A Private Collection of Historic Photography

A Private Collection of Historic Photography

Online Auction

Webb’s

8 - 12 April 2021

Unknown Photographer, Queen's Wharf and Plumbers Wharf c.1863, Gelatin silver print, 150 x 200mm

Unknown Photographer, Queen's Wharf and Plumbers Wharf c.1863, Gelatin silver print, 150 x 200mm

Our April Private Collection of Historic Photography catalogue is now live and bidding is open. This single owner collection of late 19th and early 20th century vintage photography offer a rare insight into how settler Pākehā would have viewed Aotearoa’s once untamed landscape.

Highlighting the sale are a number of gelatin and albumen prints capturing our nations uniquely diverse topography. From the geothermal wonderland of Whakarewarewa and the Pink and White Terraces, through to the snow-capped Southern Alps, and the early development of some of our most established cities.

Also included are a selection of early 20th century photographic postcards. Perhaps the earliest iteration of a burgeoning New Zealand tourism industry, these images were produced to entice foreign visitors to our shores and are exceptional both in composition and subject matter.