MAORI CHIEFTAIN'S CLOAK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 18 January 1939, Page 9

MAORI CHIEFTAIN'S CLOAK

AUCTIONED AT SOTHEBY’S SOLITARY BID OF £3 LONDON. 21st December. A solitary bid of £3 bought a valu- r able kiwi feather korowai. once worn i by a Maori chieftain, at Sotheby’s yes- ; terday. This korowai. or cloak, had j been acquired from a member of the i staff of the Auckland Museum by j Major G. Byron, military secretary to j the Governor-General (Lord Galway - ), for Mrs P. Winter, of Penbury, Kent. > After owning it for three months, she decided to sell it rather than run the j risk of its being destroyed by moths during her absences from England. Tacked by drawing pins on a scrimcovered wall at Sotheby's, this Maori j work of art hung, ticketed “Lot 234." while Native spearheads, drums, Assyrian stone beads and busts were sold under the light tap of the auctioneer’s hammer. Not more than a score of buyers were present, several of them dark, swart foreigners, with long overcoats nearly reaching to their ankles. They clustered round a small green baize horseshoe-shaped table, raising the bidding by hand signs and nods of the head A quiet-voiced, dapper auctioneer offered lot after lot. in a conversational voice, from his elegantly-polished nostrum. the microphone before him being totally unnecessary on this occasion. By his side, an elderly grey-haired clerk, seated at a high-railed desk, silently marked the price of each lot as it was tapped down to the highest bidder. The Kiwi cloak was the last lot of- 1 fered. During dispirited bidding for a j native war drum, it was taken down I from the dull, brown wall. Before ! being offered it was bundled round j from hand to hand at the horseshoe i table. Only one man scanned it with ! any attention. "How much for this lot." asked the ‘ auctioneer, still in his conversational i murmur. "Will anybody start the bidding for it? The sum of £3 is offered.! Are there any further offers?’’ There were none. Tap went the wooden hammer, striking the oaken j desk lightly, and the Maori chieftain’s | cloak, once insured for £SO in Auckland, became the property of an agent, who j was buying on behalf of a client. He j disappeared quickly through the swing : door of ihe small room within a few seconds of the sale’s ending The cloak was bundled unceremon- j iously into a bulging coin case, next to headless Egyptian statues, an ancient Roman olive jar. and mouldering spearheads, there to await instructions for • delivery to its new owner