Whether you are new to collecting or have an established art collection, Francesca can provide tailored acquisition advice. Following a consultation session to establish your brief including style, subject, size, budget and required timeframe, she will use her in depth market knowledge and wide network of primary galleries, auction houses and private clients to present you with a targeted proposal of potential works for your consideration. Viewings will be arranged for you for works that are available locally. For works that are being offered via auction, she can arrange for condition reports to be provided and to bid on your behalf, if required. For sales via private treaty or commercial gallery, Francesca will negotiate the sale on your behalf and assist you in finalising the acquisition. Transport, framing (if required) and installation can also be arranged.

When deciding to sell, Francesca will use her extensive secondary market knowledge to establish the best avenue for sale. Correct placement of the work or collection with the most suitable auction house, secondary market dealer or offering to targeted, private buyers, is key to achieving the strongest result. If you are considering rationalising a collection, Francesca can provide advice on which parts of the collection are best sold in order to maximise results whilst still maintain the integrity and structure of the collection.

Francesca is an experienced, specialist valuer in Australian art including Indigenous art and artefacts. She can provide formal valuations and appraisals for a variety of purposes including:

• insurance

• superannuation

• probate

• family distribution

• sale

Francesca can provide tailored collection management services to corporate and private clients requiring ongoing management or ad hoc specific tasks involving the collection. She has extensive experience in handling works in a broad variety of mediums from oil paintings to bark paintings as well as ceramics, fibrework, photography and sculpture including rare and historically important museum-quality works. She has regularly dealt with works ranging in value from a few hundred dollars to in excess of 1 million dollars.

Francesca has a broad network of trusted transport companies, art storage facilities, framers, conservators and art installers. She is an experienced researcher and has developed relationships with many respected academics with whom she regularly consults. She has established professional connections with a number of curators at public institutions and has experience in arranging exhibition loans to major and regional museums and galleries.

Handling the dispersal of an estate can be an overwhelming and emotional experience for executors who are often relatives or close friends of the deceased. Particularly when there is a large volume of material from many different categories, the saleability, best placement and most streamlined approach can be difficult to navigate, especially when executors are not familiar with the type of property. Francesca has assisted many clients to simplify this process and has maximised sale results through her network of specialists in each field and relationships with transport companies and other suppliers.

Francesca was instrumental in the successful sales of a number of single-owner estate sales for private individuals including:

• The Fred and Elinor Wrobel collection (5 sales in 2023) where the record price for a work by Nora Heysen was achieved ($270,600)

• An important international collection of Aboriginal art from the estate of Spanish sculptor, Eudald Serra (2020) with the record-breaking sale of a work by Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra ($231,800)

• Fairwater: The Collection of Sir Warwick and Lady Fairfax AC OBE, Sydney (2019)

• works from the estate of Franco and Amina Belgiorno Nettis AC, Sydney (2016)

• works from the estate of Mary Macha, Perth (2017)

as well as works from the estates of important Australian artists Sir Sidney Nolan (7 sales from 2013-2023) and Paddy Bedford (2011)