Museum buys Maori lintel for $72,000

Press, 1 July 1978, Page 4

Museum buys Maori lintel for $72,000

NZPA Staff Correspondent

The Canterbury museum paid $72,000 for a carved Maori wood door lintel at a major auction of New Zealand and Pacific artefacts at Sotheby’s auction rooms in London. The successful bid was made by the museum’s director, Dr Roger Duff, whose visit tc London was sponsored by three East Coast-Bay of Plenty Maori tribes. The lintel has been bought in trust for the tribes — the Ahanau Apanui, the Ngaitai and the Whakatohea. It is believed that the

lintel was the only one of 14 New Zealand items in the sale to be purchased by New Zealanders.

The artefacts were part of the collection of Bolivian mining magnate, George Ortiz, who was forced to sell his entire collection to raise the S2M ransom paid last year to have his kidnapped daughter released.

The door lintel dates from 1800-1810 and is thought to have originally come from Te Kaha in the Bay of Plenty. It is 96 cm wide and 46 cm high, elaborately carved with a central standing tiki figure.