Interest in the pieces has carried on after the auction. Photo / Lewis Gardner
Interest in the pieces has carried on after the auction. Photo / Lewis Gardner
A 420-year-old oil painting by Dutch artist Aert van Antum was the highest selling item at the inaugural live Heritage Art Auction.
The auction's managing director, Henry Newrick, said approximately 60 per cent of the items sold on the day.
"We're pretty happy with the result," Newrick said.
The functionroom at Heritage House was full on Saturday afternoon for the auction.
"Last night (Saturday) and again this morning (Sunday), I've had emails and phone calls from a small number of people both in Whanganui and elsewhere enquiring about the unsold items and wanting to put offers in.
"Some of our clients may accept these offers, in which case I expect that the final sale through rate will probably climb to around 65 per cent."
Newrick said the highest sale of the auction was of a 420-year-old Aert van Antum painting shows a naval battle between ships of the Spanish Armada and the English.
"This fetched $10,000, which delighted the elderly vendor," Newrick said.
"Another highlight was the sale of Colin McCahon's small booklet of drawings showing the Passion of Christ.
"This was a reprint by the Hocken Library (Dunedin) made in 1976 and it fetched a very good price of $8000."
Overall, 136 of the 235 pieces were sold, valued at close to $100,000, Newrick said.
Actor Patrick McKenna was on hand to auction the paintings, prints and photographs.
A 420 year old oil painting by Dutch artist Aert van Antum fetched the highest price. Photo / Supplied
"I would have liked to see an 80 per cent sale rate, but overall, it was a success," Newrick said.
"Even for the biggest auction houses, that's a very good sale-through rate."
The next live auction will be in March.
"There will be one in December too, what we called a timed auction. It starts on a certain date and runs for about 10 days before closing," Newrick said.
Newrick said works for those two auctions were being accepted from the middle of October onwards.
"Anything under $1000 will probably go into the timed auction, along with some more expensive stuff, because timed auctions can work for expensive items too.
"For the timed auction sale, we will have a viewing for those more expensive items downstairs at Heritage House."
In terms of what art could be accepted, Newrick said members of the public were welcome to get in contact with him.
He has been dealing in art since his days at university in the mid-1960s.
His grandfather, Harry Newrick, ran the Sarjeant Gallery from 1926 until his retirement in 1950, aged 85.
"People just need to call me if they've got stuff they want to have evaluated for sale," Newrick said.
"There are always some real surprise pieces out there.
"A few years ago, someone discovered a (C.F.) Goldie sitting in an outhouse in Gisborne.
"It was just hanging on the wall and the owners had no idea."
