Art lovers paid an estimated total of $300,000 during the Koula Collection Auction held at Baycourt Community and Arts Centre on Monday evening.

Organised by the Fine Art Society, about 300 people attended the auction which saw 109 artworks collected by Dutch ex-pats and former Whakamarama locals Koula and Theo Vellinga go under the hammer.

Society director Grant Bezett says of the 109 lots, 107 artworks were auctioned off on the evening, while another painting was sold on Tuesday.

'The event went really well, we had more people on Monday evening than we've had at an auction in Tauranga, and had the best clearance rate of any auction we've run ever, be it in Auckland, Wellington, wherever.

'The biggest price paid would have been around $15,000, works by Raymond Ching and Peter McIntyre sold for about $12,500 each, and there were a few other works which went for around $10,000.

'Like at all auctions there were some bargains, but most of the sales were within our estimate or above, so it was a very strong sale.”

The Koula Collection was one of the most varied and comprehensive private collections of art and featured predominantly New Zealand artwork from the 19th to 21st century, plus some European works.

It was amassed by Koula and Theo Vellinga who immigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands in 1977, settling down in Whakamarama where they remained up until Theo's death in 2005 and Koula in 2014.

Over the years they amassed a massive collection of art, with many of the works purchased from local galleries, as well as taking a close interest in local artists as well.

'Koula was a very important figure in the local arts scene, and the collection is the most significant there has ever been in the Bay of Plenty. There won't ever be another collection like this on the market.”