Two rare pieces of the Pink and White Terraces have been sold at auction for $64,000.
The specimens were collected from the edge of Lake Rotomahana a year before Mount Tarawera erupted in 1886, killing 120 people.
The pieces were bought by a private buyer at the auction in Auckland on Thursday.
International Art Centre director Richard Thomson says the specimens will remain in New Zealand but the buyer's identity will not be revealed.
The terraces were thought to have been destroyed by the eruption but last year scientists located parts of them beneath the surface of the lake.
Earlier this month scientists said they believed about 75% of the Pink Terraces remained intact.