August 12, 2014
$3m estimate for rare pou whakairo
A rare pou whakairo could fetch more than $3 million when it goes up for auction in Paris next month.
Auctioneers Sotheby's says the 39cm figure, which features black human hair, inlaid brass eyes, and huia tail feathers, is believed to have been taken from New Zealand to Scotland in the 1830s.
For the past three decades it has been in the collection of Canadian real estate developer Dr Murray Frum, who died last year.
His collection of Oceanic art now coming up for auction includes a pair of wooden putorino flutes, a Maori bird perch that could get more than $600,000, and an 18cm hei tiki pendant with an estimate of $110,000 to $160,000.
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