Māori tāonga repatriated from overseas were auctioned at Webb's Material Culture event last night.
Māori tāonga repatriated from overseas were auctioned at Webb's Material Culture event last night.
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Māori tāonga repatriated from overseas were auctioned at Webb's Material Culture event last night.
Licensed buyers from around Aotearoa gathered at Webb's in Mt Eden, and online, to bid on the prestigious repatriated items.
Webb's decorative art specialist Leah Morris said it's been a long time coming for some of these returning tāonga.
"Some of the tāonga have been inherited through wills or found in storage and a lot of vendors are unsure of what they have. So they come to us," Morris said.
The Herald spoke to a number of attendees and collectors and found a common theme of appreciation and preservation for ancient indigenous practices and craftsmanship.
One collector, who wishes to stay anonymous, said he's been collecting artefacts for more than 30 years.
"It's a bit of an obsession with old beauty and talent."
He says the modern world has veered away from understanding ancient ancestral capabilities.
"They may not have been able to do 5x5, but that's irrelevant, when you look at the beauty they created with very primitive tools, you think 'wow' - so for me, that's why I collect," the collector said.
The auction had 53 tāonga to auction, with items including carvings, weapons, hei tiki and kākahu.
This rare pākē - a traditional raincoat - was the star of the show and sold for just under $30,000. Photo / Supplied
One of the special pieces was a pākē (traditional rain coat) dating back to the 1886 Tarawera eruption which sold for almost $30,000.
One of the rarest items auctioned was a late-19th-century Māori translation of the New Testament Bible that sold for $3548.
A patu crafted from paraoa (whale bone) sold for more than $5000 and a carved pou whakawae (door lintel) sold for over $20,000.
The tāonga in the Material Culture auction have been Y registered with the Auckland War Memorial Museum - meaning they are culturally significant.
That means that Y-registered taonga cannot leave Aotearoa again without explicit approval.
A rare 19th-century te reo Māori translation of the New Testament sold for over $3500. Photo / Supplied
John Richmond, who began collecting seven years ago, said it is a privilege to physically see our history.
"It's about appreciating the beauty around the natural materials and the creativity and the time and energy that goes into making tāonga. We're lucky that we have access to some of these. They need to be looked after and kept in New Zealand," Richmond said.
While tāonga have been in Webb's care, Morris said they were mindful of caring for the items appropriately.
"We handle the items with respect because we're the kaitiaki of the items for the time being."
A rare pounamu breastplate was among a few items unsold last night and Webb's said because they are Y registered they cannot be returned to vendors, and so the tāonga will remain online for a short period for potential buyers to place a bid.
