Maori statues surface at New York auction

The two statues. Photo / Sotheby's

Two ornately-carved Maori statues that once adorned whare gables have surfaced at a New York auction.

The two pieces, described as 'Maori Gable Ornaments', are expected to fetch more than $40,000 when they go under the hammer at Sotheby's on Friday (NY time).

The taller of the two pieces stands at 86.4cm and is estimated to reach up to US$60,000 (NZ$80,000).

Sotheby's says the figure, in the style of the Ngati Porou iwi, was collected in Rotorua in the late nineteenth century by spa owner, John Jacobs.

In 1892, he took it with him to Sydney.

Descendants of Jacobs sold it at auction in 1997. It has since changed hands five times.

The smaller statue stands at 71.4 cms and is estimated to sell for between US$30,000 (NZ$40,000) and US$50,000 (NZ$67,000).

Sotheby's believes the subject of the gable peak figure is Ko Te Riria Waikato (Tairea) Whareherehere, Te Arikinui Ko Huiarau, paramount chief of the United Tribes.

It was collected "in situ" by Major General J.H. Laye between 1845 and 1847, the auction house says.

In 1938, it was bequeathed to the Museum of the Northamptonshire Regiment in England.

Sotheby's in London sold it in 1982 to a private New York-based collector.

Maori artefacts are currently hot items with international museums and private collectors.

Last year, a rare collection that included a Maori staff, hand club and greenstone tiki fetched more than double their estimated prices at Sotheby's in New York.

The Ministry of Culture and Heritage monitors auctions within New Zealand, but does not follow those held overseas.

It has no ability under legislation such as the Protected Objects Act 1975 to stop sales, or force repatriation of cultural heritage material sold at auction overseas.