The mysterious history of a shotgun recently brought to Aratoi has not been the only item to interest the staff of the art and history museum recently.
A large well-formed Maori adze, made of argillite, was found at Lake Onoke by a woman picking up driftwood and is being kept at Aratoi while a government "protected objects" process is completed.
The finder of the adze sat down on the lake shore, close to where the lake opens to the sea and on putting her hand down in the sand felt the rather large object that turned out to be the toki, or adze.
It was given to iwi, the find was reported to authorities and the adze, which was crafted for domestic use rather than as a weapon, is at Aratoi.
The process calls for advertisements to be posted so any claimants can come forward.