Money: Sea treasures prove to be an irresistible lure

By DON MILNE

The America's Cup on land and on the water, Viaduct Basin bars and restaurants filled to the gills, superyachts at berth and under construction in Waitemata shipyards - there's money in the sea for the City of Sails, all right.

But what about the city's rich marine heritage, exemplified in the National Maritime Museum on the Auckland waterfront and the annual Anniversary Day regattas?

Are Aucklanders prepared to invest some of their money in that history? And will it give them a return?

Art dealer and auctioneer Peter Webb decided to find out. Last month saw, at Peter Webb Galleries in Newmarket, what was probably the biggest sale of marine art and artifacts ever assembled in this country.

More than 1500 lots, including a remarkable Australian collection of scrimshaw and whaling literature, went under the hammer over three days in mid-January. And most of it sold, to the tune of a total of more than $1.3 million.

Some of the high prices were expected. A letter of July 1768, signed by Lieutenant James Cook and seeking permission to indent provisions for "His Majesty's Bark the Endeavour under my command," sold by a New Zealand vendor, brought $51,000 - and will go to Australia. It was bought by Horden House, a leading Sydney dealer in Pacific material.

And the Laperouse cannon, relic of one of the great voyages of discovery to the Pacific Ocean, went for $25,000. The great French navigator's two ships left Australia in March 1788 and were never seen again. Some 40 years later, they were found to have been wrecked on the reefs of Vanikoro, in the Santa Cruz group. Three cannon were retrieved by divers after the rediscovery of the wrecks in 1962.

But who would have thought that a diver's helmet, with a pair of diver's shoes and a diver's knife, would sell for $15,000, when the estimate was $5000 to $7000? Perhaps it was because the original owner, William Patrick Keene, was said to be the last diver of this kind in New Zealand.

A builder's model of the New Zealand Shipping Company's refrigerated vessel Durham fetched $16,000, again above estimate and undoubtedly because of her fine record. Converted to an armed merchant cruiser, the Durham played a heroic part in Malta convoys until struck by two mines off Tunisia, and suffering further damage from an Italian midget submarine.

Despite massive damage she made it back to Britain to be repaired; her spirit lives on in the Durham Association, which was a leading bidder.

There was a strong market, too, for elegant pond yachts, the best going for $6500 and others from $1500 up. Even hulls ripe for restoration fetched as much as $650.

"They're just about all going overseas," said Peter Webb.

"Overseas collectors appreciate the value of these things - the best of our antique pieces are leaving the country. For instance, the owner of a superyacht bought one, for a lake in Switzerland."

Another piece of maritime heritage, the classic 1920s kauri-built runabout Miss Auckland, will also depart these shores. She went, for $15,000, to a New Zealand expatriate living in Sydney, to grace that harbour.

Bidding for a second piece of Auckland history, the 1929-built "bridge-decker" launch Lady Margaret, stalled at $117,000, below the reserve. But negotiations for the sale of this classic vessel, built of Great Barrier heart kauri and in top condition, continue.

A third historic vessel, the Ladye Wilma, built by the Logan brothers and launched in 1895, has yet to find a buyer. Estimated to sell at between $10,000 and $20,000, she is what land agents call "a restorer's dream."

There was strong demand for marine art, too.

"William James Forster and Arthur Victor Gregory, with their Australian connections, sold exceptionally well," said Sophie Coupland, in charge of fine arts at Webb's.

Forster's works fetched from $3000 to $6500, Gregory's from $2000 to $4750. Works by Frank Barnes, who painted ships around the New Zealand coast (the Kaikouras were a favourite setting) fetched up to $5500. And a painting by the famous Louis James Steele, of the Logan brothers gaff-rigged cutter the Thelma, sold for $13,000.

Interest in the rarer items was international, with very strong Australian support for the Desmond Liddy collection of scrimshaw - partly, perhaps, because the international treaty on whaling prohibits the import or export of items made of whale ivory without a permit. Because of that, the collection was shown in Sydney, at the Brooks Goodman salerooms in Double Bay.

The better pieces went for $6000 to $8000 and will stay across the Tasman. But a couple of good pieces may come to New Zealand, according to Peter Webb, since they were bought by "a well-known Auckland political figure who has a fine whaling collection." The buyer hopes the Australian authorities will grant him permission to export them.

The most exotic item in that section - a 165cm-long whale's penis skin, 50cm in diameter (apparently seamen used them as long-lasting oilskins, after cutting arm-holes and a gap for the face) - sold for $3000. A conversation piece?

But for all the international interest - telephone bidding peppered the three days of the sale - local collectors came through strongly on the spot.

"The saleroom was packed every night, and most of them were regular local buyers," said Sophie Coupland.

"Marine collectors are real enthusiasts. The art and the memorabilia were very strongly supported locally. There is a great market out there, if the material is available."

Peter Webb echoes that thought.

"If there was a little disappointment - and it was a very strong sale all round - it was that the America's Cup material did not do as well as the more historic items.

"We thought we would get a lot of interest from people in the America's Cup Village, but it didn't really come through. Nevertheless, we were very pleased at the result; it was a tremendous amount of work, but very successful in the end.

"I hope that we will be able to make a maritime sale at least an annual event- perhaps even twice a year. But the trouble is that the overseas buyers are taking much of the best material out.

"Take the pond yachts - very good prices were paid by overseas buyers for wonderful antiques. It's sad if all the good, old pieces leave this country."

Sad for local buyers and the nation's maritime heritage, certainly; New Zealand museums were apparently notable by their absence from the Webb's sale. The National Maritime Museum at Princes Wharf apparently has few funds for adding to its collections, while Te Papa seemingly has other things on its mind. Marine art is not highly regarded by the arts establishment.

But the Webb's sale has shown that there is a market, and a good one. Let me declare an interest: not too many years ago we bought, for something under $100, an 1836 painting by J. Richards of the topsail schooner Harriet, of Plymouth, entering the Port of Naples. It sold last month for $1500.

Note: Prices are given as at the drop of the hammer in the saleroom. They are subject to a buyer's premium of 12.5 per cent, while the Government takes its cut in the form of GST on the premium. Thus an item that sells at a hammer price of $1000 will actually cost the buyer $1140.63 ($125 premium and $15.63 GST).

Author's note: Don Milne is a former deputy editor of the New Zealand Herald and an inveterate attender at auctions.