Philippe, Nautilus “Jumbo” with date, circa 1985, sold for $213,000 against an estimate of between $150,000 and $250,000.

A rare Rolex triple calendar bracelet watch with moon phases, circa 1953 and billed as a “true unicorn in the world of vintage horology”, went for $162,890 including buyer’s premium, more than its highest estimate of $120,000.

Laws spent seven decades on air at stations such as Sydney’s 2UE and 2SM. At the height of his career, he was drawing more than two million a listeners a day to his morning show.

The estate’s beneficiaries include the children of John and Caroline Laws (they had nine between them).

The estate gifted works of art worth $5 million to the Art Gallery of NSW. His golden microphone trophy was placed in the collections of the Powerhouse Museum and an archive of clippings and media ephemera gifted to the State Library of NSW.

A large collection of books, including non-fiction and art monographs, have been given to Lifeline in support of their forthcoming book fair, one of the