Multiple records are expected to be broken when some of the country's most iconic artworks go up for auction later this year.
It's just been announced one of New Zealand's most significant corporate art collections, the BNZ collection, will be sold.
It's a showcase decades in the making. Colin McCahon, Rita Angus, and Gordon Walter are all big names in New Zealand art.
Webb's art director Charles Ninow said this auction could be the only chance New Zealanders have to get their hands on this type of art.
"You simply can't just buy works like this anymore. Many of the works in the collection are amongst the most famous works by the artist and once this auction happens, you're not going to get a chance again."
The BNZ art collection was started in 1982. After four decades, around 350 pieces of artwork in the collection will go to auction.
The proceeds will go to the bank's new charitable foundation and there are expected to be a lot of proceeds.
"There are well over $10 million worth of artworks in the collection and that's probably a conservative estimate," Ninow told Newshub.
When the collection was established the bank appointed legendary Wellington art dealer Peter McLeavey which Ninow says was a masterstroke.
"Peter McLeavey was one of the figures who basically built the market for contemporary New Zealand art. Having him on board, the works he was able to source, his eye."
Several of the works are so highly regarded that it's expected numerous records will be broken at the auction.
The collection will tour the country, stopping in Wellington and Christchurch for everyone to feast their eyes, before being sold at Webb's Auction House in September.
"It's going to be the biggest art auction in New Zealand history," Ninow told Newshub.
