Several hundred items will go under the hammer this morning at the estate, off State Highway 83 inland from Oamaru.
Craig McConnell, owner of Timaru auctioneering house The Auction, said the sale had attracted massive interest from both New Zealand and overseas buyers since hundreds of images of the items to be auctioned were posted on The Auction's website and Facebook page late last week.
"There's people from all over the place that regularly visit our website, but we've had about 11,000 people on there since Sunday. The bulk of them are from New Zealand, but there are ones from Australia, and people from all over the world have looked on our Facebook page.''
They include potential buyers from the likes of the United States, the UK, Europe and China.
Some of the items to be auctioned off included furniture, whiteware, electrical appliances, bedding and commercial appliances from the estate's kitchen, such as industrial-sized cake mixers.
Most of the items come from the 32 dwellings on the estate's grounds, with only a handful from the main building.
Mr McConnell said antiques, old wagon wheels and decades-old farming implements were likely to be the most sought-after items, along with curiosities such as a a unique chair and an old print advertisement for a Timaru business that featured swimsuit-clad models.
"The old kids' cast-steel dentist's chair is an interesting one. I think that's drawing quite a bit of interest.''
A restored French gig and antique furniture from Europe were also likely to be popular with buyers, Mr McConnell said.
NZHouseChina, an Auckland company with strong links to China, bought the property in February.
The estate was an educational facility from 1908-87.
In 1988, the Ministry of Education closed the special school for boys being run on the site and American Charles Tompkins and son Nathan bought the estate.
In 2008 and then in 2011 the estate was put on the market, but did not sell until this year.
- Daniel Birchfield
