Much of the collection is housed at the MTG in Napier. Photo / NZME
Much of the collection is housed at the MTG in Napier. Photo / NZME
Hawke’s Bay’s most significant museum collection has shot up in value and is now worth $43 million, according to the latest revaluation.
The Hawke’s Bay Museums Trust (HBMT) protects and manages the region’s museum collection housed at Napier’s MTG and Faraday Museum.
The trust is controlled and receivesfunding from Napier City Council and Hastings District Council.
The collection consists of over 90,000 items including artworks, taonga and artefacts, textiles, archives and documents, rare books, photographs, and the likes of pottery and glass.
Churches, Hawke's Bay by famous artist Rita Angus is part of the Hawke's Bay Museums Trust collection. Photo / MTG
Napier City Council arts, culture and heritage manager Elizabeth Caldwell said a new valuer had undertaken the latest valuation.
“They have a particular specialism in taonga and fine arts and have now valued those treasures in the collection with greater accuracy,” she said.
“There are some other works and pieces that have also had their valuations adjusted.”
She did not say exactly which items had seen the largest value increases.
She said insurance costs would increase with the higher values but that was not dissimilar to other groups and companies dealing with increased insurance costs.
The trust’s annual report stated the collection was one of the best in the country.
“The [trust] holds one of the most significant regional collections in New Zealand, collected over 150 years,” the report read.
“The collection comprises a wide range of treasures documenting the unique culture and heritage of the Hawke’s Bay region.”
The $22m Regional Museum Research and Archives Centre is being built at 307 Queen St East in Hastings (a former Briscoes site).
“[It] is currently on budget and scheduled for handover in July 2025 at which point the work of moving the collection will begin,” the annual report read.
From this month, all collection inquiries and image orders of the collection will stop until the handover is complete, estimated to be at the end of 2025.
Wairoa and Central Hawke’s Bay have their own museums and collections.
Value of the collection:
Art: $17,743,000
Taonga Māori (owned and custodial): $15,682,000
Archives: $817,000
Textiles: $830,000
Social history items: $2,112,000
Pottery, porcelain, glass, silver: $612,000
Decorative arts: $1,321,000
Furniture collection: $280,000
Loan collection: $830,000
Natural history: $385,000
Photography: $539,000
Rare books: $539,000
Ethnology items: $1,450,000
Pacific and world items: $1,288,000
Faraday Museum collection: $602,000
Total value: $43,326,000
Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.
