KEY POINTS:
A sale of 130 important early and rare New Zealand paintings is expected to realise $2 million - reflecting an investment market remaining buoyant during tough economic times.
Richard Thomson, director of the International Art Centre, says every important early and rare art auction at the centre this year has exceeded $1.5m.
"In a tougher economic climate good quality works usually come on to the market because there are people who could do with the money," he says.
"In turn, the collectors, usually independently wealthy, knowledgeable, influential types unaffected by downturns, snap them up - knowing sellers are more reluctant to part with them in good economic times."
The October 14 sale includes two portraits by Charles Frederick Goldie, which are on the market for the first time.
A portrait of Kapi Kapi, painted in 1909, has been in a collection since 1910 while Thomson expects a portrait of Tumai Tawhiti, a chieftain of the Ngatihiwi, to better the record price of $400,000 for a Goldie.
The March sale was the highest price at auction in five years for a New Zealand artwork, Thomson says.
A comparable work changed hands in 2002 for $120,000.
"Collectors are seeing serious returns on their investments in New Zealand art from the 19th and early 20th century."
Catalogue highlights include two pink and white terraces paintings by Charles Blomfield.
The two works by Evelyn Page include her iconic Nude in a Doorway. It's expected to fetch $150,000 to $200,000.
An 1860 view of New Plymouth by Edwin Harris, featuring collage figures of women and children making their way up Marsland Hill to safety, is "probably the earliest view of New Plymouth to be offered at auction," says Thomson. It's expected to fetch $60,000 to $90,000.
Another historically important work was painted in 1915 by sapper Horrace Moore-Jones and features a battlefield at Gallipoli.
Auctioneer Dunbar Sloane says not only have early New Zealand paintings seen "spectacular growth" in prices during the past three years, but so have Maori artifacts, silver and jewellery made by local silversmiths and high-quality, locally made 19th-century furniture.
Sloane says Kiwis prefer to buy New Zealand-made antiques before those imported from the United Kingdom.
Early New Zealand topographical paintings are also proving solid investments.
