Blog Posts

Post Malone Buys 'The One Ring ' MTG Card for $2 Million

14/8/2023

Image screenshot from BBC website

Post Malone has paid over $2 Million NZ for the 'One Ring to Rule Them All' Magic the Gathering card, found by a Canadian player.
Read the story here.
Because there is only the one card in all of existence, this has become the highest valued MTG card.
Over recent years we have seen the toy and collectables market strongly appreciate. Antique & Art have provided a number of valuations for Magic the Gathering (and other Trading) Cards. Some New Zealand players are lucky enough to have Black Lotuses locked in bank vaults for safe keeping!

Crown Lynn : A Māori Story

24/4/2023

Worth a watch - available on the RNZ website here.

Museum Staff Help Marae with Flood Recovery

21/4/2023

Staff from Te Papa and local museums are helping Marae from "Dargaville to Feilding" restore Taonga damaged in Cyclone Gabrielle.
Excellent article by Stuff with audio from RNZ available here.

Chinese Panel Hits Record Price at Dunbar Sloane

19/4/2023

A large carved panel thought to be made of sought after Huanghuali wood, sold for a record price at Dunbar's Asian Art Sale recently. Lot 975 was estimated at $50,000 and sold after some healthy bidding for $136,000 plus premium. This may be the highest price for an Asian antique in the New Zealand market.
Other items in the sale included 18th and 19th Century Tibetan Buddhist religious pieces from the collection of Geoffrey Key, London. With competitive bidding from "a man sitting on the couch" (as James the auctioneer referred to him as) many of this collection sold over the high estimates. The online catalogue with prices realised is here.

Curio Shop Goes to Auction at Cordy's

8/3/2023

Lot 90 an Early Mickey Mouse Money Box sells for almost $1000!

"From sci-fi mags to nude lady porcelain figures: The collection of Mr Smiles, King of Curios, goes under the hammer in Auckland" Article from the New Zealand Herald here. The Catalogue is online now at Cordy's Mt Eden.

Flood Damage to Marae Throughout the North Island by Cyclone Gabrielle

20/2/2023

Flood damage to marae in Cyclone Gabrielle's wake has communities calculating what to do to save precious taonga.
Whanau of Tangoio Marae, north of Napier, are taking toll of the damage unleashed last week.
Hori Reti its chairperson (pictured above) said in a Stuff article “All the carvings, all the tukutuku panels will need to be carefully removed from the whare.” “It will be damaged so there will be some restoration that does need to take place. But the majority of those taonga, we're confident that we will be able to salvage fully.”
See the full Stuff article here and the Newshub video clip here.
Details on how to contribute to their clean up costs are given here or here.

Auckland Art Gallery Basement Flooded in Friday's Downpour

30/1/2023

Screenshot of Stuff article by Sophie Harris 30 Jan 2023

Auckland Art Gallery suffered flooding on Friday night with water coming in from the walls and floor and into the basement storage area. Works were moved and the gallery is open today as usual. Stuff article here. A more in-depth NZ Herald article here.

The First of Years of Auctions to Disperse John Perry Collection at Webbs

28/1/2023

The enormous repository of folk art, artifacts and antiques is being sold 18 months after the collector & ex-Museum Director John Perry died. John had warehoused his collection in an old Helensville cinema and had spent the last years of his life selling items through his shop-front.
Webb's have 200 items up for auction this week which is a drop in the ocean of the collection; which will take years to sell.
An NZ Herald article with background to the sale is linked here. NewsHub have an segment here.
John was a well loved figure in our industry. A very generous person with his time and infinite knowledge.
This collection is a once in a lifetime amalgamation and it will be fascinating to follow its cataloguing, sale and dispersal.

Tauranga Museum Looking For Director to Lead Project

18/1/2023

Screenshot from Bay of Plenty Times online 18th Jan 2023

The new Tauranga Museum complex is advertising for a director to lead the project for the next 4 years.
The opening is projected for late 2026.
If you are interested The Big Idea has the job listing here.
The museum was green lit in July and will be the repository for a collection of 30,000 objects currently in storage at a secret location.
Almost half of this collection is searchable online here at the Tauranga Heritage Collection.
At the end of 2022, response to public consultation regarding a new cultural centre at Gate Pā was found to be supported by the community, so Tauranga looks to have an exciting period of building to house and celebrate its cultural heritage.

New Zealand Tāonga Up For Auction in London

4/1/2023

Items from the collection of antiques dealer Emma Hawkins is up for auction at Sotheby's London next week.

The sale is entitled "A Natural World" and features New Zealand interest pieces including the tāonga featured above and two kiwi, amongst the items of natural interest.

A gold mounted huia beak brooch is lot 33 and has provenance to a Victorian Whanganui maker.

Emma is daughter of Tasmanian based dealer John Hawkins.

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