KEY POINTS:
It has been a hectic time in the Auckland auction scene over the past fortnight, with Art+Object, Cordy's, Dunbar Sloane and Webb's all mounting busy sales.
Maybe investors - burned by the way finance companies are falling over like Wallaby defenders when Dan Carter sets off for the
line - have decided that art, antiques, Kiwiana or jewellery are better bets than money in the bank or under the mattress.
On the other hand, many may be digging into their collections in search of something to sell.
For all the economic and political uncertainty, this year in the salerooms looks like at least matching last year's $14.5 million, and could well do better.
Jewellery seems to be doing well, with Webb's posting $91,250 for a diamond ring, with the main stone nearly six carats, and $67,500 for a 21-carat emerald.
Furniture by the Seuffert family continues to command high prices, while more and more works by Charles Goldie are emerging from private vendors to attract strong bidding.
It's a familiar phenomenon that one or two good sales of a particular artist can bring all sorts of comparable items out of the woodwork, in the hope of making a decent and welcome profit.
But the old maxim still applies - good works by good artists (or those whom the market, in its fickle way, regards as good at the moment) will sell; lesser works by the same artist will struggle. Not all Goldies are created equal.
One feature this year has been the emergence of some relatively new markets. Posters - particularly of New Zealand origin - are attracting stronger attention, especially at Dunbar Sloane.
New Zealand ceramics are coming along strongly, with Len Castle in the forefront, but others like John Parker and Ernest Shufflebottom's work for Crown Lynn are coming up close behind.
New Zealand studio glass, headed by the internationally renowned Ann Robinson, is commanding increasing prices and, as nationalism soars - spurred by the Olympics and the All Blacks? - Kiwiana enjoys strong support.
A feature of Art+Object's sale of 300 works from the John Leech Gallery/Gow Langsford Gallery warehouse and archive was how early New Zealand works depicting clearly identifiable places at particular points in time were snapped up, many by institutions such as the Turnbull Library. Similar works sold well last week.
Maybe The Big Picture, Hamish Keith's memorable and idiosyncratic rundown of our art history, has sparked new interest in our heritage; perhaps it has always been there, if somewhat suppressed by the raucous clamour of the contemporary scene.
On which note, the International Art Centre's October sale offers a feast of historic works, many up for the first time. It includes two Goldies, a couple of Blomfields, a rare 1860 view of New Plymouth by Edwin Harris and a Gallipoli painting by Horace Moore-Jones, plus two Evelyn Pages.
Coming up
Monday: Webb's, important art.
October 14: International Art Centre, New Zealand investment art; Cordy's, antiques.
October 21: Webb's, contemporary art.
October 22: Webb's, modern design.