Threats were made to have the musket pulled from the auction, but Ngāpuhi is hoping to have it resolved.
A leading auction house which was set to sell a musket once owned by Māori chief Hongi Hika has been targeted with threats.
The item was expected to go under the hammer on May 17 in Auckland at Webb's Auctions. It was estimated to have a potential sale price of up to $150,000.
But the auction has now been put on hold; with the halt being put down to allowing Ngāpuhi the chance to put together an offer to buy it.
At the same time, one historian has raised questions over the item's authenticity.
Hongi Hika, a famous Ngāpuhi war chief, was among a group of Māori to visit Britain in 1820. He received the firearm as a gift from King George IV.
Historian and military veteran Brent Kerehona Pukepuke-Ahitapu told RNZ that he had researched Hika's 1820 trip to England and has documents from the Royal Archive which he claims describes a different musket to the one being auctioned.
The musket would have been the first historically significant artefact of its type on the New Zealand market and is only one of many items set to sell for thousands under the hammer.
A pākē (rain cape), which has been in a private collection since the late 1800s, is valued between $50,000-$60,000.
What Webb's describes as "two of the finest pounamu" will also be featured in this catalogue. One said to be an "extremely rare" pounamu breast plate adornment valued up to $22,000.
The much larger and "impressive" pounamu is estimated to be worth up to $35,000.
Both of these items were apparently found by a "deer stalker in a small cave" in the central North Island in the 1950s.
Pounamu can usually only be found in the South Island, hence the island's original name: Te Waipounamu. South Island iwi Ngāi Tahu is the legal kaitiaki of pounamu in the South.
Webb's told the Herald they are looking forward to creating a positive relationship with Ngāpuhi, one that promotes contructive dialogue moving forward.
It was acknowledged by Webb's that a climate of empathy toward Māori by corporate Aotearoa has become the norm. Webb's Auction House are excited to increase their capacity to engage respectfully and honourably with iwi Māori where tāonga of cultural significance come to the market.