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Nephrite Hei tiki pale and slightly translucent in colour, its…
Sale Title:
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Auckland
Date:
26-Feb-2009
Lot No.
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Description:
Nephrite Hei tiki pale and slightly translucent in colour, its head tilted to the proper right side with both hands down on the thighs, a slightly raised belly, polished all over, and a cratered suspension hole over the uppermost eye. Found by Earnest Courtney Webb (1873-1957) of 'Te Wepu', a farming estate at French farm Bay, Banks Peninsula, bequeathed within the family. The tiki was found in the early 1900s in the Kaiapoi Gorge, north canterbury, wrapped in flax, along with a carved bone fish hook and a long length of plaited Maori woman's hair (a fishing line), the flax package hidden in the dry behind rocks on a Cliff ledge. Earnest believed the tiki to be of pre-European origin 'By the way it was carved, possibly using a flint stone as the tool'
Estimate:
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Price:
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Category:
Tribal: New Zealand Maori