Hundreds of undocumented artworks have been uncovered during the Sarjeant Gallery's shift to its temporary home.
Since April last year staff have been transferring every piece from storage at the Queen's Park building to Taupo Quay.
In the nooks, crannies and walls of the old stores, hundreds of pieces about which the gallery was unaware have been found.
Among the discoveries is a scrapbook of the 1972 Wanganui Serenity Festival, a 19th century painting of Pakaitore, an untitled portrait thought to have been brought to the gallery in the 1940s or 1950s and lithographs of the Crimean War.
Sarjeant curator of collections Jennifer Taylor Moore said about 1800 works were found which were not included in the gallery's inventory.
"We don't know the circumstances of how they came into the building," she said. "We need to find out how they came and why they are here. It's just like detective work, really." She said some may have only ever been loaned.
"We can't just assume they're ours," she said.
Mrs Taylor Moore said of the 1800 pieces, staff were slowly chipping away at the list of undocumented works by matching them up with old records. She expected that to halve. "We can't say they are all in the permanent collection because we need to check [but] it just shows you the importance of documentation."
Some of the newly discovered works will be displayed too, including one with the Pakaitore exhibition which opens shortly.
Photo Gallery:
Much of the work has been done by four collections transition assistants who the gallery hired to help with the move.
"They'll also be doing an exhibition on things that they found interesting," Mrs Taylor Moore said.
The shift began in April last year and and should be completed by August.
The new storage facilities at the Taupo Quay building allow for much better and easier storage.
"It's just so much easier to give public access."
- The Sarjeant will be running tours of the stores at both the Queen's Park building and the temporary one on Taupo Quay from May 18 to 24. Tickets are $20 per person. Pre-bookings at 38 Taupo Quay.