May 12, 2015
Carved figures excite foreign saleroom
Two rare 19th century Maori carvings come up for sale in New York this week.
Auction house Sothebys expects what are described as gable ornaments will fetch more than $40,000 each and possibly up to $80,000.
The taller piece in the Ngati Porou style stands at just over 86 centimetres.
It was collected by Rotorua spa owner John Jacobs, who took it with him when he moved to Sydney about 1892.
The smaller 71 centimetre piece was collected by Major General J.H. Laye between 1845 and 1847 and ended up in the Northamptonshire Regiment’s museum in England until it was sold in 1982 to a New York-based collector.
Sothebys says it depicts the paramount chief of the United Tribes, Ko Te Riria Waikato (Tairea) Whareherehere, Te Arikinui Ko Huiarau.
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