Peter Hillary, son of famed New Zealand mountaineer Sir Ed Hillary, believes an injunction he and his sister Sarah have filed today will stop the sale in Switzerland of a collection of Sir Ed's watches.
The injunction was filed in the High Court at Auckland.
Peter and Sarah Hillary instructed their lawyers to seek an injunction requiring their stepmother June, Lady Hillary, to remove the watches from sale at the auction house Antiquorum.
The auction is due to be held in Geneva on Sunday and Monday.
"I believe it has been stopped for the time being and we are hopeful we can preserve these legacy items," Peter Hillary said.
"They, along with a lot of other items, are of great significance to this family and I would suggest in some respects to New Zealand, in terms of being important items from the Ed Hillary collection," he said.
The collection of Rolex watches included an Oyster Perpetual watch presented to Sir Ed after he and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first men to climb Mt Everest in 1953. It was expected to fetch about $25,000.
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage is seeking a legal opinion on whether the watches are protected by a law which could have stopped them being exported from New Zealand without permission.
The ministry said if the watches were found to have legal protection under the Protected Objects Act, the New Zealand and Swiss Governments may get involved.
The collection includes an Oyster Perpetual watch presented to Sir Ed after he and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first men to climb Mt Everest in 1953. It was estimated to fetch about $25,000.
"We are currently in the process of seeking an opinion on whether any of the watches would (fall under the Act)," Ministry spokesperson Liz Cotton told NZPA.
By law protected object cannot be exported without ministry permission.
The row over the watches only came to the ministry's attention a few days ago, Ms Cotton said.
It was too early to say whether anyone had done anything wrong in sending the watches overseas to be sold.
"I can't say at the moment, until we go through the process of establishing whether any of them (the watches) would be protected New Zealand objects under the Act."
If any of the watches were declared protected objects, having them returned to New Zealand would depend on what conventions and laws were in place in Switzerland.
She said one option would be for the Government to order their return and see what response came back from the Swiss Government.
Last night, the auction house told NZPA the watches remained in the auction catalogue and were still for sale.
The Hillarys said Lady June put the watches up for sale without talking to them, and the watches were owned by the family, not Lady June, under the terms of his father's will.
Sir Ed died in 2008.
Sir Ed wore the Oyster Perpetual to the South Pole during the Trans-Antarctic Expedition, the first overland crossing of the Antarctica since Sir Robert Scott's attempt in 1912. It is engraved Sir E Hillary.
Lady Hillary was not available for comment.
Her lawyer also refused to comment.
