Saleroom: Bidders find lots to love about historical images

King Tawhiao by Elizabeth Pulman. Photo / Supplied

In these uncertain economic and political times, anything is grist to the mill.

So we find Webb's running a highly successful motorcycle sale, with the gallery packed and strenuous bidding.

We find, too, Dunbar Sloane offering - also very successfully - a big collection of guns from a private collection. And we find early New Zealand pottery - including chimney pots and garden urns - climbing to record heights at both Webb's and Cordy's.

There's a market for everything, especially if it's old, rare, in good condition and, preferably, has a New Zealand link.

Late July saw two contrasting photography sales at Webb's. Night one, contemporary and modern, saw sparse attendance on a bleak and bitter evening and thin action from the floor. Auctioneer Jonathan Organ strained to attract interest in what was quite a strong local and international offering of 124 lots.

The best sale was a portfolio of 10 gold-toned contact prints by Laurence Aberhart which went for $30,000 ($34,218 with premium and GST), right on the lower estimate.

American Bert Stern's diaphanous Marilyn Monroe (from the last sitting in 1962), one of the few lots to attract good attention from the floor, went for $2500 ($2851), while a selection of nudes by Czech and American photographers also did reasonably well.

While only about a quarter of the offering sold on the night, the next day saw many lots change hands in negotiated sales.

Night two, slightly more clement and with 100 historical lots, drew much stronger attendance and bidding interest.

Top price of $5200 ($5931) went for a splendid portrait of King Tawhiao by Elizabeth Pulman, against an estimate of $1000 to $2000.

Another Elizabeth Pulman portrait, of Rewi Maniapoto, also exceeded the top estimate of $1500, selling for $2100 ($2395). Henry Winkelmann's picture of a Maori canoe on Lake Rotorua, from around 1902, also claimed top dollar, going for $2800 ($3193).

Dunbar Sloane in Wellington will offer an even more notable Maori portrait on August 27-28, when one of Goldie's last oils, of 102-year-old Wharekauri Tahuna, an Arawa chief, will be on the market for the first time.

Held in the collection of the extended Goldie family since its creation in 1941, it is entitled A Noble Relic of a Noble Race. It is estimated to sell at between $330,000 and $400,000.

After 15 years, the John Leech Gallery/Gow Langsford Gallery warehouse and archive is moving to a new location. Three weeks from today, Art+Object will be offering more than 300 artworks from the collection at no reserve.

Included are New Zealand historical paintings and prints, with the emphasis on colonial landscapes and scenes, modernist painting and prints by major artists.

The offering includes works by Christopher Perkins, John Weeks, Michael Smither, William Reed and Peggy Spicer.

COMING UP

* Aug 5-6-7
Webb's, A2 art; jewellery; antiques.

* Aug 7
International Art Centre, collectable art.

* Aug 19
Cordy's, antiques.

* Aug 23
Art+Object, John Leech/Gow Langsford sale.

* Sept 8-9-10
Dunbar Sloane, affordable art, collectables and antiques.

* Sept 16
Webb's, historical art; Cordy's, antiques.

* Sept 18
Art+Object, contemporary sale; Webb's, antiques and decorative art, New Zealand items.

* Sept 22
Webb's, important art.