Goldie portraits fetch $900,000

International Art Centre director Richard Thomson with Thoughts of a Tohunga, Wharekauri Tahuna, by Goldie. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Three portraits by New Zealand artist Charles Frederick Goldie fetched almost $900,000 at auction tonight.

One of the three oil on canvas paintings, Thoughts of a Tohunga, Wharekauri Tahuna, sold for $416,000, the highest price reached at a New Zealand art auction this year, according to auctioneer Richard Thomson.

The successful bidder at the auction of important, early and rare art at the International Art Centre in Parnell, Auckland, told the Herald he was "buying for a New Zealand client" but would not give more details.

Bidding had started at $300,000, rapidly climbing to $340,000 but bidders refused the auctioneer's invitation to go to $357,500. The buyer's premium brought it up to $416,000.

The artwork had been estimated to bring between $350,000 and $500,000.

The other two pieces were also sold to Kiwis, both from Auckland.

The Weariness of the Aged sold for $257,450. Bidding starting at $150,000 and went up in $10,000 lots. People standing with the female buyer as she examined the painting told the Herald she did not want to talk.

Bidding for the third painting, No Koora te Cigaretti, Portrait of Kapi Kapi, stopped at $175,000 with the highest bidder going into negotiation. The portrait eventually sold for $205,000.

"It was a very good sale and there were good prices for some of the big items," Mr Thomson said.

More than 100 people packed the auction room.

There have been higher prices for Goldie portraits: the centre sold one last November, Kawhena, Johnny Coffin, for $732,800.

In 2010, the centre reached the second highest price, of $573,000, for Forty Winks, which was sold by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

Goldie died in in 1947.