In a huge three-day auction starting on Monday, August 9, a highlight of the furniture is Lot 258, a suite comprising sofa, two carver chairs and four side chairs in the airy decorative style made popular by the London design house and department store Liberty (estimate $NZ2000 to $NZ3000). The pottery includes Staffordshire figures and other wares from the Allardyce estate in Christchurch (Lot 504 onwards). The art includes Lot 219, a Francis Hodgkins watercolour “Waiting for Fishing Boats, Puketeraki” dated 1900 ($NZ12, 000 to $NZ18, 000), and a number of framed miniature paintings (Lot 94 to 97). Among a brace of interesting travel posters is Lot 205, “An Island Jewel in a Coral Sea” - Lindeman Island, Great Barrier Reef ($NZ1000 to $NZ2000).
Fine craftsmanship is demonstrated by a card table inlaid with specimen local timbers by the Dunedin figure Anton Seuffert (Lot 171 ) – counted by many as New Zealand’s finest Victorian-era cabinetmaker ($NZ20,000 to $NZ30,000), and Lot 170b, a fine gold mounted greenstone pill container circa 1890 by Frank Hyams, also of Dunedin ($NZ6000 to $NZ 8000).
Golfing memorabilia, silver, jewellery, oriental art and collectibles of all sorts including a 1929 Scott Flying Squirrel motorcycle also feature.
Meanwhile on September 14 Dunbar Sloane has a major offering of tribal art, including part of an important collection put together by tribal art authority Kenneth Webster (1906-67). A passionate collector up till the 1950s, Webster gathered New Zealand heritage pieces from salerooms, museum selloffs and dealers throughout the UK and Europe. In 1962 he offered the assemblage to the New Zealand government, but was refused. It was bought by a UK collector – but its new owner wanted the material to be returned to Webster’s homeland for sale.
The sale is seemingly not yet fully catalogued but includes an important contact period Maori canoe prow (estimate $NZ20,000 to $NZ40,000), a 17th century (pre-Cook) teko-teko or gable post ex the Hooper collection and an 18th century Wakahuia treasure box ($NZ50,000 to $NZ100,000).