The main attraction for Goldie followers on the night was a fine pencil drawing of Rotorua's most famous 19th century Maori woman, Guide Sophia, (lot 40) originally from the north of New Zealand but also of Te Wairoa who was a principal Maori guide at the fabled Pink and White Terraces in the Hot Lakes District of the volcanic plateau in the North Island.
The 24.5 x 17.5 cm drawing had been in the artist's family until offered for sale, and sold for $100,000 a record price for a Goldie drawing, to a phone bidder. The modestly framed and mounted work from 1931 was signed and inscribed by Goldie ''To Mother from Charlie''.
The following lot was a widely published photograph of the young Goldie standing in front of his easel in a state of ''artistic contemplation'' (lot 41) surrounded by at least a dozen of his finished paintings. It sold for $11,000, to a phone bidder, after a serious bidding battle, setting a record price for a ''Goldie'' photograph.
Interestingly the photographer's blind stamp was embossed into the cardboard mount, and as a result a long-time mystery was solved - it was a Rupert Farnell who operated a photography studio in Auckland between the early 1900s until 1920. who took these important images of the ''artist at work''.
A closeup of Goldie at his easel (lot 42), also from the Farnell Studio sold for $6,000 to a bidder in the room.
Two pieces of Goldie ephemera (lot 43) including a certificate awarded to the young 14 year old fledgling artist from the Auckland Band of Hope for 1st Class in Painting (no doubt giving him the status of a ''child prodigy'') sold for $1,500, while six vintage photographs of some of Goldie's favourite subjects (lot 44) sold to a buyer in the rooms for a humble $4,800.
The International Art Centre now holds the art auction records for a Goldie painting, print, photograph and drawing, setting a rare double brace of ''Goldie standards''
Curiously, fact is often stranger than fiction but after all this auction room euphoria, a small oil by Goldie, A Happy Thought, Te Aitu Te Irikau, a Noted Arawa Chieftainess (lot 45) failed to attract any bids from the floor and was passed in while the next lot, 'Rakapa' Memories - An Arawa Chieftainess (lot 46) attracted one bid of $170,000, some $30,000 below the low estimate, and was sold subject to vendors approval.
Apart from the Goldies, the cover lot, a large oil measuring 60 x 75 cm by Peter McIntyre, Maori Children, East Coast (lot 50) of a young Maori boy and girl standing on the beach, sold to a bidder in the room for $59,000, just $1,000 under the top estimate.
This was one of the collection of ten paintings by Peter McIntyre in both oils and watercolour, with only one not finding a new home.
A typical 19th century painting of the Akaroa Harbour on the Banks Peninsular, the site of the original French settlement in the South Island by John Gibb, a noted artist of the period sold well above the estimate of $3,000-$5,000 for $15,500.
The auction finale ventured into mid-century studio ceramics, that rich vein of our cultural heritage.
On offer were ten lots of by one of the most highly regarded New Zealand ceramists, the late Len Castle. Top price in this new venture for the International Art Centre was a respectable $2,150 for lot 99 the penultimate lot in the carefully crafted offering.
The on the night sale total was around $750,000 with a number of key works that were passed in bound to go out the door in post sale negotiations, which will no doubt take the sale total to over the magic million mark. The 100 lot sale capped a very successful series of auctions for International Art Centre for 2017.
All prices shown are hammer prices expressed in $NZ.
