The man behind royalty's silver kiwis

The silver kiwis, NZ's present to the royal couple.

Professor John Simpson caught a glimpse of his "slightly comical birds" this week in an unexpected context - an auction of royal wedding gifts.

The former Canterbury University fine arts lecturer was commissioned to create a pair of silver kiwis as New Zealand's wedding present to Princess Margaret. Yesterday the kiwis were sold at auction for $107,800.

"I wasn't very thrilled at the prospect of doing kiwis," the 81-year-old said. "Had you asked me to do a bird with natural grace and comeliness, I would have been much happier."

The silver kiwi table ornaments were sold yesterday to an anonymous bidder at Christie's inLondon.

Auction house spokeswoman Christina Freyberg declined to say who had bought the kiwis, but confirmed proceeds would go to charity.

"It's an exceptional result and I know Lord Linley is absolutely delighted to give such large sums from the proceeds of the auction to charity," she said.

But Professor Simpson revealed yesterday he never felt the kiwi was "a good thing to grace the table of the sister of the Queen".

In 1960, Professor Simpson, who was then lecturing in fine arts at Canterbury University, was commissioned by the New Zealand Government to design and make a wedding present for Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, and was asked to use the kiwi for a design.

The first draft designs he had were of "a pair of elegant four-branched candlesticks" with a kiwi hiding in the middle. He ended up doing three sets of drawings with three different designs, and the ones approved were the silver kiwi table ornaments.

"I took an awful lot of flak at the time because New Zealand people felt the idea of kiwi table ornaments was kind of Victorian or Edwardian and painting the country as backwards."

Despite the criticism, Professor Simpson "bit his tongue" and refused to comment out of respect for the confidentiality clause in his contract.

He was rewarded with a letter from the Prime Minister of the time thanking him for doing a good job, and on his "tact".

"The really funny thing was, the country was backwards. It was 20 years behind the times. They didn't realise that in London and Paris, table ornaments were all the rage."

Professor Simpson said he was disappointed the silver kiwis were not going to be on display in any of the museums in New Zealand.

"I'm a little sad they're not coming back. New Zealanders have a special relationship with the kiwi. The English just regard it as an oddity or a tin of boot polish."

He enjoyed a moment of nostalgia when he saw a "very brief shot" of the kiwis on television. He was pleased that they were in good condition and seemed well looked-after.

"When you've spent a lot of time making something, of course it has a connection."

Professor Simpson spent 1000 hours crafting the kiwis. He refused to say how much he was paid for the design, but admitted it was well below the auction price.

Christie's had estimated the kiwis would sell for up to £900 ($2670).

The New Zealand Government had raised concerns with Buckingham Palace when it learned that the gift was going up for auction to help pay inheritance taxes.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said the Government's action "may explain the Queen's intervention to ensure the proceeds went to charity".