Portraits and NFTs of New Zealand artist Charles Goldie fetch record prices

A glass-plate negative of artist Charles Goldie in his studio, digitally recreated as an NFT, reached a record price at auction this week. Photo/supplied

Two glass-plate negatives showing Charles Frederick Goldie at work, and two NFTs (non-fungible tokens) of the photos, sold for a record $131,000 at a Webb's online auction last night. What would Goldie have thought of it all?

The widely recognised images show the celebrated artist, who died in 1947, in his studio and working at his easel. The original owner of the negatives bought them at Auckland auction house and later approached Webb's director of art Charles Ninow who suggested creating digital NFTs by scanning the original plates. Ninow could not reveal what the owner had paid for them at auction.

The photos are thought to have been taken by Rupert Farnell Studios before 1910. Last night bidding reached fever pitch as bids rose from starting bases of $29,000 and $17,000, increasing in $1000 lots in the last half hour of the four-day auction. The photo of Goldie in his studio sold for $78, 538 and the close-up of the artist at his easel sold for $52,700.

The photo negative and NFT of this image, showing renowned New Zealand artist Charles Goldie working at his easel, sold for $52,700 at Webb's this week. Photo/supplied

"It (the auction) was amazing," Ninow said. "Pretty entertaining to watch."

Both images and NFTs were bought by the same bidder, though to be an expat Kiwi living overseas. The NFTs will be transferred to his blockchain "wallet" and he will also receive a framed print of the photograph and the original glass plate negatives presented in custom-made wooden boxes.

"This is an excellent example of the special qualities of old technology meeting, and being and enhanced by, cutting-edge contemporary technologies and
media formats," Ninow said.

Webb's had plans for another NFT sale in the coming months.

"There is so much interest in this space. It will be a huge part of the art market and the collectibles market in the future."

Webb's director of art Charles Ninow says NFTs will play a major part in the art and collectibles market in the future. Photo/Brett Phibbs

Webb's is following in the footsteps of other auction houses overseas that have embraced digital assets in their sales catalogues. Last year an NFT, The First 5000 Days by US digital artist Beeple, sold for $US69 million at Christie's auction house in London.

Fueled by high profilers like Paris Hilton, Melania Trump and Snoop Dogg, the NFT craze took off last year on the back of crypto currency. Bloomberg reported the NFT market was worth $US41 billion in 2021, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.