By John Perry in Auckland, on 19-Apr-2016

The major drawcard for me to travel to Wellington recently was the Tim Clemence Poster Collection of New Zealand & international vintage travel, theatrical and advertising ephemera, which were included in Day 2 of Dunbar Sloane's New Zealand & International Fine Art sale.

Over the years, the market for posters in Wellington has always been constant and strong. Many of New Zealand's finest graphic designers and commercial artists worked for the now defunct New Zealand Railway Studios, a Government Department that was based in Wellington from 1920 until it was closed down towards the end of last century, Posters produced by certain artists such as Marcus King and Leonard Mitchell are in high demand and often change hands at auction for many thousands.

Of the 49 lots on offer eight were of New Zealand interest .The top price on the night of $1,400 for a New Zealand poster went to a Holeproof Queen of Hearts nylon stockings poster from the 1950's followed by $1,050 for a 1956 poster for the 3rd New Zealand International Grand Prix, which incidentally was won by Stirling Moss.

The large majority of the posters on offer were vintage travel posters and the demand for them is of course international, and Friday's auction was no exception with many of the top priced items going offshore to London and the U.S.A. where the market is huge and very strong.

Top price at the sale was for a strong art deco styled Italian designed poster Ala Littoria Linee Aeree which sold for $3,200.

A large format Norman Wilkinson designed poster of the Grangemouth Docks for the L.M.S. Railways executed in 1934 sold for $1,650, and a smaller poster for the London & North Eastern Railway sold for $2,500

In all the team at Dunbar Sloane's were very happy with the two sales,with the final total having exceeded their expectations bringing in a combined total of $1,340,000, Helena Walker and Anthony Gallagher who have each been with the Dunbar Sloane Wellington auction rooms for a decade have done a great job in recent years by lifting the performance levels and sale results of N.Z.'s oldest art and antique auction house.

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About The Author

John Perry is known locally as a collector / consultant / curator/ educator and artist and is a former director of the Rotorua Museum of Art and History. For the last 20 years has worked as an antique dealer specializing in ''man made and natural curiosities'' from an old art deco cinema on the outskirts of Auckland. Over the last 16 years he has developed a multi million dollar collection of 19th and 20th century artworks for the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust. He recently donated 120 artworks from his collection in various media to the East Southland Art Gallery in Gore. A committed ''art o holic'' he continues to develop collections of New Zealand and International fine art / folk art / ceramics and photography for future usage in a private/public ARTMUSEEUM of NEWSEELAND, not to be confused with Te Papa Museum of New Zealand.

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