A Maori tribe asks Sotheby's to return some valuable items to them

A Maori tribe in New Zealand is asking Sotheby’s to return some valuable artifacts that were put up for sale by the London auction house. These are some items ranging from the 18th to the 19th century that the Maori identify as "taonga,“ or valuable cultural property. According to Ngarimu Blair, vice president of the Ngāti Whātua ÅŒrākei community, his tribe has only a few significant artifacts left, since most of them were looted in colonial times. ”We have very few taonga like these left,“ Blair said in a note, ”and when something like this emerges we immediately become excited but we are also saddened to have lost so much."

The items in question are for sale at the Emma Hawkins: A Natural World auction, running through Jan. 19: The auction includes items from the collection of antiques dealer Emma Hawkins, who specializes in objects from around the world in typical curiosities from da Wunderkammer. Among the items for sale is a carved pounamu (green stone) club, also known as a mere, with an estimated value of 24-40,000 pounds. It was originally donated by Chief Ngāti Whātua Pāora TÅ«haere to a British vice admiral in 1886 on the condition that it remain in the man’s family, according to a newspaper article at the time. Since the mere is now no longer in the family’s hands, it should be returned, according to Blair: the tribe hoped that a future buyer would consider repatriating it. “We hope that those involved in this auction will understand that the TÅ«haere people are not extinct, and that we are still inextricably linked to this taonga,” he said.

This is not the first time Sotheby’s has sold valuable Maori objects. In 2019, a tekoteko (carved human figure) sold for $740,000. The auction description indicated that it was “a large Maori sculpture,” but said that there remained “no residual trace of its original provenance.” In the past, many similar objects have come out of New Zealand to be placed on the market: however, since 1980, the oceanic country has had a law whereby goods deemed to be of cultural value cannot be exported without government permission. But for what has left the country in the past there is little that can be done.

Pictured: the “mere” for sale at Sotheby’s.

A Maori tribe asks Sotheby's to return some valuable items to them

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